Smashed window of Southwest Bicycle.
(Photos: Dan Houghton)
(Photos: Dan Houghton)
Southwest Bicycle (3605 SW Multnomah Blvd) was victim of a smash-and-grab theft last night. Shop owner Dan Houghton says thieves broke one of his windows at around midnight and two high-end bikes were stolen. The bikes are valued at about $10,000.
Please keep your eyes out for a Javelin Barolo Time Trial bike and a BP Stealth TT bike. Both are pictured below…
Javelin Barolo TT bike. Estimated value $6,000.
NOTE: This is not the actual Stealth TT bike that was stolen. Houghton says the stolen one has Shimano 105 components, Hed tri-spoke wheels and a Selle Italia time trial saddle. The bike that was stolen is worth $4,000.
Houghton says both bikes are “very unique.”
If you see either of these bikes, please call the Portland Police non-emergency line at 503-823-3333 and reference case number 11-74663.
Thanks for reading.
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That sucks. Its a nice shop in our neighborhood. And there’s an apartment complex right across the street – you’d think someone had to see something.
Oh man…saw the cops and Dan there this morning and was wondering what was up.
I’m wondering if anyone has ever compiled a map of bike thefts in this town. It would be really interesting to see which areas to avoid leaving your bike.
Something doesn’t make sense. How do two bikes cost $10,000 ??
Doesn’t make sense? There ARE bikes out there that cost that much.
You’re a film guy; I would imagine that people might be shocked at what you pay for cameras.
Most I ever paid was $300 for a Bolex. Five grand for a bicycle sounds like a flagrant and unnecessary display of monetary wealth.
So is your argument that they should habe been stolen, that the shop owner deserves what he got for panderind to conspicuous consumption and that the person(s) guilty of B&E should be found innocent of any wrong doing?
I personnaly look poorly upon status symbols and self-aggrandizing displays of wealth but the shop owner is not the guilty party here.
Try decaf?
Give me a break, jeez…
Yeah, that had my eyes rolling too.
What if riding short track or TT is that person’s sport of choice? Sometimes those upper-echelon sports require you to have high end gear to perform at your max edge. And what’s it to anyone else’s opinion if someone wants to drop that kind of money on a bike? I haven known people to drop a few grand a really nice carbon-fiber bike and it sat in their closet for months. Sad, but it’s their money.
Where on earth would anyone be able to sell a bike like that? Just seems too unique to pawn off easily…
So you think spending 5k dollars on a bike will make any difference than spending 1k? If speed is the only thing that matters, why not just spend 100k dollars and then you’ll automatically be the fastest bike pedaler in history, right?
Nobody should have to lose a bike, and we all know bike stealers are jerks, but c’mon. You make a thing so ungodly expensive and the thing ends up owning you by becoming an obvious and easy target for theft.
The thing that makes your bike perform is YOU, not the redundant thousands of dollars you pay for the latest gadget you think makes you go faster.
So, what is the socially appropriate amount anyone in our society should spend on a bike, then?
I’d LOVE to know.
I feel like it’s time to repost this comedic gem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4
Not if you have the money to spend on it. What is flagrant display to you is simply high quality machine to me.
Unnecessary for you.
dude are you kidding? have you ever heard of professionals?
Weird, not everyone in Portland rides 30-year old “vintage” steel bikes?? Color me SHOCKED!
I suggest you never show up to an OBRA race, you’ll be completely confused.
You could easily – easily – spend that much on two local bikes – Ira Ryan Pereira Cielo Vanilla TiCycles Renovo, take your pick.
Of course then you’d be supporting the local bike economy and not flaunting your wealth.
Sweet. I hope those thieves have a pipeline to Asia to sell those things. Those will be about as easy to sell as macrame life boats. I guess we should look for junkies on murdered out TT fixies hitting the streets.
Avoiding obvious victim blame angles:
() Do we the public have access to any ID/serial #’s that might be on the frames of these 2 bikes?
() If not is this because the uniqueness precludes the need, worry that with such knowledge theives will obliterate such info or just whoops?
It has become painfully obvious that police have no time to investigate what is commonly believed to be a non-crime.
Increasingly the resources available for investigation and tracking over the internet empowers the private citizen and random net user to find things with relative ease. What is needed is excruciating levels of otherwise boring detail.
To busy stopping the carnage from bikes failing to obey traffic control devices in residential neighborhoods.
