Touring - Stolen Bike story??

OK - I've now got a stolen bike story. I've been touring for years and my bike has never been stolen - but last night someone came into the campground and stole my son's bike. Fortunately, my husband heard them taking it and woke up in time to get it back, but we were pretty darn scared for that 20 minutes or so!! I've got the whole story here: http://familyonbikes.org/blog/?p=1699

So - what kind of stolen bike stories do you have?

No stolen bikes, but this bird stole my soap on a trip around Lake Ontario.

http://www.pbase.com/mwb/image/114400266/medium.jpg

Actually, it wasn't this particular bird, but it was one just like him. Probably his brother. You can see the shifty eyes that run in the family.

I was camping at the Southwick Beach State Park in New York along Lake Ontario.

http://www.pbase.com/mwb/image/114400314/medium.jpg

I had showered and I left my small bar of soap on the picnic table to dry before I put it away. When I walked back to my camp from doing a load of laundry in the bathroom sink, I saw the bird grab my soap and take off with it. That was my only soap.

I chased after him and he dropped it about 100 feet down the road as he made his getaway. I got it back but I had to shower with a bar of soap that had beak marks on it after that.

Hilarious!!! Reminds me of the time a raccoon stole our peanut butter - the whole jar! We never got it back though.

Good you got it back!

Hahaha! That's so funny! Seagulls will eat anything. Or at least try.

No, no stolen bikes stories. But I have a really hard time sleeping when camping, thinking somebody will steal the bikes. Or murder us in our sleep. I'm more of a b&b/motel kind of gal, even though I really like the idea of camping. ;)

Glad you got the bike back! Good luck on the rest of the tour!

Back in October, my house was completely ransacked. The intruders tore up furniture, broke tvs and computers, knocked holes in walls, ground broken glass into the carpets, shot up the inside of the house with airsoft and bb guns, just destroyed everything that can be imagined.

Amazingly, my bike was fine. It was unlocked in the garage, and had been shoved out of the way to get at a chainsaw, which was used on the door. It amazes me that with all the destruction done, the bike was left alone, and I am very grateful for that.

Before I go on tour again, I'm going to print up some authentic-looking warning sticks for my bike, indicating an alarm system or gps tracking. Between a lock, the stickers, and the underwear-on-top pannier packing method, I just might feel okay browsing for groceries with my bike outside =P

Long ago I once had my touring bike stolen from inside my house one week before a long tour. I then hurredly built up a whole new bike for the trip on a credit card and did the tour. When I returned from the tour i had a phone call from a Sheriff's Detective that I knew. He asked me to go with him in his car. We drove ten miles South of town to a small residential area.

He then directed me to a house with a 20 year old outside spray painting a bicycle frame. I walked up and talked to the young man. I told him that I knew the serial number on the frame without even looking. He blustered and got angry. I told him that I was the nice guy in this and that the bad guy was walking up the driveway behind him just now. The detective arrested the guy and took him to jail.

Later the kid's father called me asking me to not prosecute. He paid me the total cost of my new bike and his son was placed on probation for grand theft with credit for time served in jail. A nice outcome to the trauma of a bike theft.

I had 2 mtb's on a spare tire rack on my bronco 2. this rack sandwiched the toptubes between two plates held together by screw knobs and a padlock. I had a skinny cable through the front wheels and frames.
I went into a supermarket in buffalo n.y. at 1:30 p.m. for no more than 6 minutes.
as we were walking out my wife says " it looks like a bike is missing". sure enough My 94 GT RTS3 was gone! the cable was cut and on the ground. the plates were pried apart but the padlock prevented them from seperating completely.
as I stood there in disbelief and disgust I thought, maybe someone in the parking lot saw something. I started looking around to see if there was anyone sitting in their car. I saw a guy a row over staring at me pretty hard from his car.
as I walked over to him he started the engine and put it in reverse! at this point I ran up to his open window and asked him if he saw a bicycle. the words no sooner left my lips when I looked in his backseat at my GT. I grabbed his steeringwheel and demanded, loudly, that he give it back! he put the car in park and got out, saying something about how he just bought it from some black guy for his son, and he 's on probation and doesnt want any trouble...yada yada.
I reached in, grabbed my ride, and calmly walked away...
My bike had 2 deep gouges across the toptube from the rack but I got it back and rode it for the next few years.
187866

I had 2 mtb's on a spare tire rack on my bronco 2. this rack sandwiched the toptubes between two plates held together by screw knobs and a padlock. I had a skinny cable through the front wheels and frames.
I went into a supermarket in buffalo n.y. at 1:30 p.m. for no more than 6 minutes.
as we were walking out my wife says " it looks like a bike is missing". sure enough My 94 GT RTS3 was gone! the cable was cut and on the ground. the plates were pried apart but the padlock prevented them from seperating completely.
as I stood there in disbelief and disgust I thought, maybe someone in the parking lot saw something. I started looking around to see if there was anyone sitting in their car. I saw a guy a row over staring at me pretty hard from his car.
as I walked over to him he started the engine and put it in reverse! at this point I ran up to his open window and asked him if he saw a bicycle. the words no sooner left my lips when I looked in his backseat at my GT. I grabbed his steeringwheel and demanded, loudly, that he give it back! he put the car in park and got out, saying something about how he just bought it from some black guy for his son, and he 's on probation and doesnt want any trouble...yada yada.
I reached in, grabbed my ride, and calmly walked away...
My bike had 2 deep gouges across the toptube from the rack but I got it back and rode it for the next few years.
187866

Your story doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy living in Buffalo. Hopefully your time in Buffalo wasn't completely defined by that experience.

