Keep eyes peeled: Thieves nab unique, custom bikes – UPDATED

This is artist and bike builder Neal Fegan in September 2008, riding one of three of his bikes that were stolen from an art gallery in St. Johns last week.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

UPDATE: Neal says he got the bikes back! “Very happy to get all my bikes back. I guess they stayed in the neighborhood and enough people I know knew they were missing so got lucky. No harm to bikes, seems like whomever took them tried riding them but couldn’t figure them out (or sell them). Thank you very much for the help.”
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People list bikes on our Stolen Bike Listings every day; but when I hear about special bikes being nabbed — especially bikes that are custom and one-of-a-kind — I like to highlight them in hopes that it helps lead to a recovery. In the past few weeks I’ve heard of two such thefts.

On March 2nd, Matheas Michaels had his black tandem stolen from N Alberta and Interstate Ave. while he was participating in a bike move. The bike is a custom-build created by Adam George of Bound Bikes. We featured it last June after seeing it on a Pedalpalooza ride.

Michaels says the bike is “very near and dear” to his heart and he now fondly reminisces about its many amazing adventures including; bike moves, dance parties on Mt. Tabor (where he’d haul up a 300 pound sound system), hauling 400 pounds of wine from Salem to Portland (up and over the West Hills!), and the many bike dates he’s enjoyed on it with his significant other. “We had it built specifically for the two of us and we’ve put incredible amounts of time, money, and love into it — it’s totally heartbreaking to have it gone, but it’s distinctive enough that I’m hoping a little publicity in the cycling community could get it back for us!”

Michaels’ missing tandem is full of distinctive features like HALO wheels, disc brakes, single-side drive, integrated air compressor trailer hitch, and more. Below are two photos of the bike:

(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

On March 13th, thieves stole three art bikes from the C3 art gallery in St. Johns. The bikes were built by artist and fabricator Neal Fegan of Montana Transit Authority. We’ve profiled Fegan’s work several times here on BikePortland. His bikes are very hard to miss and I can’t imagine anyone getting away with selling them.

Fegan says two of his lowrider long bikes were taken (including the blue one in these photos) as well as a big, upright creation that’s unpainted and has suspension (his bikes are hard to describe!).

Here are a few more photos of one of the three stolen bikes:

All of these bikes should be very easy to spot. If you see them, please call the police non-emergency line (503) 823-3333 or drop us a line and we’ll connect you with Michaels and Fegan.