(Photo: Jennifer Cree)
We have a long tradition of sharing bike theft recovery stories here on BikePortland. While we’ve seen just about everything from police chases to citizen stings, one of the most common ways bikes come back is through the diligence and courtesy of well-meaning bike shop employees. In fact, one of our first-ever reported recoveries — in March 2006 — was thanks to quick-thinking shop employees.
Earlier this month, Portland resident Jennifer Cree got her beloved bike stolen, then got it back a few days later. And
Below, she shares the story in her own words:
On Wednesday February 6th I rode my Linus to work off of 25th and East Burnside. I was running a little late and placed my bike on the bike rack next to the building, removed the bags from the rack and ran into work. I never locked it. After 10 hours of work I realized my lock was in one of the bags and also realized my bike was probably gone. I went out to check and it was gone. Bummer. That night I made a Craigslist add and went on BikePortland to register my stolen bike.
On Saturday February 8th I got an email from Dave Wingard the owner of BackPedal Cycleworks (7126 SE Harold St). He said he was pretty sure he had my bike. Someone came in to sell it and he told the seller he would need to hold the bike for a couple of days and check to make sure it wasn’t stolen. The guy left the bike and Dave checked the stolen bike registry. Sure enough the bike was mine. I emailed him a copy of the receipt and was able to pick up the bike! In the Craigslist add I offered a $50 reward, which I gave to BackPedal Cycleworks… what an awesome guy and shop!
Jennifer and Dave are great examples because they each came through with actions that made this recovery possible.
Jennifer immediately listed her bike on BikePortland and Craigslist, and she also had proof that she owned it. Dave was smart enough to comply with Portland’s secondhand merchandise laws to hold the bike before reselling it and then went the extra mile in checking our listings to see if it was recently listed.
There are a million different ways a recovery can go down. I love when they’re clean and neat like this one.