It really makes me wonder if it was junkies getting lucky (or unlucky as the case may be), or was it a person who either wanted these bikes, or knew someone who wanted these bikes? I hope for the store owners sake its junkies- then they will turn up in a day or two at a pawn shop, whereas if the theft was planned then the bikes are likely gone for good.
As to the price- whatever, ever seen what high end cars go for? If a carbon bike makes someone happy- I am happy for them.
I’m of the opinion that ANY bicycle use makes the world better. Don’t care how much $ someone puts into their bike–any cycling on an American road makes our part of the world better. Actually, $5k each for a full-bore time trial/tri bike isn’t too bad, anyway. I have assembled a few tt bikes that are worth a lot more than that.
I worry that nothing will come of this. A close friend of mine had his bike stolen in the spring and recovered it via craigslist last week. He contacted the police with his original case number and told them that he had the contact info for the thieves (it was clearly obvious that these guys were selling quite a bit of stolen bikes) but the department didnt seem to concerned. They were glad he got his bike back and left it at that. He has emails, addresses and phone numbers. It was stolen in Portland but recovered in Beaverton. Not sure if that makes a difference.
Until police treat bike thefts more seriously, more of this will continue to happen.
Hey Jeremy if you want to you can have your friend drop me a line. I’ve been trying to work on addressing the Craigslist angle and would like to talk to your friend about his experience
It’s funny that $5k for a bike is extravagant when $15,000 for a used car is affordable.
I love the equity angle in the comments. What exactly are rich people supposed to spend their money on ??
No one I know with a ~$5,000 bike (or $2,000 or $6,000, etc) is rich. They just like to ride nice bikes and put spending money on such a thing as a higher priority than other things that someone might spend their discretionary income on.
Nail hit squarely on head.
They’ll strip it and sell off the components first. The frame may get sold, or may get cut up and dumped. I hope they catch the thieves and execute a just punishment.
Inara: The Lassiter is universally known. Fencing it is like… fencing the Mona Lisa.
Mal: Well -The Monawho?
Replace “Lassiter” with stolen uniqueness of the day for desired effect.
Those are going to be the fastest tweekers in town.
Hart the Class Warrior is in fine form! Ultilitarian bikes for the masses and nothing more eh, comrade? Is living a life of confused envy and anger enjoyable?
Good point, but they’ll go through more hassle than worth for a typical drivetrain (and one of them is 105?). eBay is a source of cheap closeout Shimano parts through Taiwan, with the exchange rate in the buyer’s advantage. Not to start a discussion on buying online versus helping your LBS, but the most expensive part of a drivetrain is the crank and you can get ‘standard’ 68mm sets for ~$80-$150.
The cost of frames comes mostly from R&D, not manufacture, though a high modulus (graphite) frame will cost a bit more than a regular carbon layup (and ride much nicer). $4K-$5K is not an uncommon retail price for these bikes, with carbon wheels adding a big chunk, let alone the cost of wind tunnel testing during frame design.
The bike I drool over is handmade by Craig Calfee in Santa Cruz and sells for more than these two combined. Worth every penny… 🙂
Sad to see this, really sad! I hate thinking that the owner may have to install iron gates at the front of his shop! Kind of ruin the quaint Multnomah Village feel. Then again, I think, how foolish could you be to have bicycles as expensive as fine jewelry displayed in a store front window in a quiet neighborhood!
It’s been a while since this all happened but thought you might be interested to know I found both bikes. I found the BP Stealth on craigslist months later. I went to the persons house in Vancouver to try and recover it. I had built the BP for myself and wanted it back because I thought it was cool.
Keep in mind that insurance had already “bought” the bikes for most of the value minus our deductible.
The guy in Vancouver had a very nice house with lots of expensive toys in the garage and did not struck me as the bike thief type. Although I did not have the serial number, I was able to positively identify the bike by details since I had assembled it. When I told the guy what happened and that I wanted to buy the bike, he freaked out, put it in his car and drove off.
Vancouver police were too busy to help. I don’t think there was a crime other than him being in possession but he did behave oddly.
Another time, someone called saying they saw the Javelin on CL and wanted to know if I was interested in recovering it. By this time it was just a frame and a few bits. I told the caller the bike technically belonged to the insurance company and I no longer had any interest in it. It belonged to a client and I already paid him for his loss.
The Javelin has popped up on CL at least 2 other times since then.