Northern California - Stolen bike 8-16-09 Trek madone 5.1 wsd berkeley

my bike stolen in berkeley sunday 8-16-09 in front of Peets coffee- domingo near Ashby Ave (below Claremont Hotel)

Ay noonish, while I was drinking coffee at Peets in Berkeley, a guy swooped in while I was standing five feet away and grabbed and ran with my 2009 Trek Madone 5.1 WSD and rode off. It is white and silver with stripe of light blue, white and grey seat. 54". I chased him on foot then car but no luck. I bought it one day before. Thief - White male early thirties? with red and white striped polo shirt and little cap. a bit over weight, maybe 5'10-6 ft. Many people saw it happen. If anyone sees it please contact me.

That's pretty ballsy to do it in broad daylight. Sorry for your losses and I hope you recover your bike.

Sorry to hear that. Will keep an eye out. Keep your sights on Craigslist, E-bay too.

BTW, I know this is too late, but what I do when I don't lock my bike and have to leave it temporarily is to shift both the front and rear gears without turning the pedals before leaving the bike. That way whoever tries to steal it can not possibly ride away so easily.

Sorry to hear that. Will keep an eye out. Keep your sights on Craigslist, E-bay too.

BTW, I know this is too late, but what I do when I don't lock my bike and have to leave it temporarily is to shift both the front and rear gears without turning the pedals before leaving the bike. That way whoever tries to steal it can not possibly ride away so easily.

+1 I do similar.

I shift to the 50x11... good luck accelerating in that.

I also clip my helmet to the rear triangle, through the rear wheel.

I also clip my helmet to the rear triangle, through the rear wheel.

Good trick...

Edit: And this sucks...sorry to hear about the swipe. :(

I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of the brand new bike. Odds are that the culprit probably doesn't even know what he has. I'll file this as a cautionary tale and take a few additional precautions as suggested above when parking my bike.

Berkerly has always made me a bit uncomfortable. I go there with my wife for Cal Preformances, but I'm always happy to leave.

I hope she ran after him screamin and hollerin coz it would have gotten my a$$ off the bench and t-boned the sucka.

file a police report just in case?

I've heard of snatch-a-bike at this Peet's before. There are so many cyclists there it's not hard to imagine it being targeted by human slime.

Good luck with the bike. I feel your pain and anger.

Yep, its probably destined to show up in one form or another on eBay or Craigs. Will mean a lot of time lookin.... Hope you filed a police report.
A thought for the future, you may wish to consider being proactive and registering and TAGGING your bike using a no-charge bike registry off the net. Could really assist kicking this cowardly thief in the a$$ when he tries to peddle it off...

Don't forget the local flea markets.

Thanks to all of you for your sympathy and suggestions. I have started clipping my helmet through my wheel and basically sitting on my bike when I am not riding it. (I am back to my old faithful steel bianchi for now:). Oh and shifting the front and rear wheels...I considered that after the fact (unfortunately), good one, I'll do that too.

I did file a police report and the bike is registered as well. Flea markets - check. A number of people have said Laney flea market is a hotbed for stolen bikes - some real operator's there I'll tell you that much...Given that it is not the most common bike, it may turn up, albeit maybe not in my view. I have heard that they sometimes ship the higher end bikes out of town to sell. I'll keep looking - I've got my google alerts going.

With that said, I really appreciate the offer of assistance to take the guy down...I'm sure you can all imagine the scenarios I have devised to exact retribution. Having a biker community hit squad being one of them. Honestly though, I'd rather ride my bike than be consumed with anger and replaying all the ways I would like to teach the guy a lesson. He was obviously a seasoned bike thief and I don't think he was working alone either.

Thanks again for your support, and yes, keep a look out, and do let me know if you see my beautiful Trek Madone being ridden around by some looser...

"I did file a police report and the bike is registered as well."
-Registered and TAG'd PRIOR to the theft.
Or did you register AFTER having it pilfered???

No, just registered as stolen after. It was only one day old:(

Hi. Seems like the same guy is on a spree. I just read this email:

this was sent to the oakland yellowjackest:
-rahman

Hey Folks,

Not sure if you heard but…2 bikes have been stolen at Danville Peet’s recently. Also, I was at the Peet’s on Domingo Ave in Berkeley (across from the Claremont hotel) on Saturday and the owner of Left Coast Cyclery (which is 3 door down from Peet’s) said that 4 bikes have been stolen from *that* Peet’s location too. Here’s what she said:

• The guy knows what he’s looking for…and he’s targeting high end bikes
• Sometimes he’s wearing cycling clothes, sometimes not

• He grabs the bikes and rides them away

• The thefts are happening on Saturdays/Sundays (when lots of cyclists are around…and lots of high end bikes)

• It’s apparently the same guy hitting both Peet’s locations (and maybe more, who knows?)

Make sure you (or someone you know) are watching your bike all the time!

Maybe it's time for a sting operation!