General Cycling Discussion - Weird experience yesterday in NYC....

there's a bike store near me that leaves an air hose outside for public use (Metro LBS on 88th and Lex, NYC peeps).
at about 8:30pm, i'm walking back to my apartment with my girlfriend and a bunch of newly-purchased beer.
i see this kid, early 20's, hipster-type clothes....trying to fill up his tires. he's using the pump (schraeder) on presta valves, and in doing so let all the air out of his tires and was just spraying air.
So i ran up to my apartment and got my little presta adapter, came back down, and found him walking in circles with two flat tires, looking bewildered. i offered my adapter.

now, here's the weird part:

he was riding a time trial/sprint bike that looked a lot like the pic below, except the brand was different (something with a V) and it didn't have aero wheels. definitely full carbon TT bike, no handlebars, etc. we're nowhere near a track - we're in an area of manhattan where the streets are horrible and people generally ride road bikes or hybrids. he had no idea how to use presta valves, and also no concept of the value of the bike - he flipped it over onto the handlebars and plunked it down pretty hard.
so i say, "pretty nice bike, man. all carbon?"
he says "yea, my friend gave it to me after my bike got stolen. he said it's like a $5,000 bike or something"
he filled up the tires, did a little squeeze test, i taught him how to use the presta valves, and he thanked me and went on his way.

weird, right?



here's what his bike looked like:
http://www.velonews.com/files/images/P5080067.jpg

Not sure how a noob could ride such a thing. Did he have the seat the whole way down?

friend gave it too him......yeah right, maybe more like stole it from the "friend"

I agree definitely stolen. You don't just give a bike like that to borrow, thats like "hey heres my wife, take her for a ride for a few hours".

SO, STOLEN! im not sure how you let him ride off like that...

If it walks like a duck

So i ran up to my apartment and got my little presta adapter

To be honest I would not have helped them other than to inform them about the valve issue. And given the fancy bike maybe not even that.

was it a Velo Vie?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31uu9k05F3L._SL500_AA272_.jpg

There has been a kid ramping around the Great Lawn (couldn't be no more then 21 yrs old) selling pot to kids on that bike. I saw him in the park on Tuesday night and he came up to me asking me if I wanted any. I replied with, do you do tri's? and he said no. I told him that was a nice bike but surprised he was using it to cruise around. Proceeded then to ask him how much he paid for it, to which he replied he got it as a gift. I didn't believe him, nor did I want to purchase any pot from him. He explained to me he uses it to get around and sell, he seemed like a young buck on a stolen bike. I've seen him a few times on the great lawn with that bike. I'd say on the smaller size with maybe 650cc. I'm pretty sure he hangs there with his large group of hipster friends, could be the wrong person but also could be the right one with a stolen bike!

He had on a cross body strap book bag (not messenger).

NYC Tri was 3 weeks ago, probably stole it during that.

EDIT: Passed this info along to the NYC Tri organizers via email in case they got any reports of bikes stolen before or after the event. With 3000+ participants I'm sure someone had to have a bike stolen at some point. I'll let you all know if I hear anything back.

UPDATE: event organizers have reported back it sounds like possibly one of two missing bikes from the event, they will check and investigate and let me know. Woo hoo I hope we are able to unite the bike back to its owner!

That's awesome. I play softball on the great lawn Mon-Thurs and I normally see him hanging around the park, normally in large groups squatting in the field all puffing away. I'm not exactly sure what wheelset was on it, i'm sure I would have known if it was a carbon set with stickers plastered on it I would have remembered. I do remember it being a very small bike though, definitely 650cc. I was standing there with my 50cm C2C and the tri bike looked tiny compared to mine. Hope it gets sorted out, I am definite it was a VeloVie and had tri bar's on it so it had to have been a Veloce (since it's the only model they make with aero bars + end shifters).

Keep this updated, I'd like to know.

UPDATE:

I spoke to them on the phone, unfortunately this is not the bike they are looking for, they are missing a P4 and a Guru which were taken from Transition. She said maybe it could have been taken from one of the brick workout groups in the area, but who knows. I don't live in Manhattan so I wouldn't really know how to contact those people, but maybe you guys do??

I agree definitely stolen. You don't just give a bike like that to borrow, thats like "hey heres my wife, take her for a ride for a few hours".

Except if it's a rich kid and mommy and daddy paid for the bike, than he has no concept of value.

People with more money than brains will buy anything, including the wrong type of bike for junior.

Except if it's a rich kid and mommy and daddy paid for the bike, than he has no concept of value.

People with more money than brains will buy anything, including the wrong type of bike for junior.

Very true except he told people different stories of where he got it. Also its a Velo Vie, not a common bike you can just walk into a bike store and get....

OP said "hipster type" I'm going to say he has money.
lots of them have money but you'd wouldn't know otherwise except
for their ATM receipt that they've forgotten to retrieve.

yes, that was the bike. i don't believe it had the zipp wheels though.

and it was a pretty young kid, and he had one of those cross-body bags with a seat belt clip. whether it was filled with pot, i have no idea. he did seem a little bit nervous. also, i didn't get the rich-kid vibe from him.

if a rich kid wanted to buy an expensive bike, why buy that one? he'd buy a fixie or SS.

Inertia, I guess we are talking about the same person in relation to your story. So yes, that was the kid with the VeloVie. I guess the question regarding if it was stolen or not has been cleared (in relation to ny tri). I did find it also strange that he had no clue about the bike. I think it was outfitted with Vision Tri Bars. Point being, shame to see such nice bikes being used for the frivalty of money. He seemed like a SS or Fixed would fit his personality more.

I have a feeling the bike was stolen. And the hipster was riding a piece of stolen merchandise.

Why not call the PD and see if anyone filed a report on a stolen bike matching the description?