I was there for 28 happy years. I did have a bike stolen when I was about 10 from my garage (huffy 626), a stereo from the same truck, and a gold necklace from right off my neck. what part of the city are you in??

Wow! I think we got pretty easily! Nothing hurt or lost permanently...

Now that I think about it, we did have an incident in India back in 1991. John needed to go to the American Express office to cash a check so he rode his bike over there. When he got to the office, he found there was nothing to lock his bike to, so he locked it with the chain next to the guard hoping that nobody would simply pick it up and walk off.

As he stood in line at AMEX, he just had a feeling - one of those gut feelings. He left the line and dashed down to his bike - it was gone!! The guard wasn't there either.

Somebody pointed a finger down into the busy market down the street, so John took off running - the man was carrying his bike right through the market! John tackled the man, grabbed his bike, rode back to our hotel, then walked to the AMEX office.

I thought that I did not need to lock my bike when I was standing 25 feet away from it, but the guy that grabbed it and jumped on it could pedal faster than I could run. Bikes compared to wages were quite expensive in the early 1970s when I was in high school, it took me about 60 to 80 hours of work to accumulate the money to buy that bike. Now, if I go into a fast food store or stop to go to a restroom, I lock the bike. For a quick stop like that it might be a wimpy little lock like skiers use (such locks easily fit in a jersey pocket and weigh very little), but it is locked well enough to slow down a thief for at least several seconds.

If I was in a campground and nervous about bike theft, I would pull off the front wheel and put it between the tent body and tent fly, or in a tent vestibule if there is room. A one wheeled bike is less theft prone. Also, dirty bikes are less theft prone.

A friend of mine in college bought a used bike for $2 and it looked like he paid too much for it. He rode it for a year and a half around college, never locking it. He blew a tire, put a new tire on it and it was stolen within a week.

In the 1970s my niece had a cheap low quality bike that looked very nice with a fresh coat of paint. It was on the same porch as a columbus tubed campy equiped bike that had scrapped up paint and some rust where the paint had been scrapped off. The thief took my niece's bike but left the ugly looking racing bike. I later bought the racing bike and still own it.

Holy cow! Is it just me or am I really depressed with some of these stories?

I did have a bike stolen -from where I work, fortunately a freebie -though I'd put some time and some components into it. I really dislike -not so much in terms of the value of the item that is stolen -that someone would steal it. Really sad there are people out there who do that, though I'm not sure how you can change people like that.

Only bike I had stolen was in college, a beater of sorts that I left on my girl friend's doorstep while visiting. Not smart by me. The only time I leave my bike unattended is at a convenience store when I go into to get a snack, or if it's on my car. I have a cable lock for when it's on the car but I rarely use it, plus it's on the roof of a small SUV and hard to reach without a step stool. If I'm going to be inside for awhile, like at a restaraunt, I'll park where I can see the bike and car, but I have never had any trouble. I also don't usually go to heavily populated areas with my bike, so I think that cuts down on the odds of some pro bike theives being around.

Years ago I was flying to Frankfurt, Germany, to go on a bike trip in France with a German friend. My bike was in a box with my sleeping bag and handlebar bag. The box and its contents never showed up. Half a dozen other passengers also had a piece of checked luggage missing. So I was starting a bicycle camping trip with no bike and no sleeping bag. None of the stolen luggage was ever recovered. My trip was a success, however. I borrowed an old bike from my friend in Germany, and although the frame was far too big for me, I cross the Black Forest, the Massif Central, and the Pyrenees on that bike. We didn't camp, however. We stayed mostly in youth hostels. Amazingly, at the end of the trip, the SNCF (French national railroad) lost the bike I had borrowed. Fortunately it was found several days later.

Never stolen, but this thread has me thinking I ought to be more careful, maybe even get a lock.

The casual thief would have a terrible time trying to ride off on mine as the geometry is so out of the box, and loaded, it would be very awkward for the uninitiated.

Nancy, your thieves were really brazen and determined. Hard to defeat that sort.

Sometimes if I think it merits it, I deliberately leave the bike out of gear just for that reason. Course, it always means I forget that I did it and then spend some time lifting the rear wheel up and spinning the crank when i get back to the bike......



I thought that I did not need to lock my bike when I was standing 25 feet away from it, but the guy that grabbed it and jumped on it could pedal faster than I could run.

When I was a young lad I spent a hot July bailing hay in order to purchase a used but in excellent condition "10 speed English Racer". God, I loved that green bike and rode it everywhere. I even bastardized it by mounting saddle baskets in the rear so that I could deliver my paper route while also being able to stuff a tent and gear on it so I could do my first "touring". I cleaned it constantly and was forever tuning the mechanics in order to improve the performance. One day it was stolen from the garage and it absolutely broke the heart and spirit of that young boy. The offender will never begin to know what sorrow he caused and maybe one day the now older man will find it in his heart to forgive that fellow,.........but I doubt it.

Back in October, my house was completely ransacked. The intruders tore up furniture, broke tvs and computers, knocked holes in walls, ground broken glass into the carpets, shot up the inside of the house with airsoft and bb guns, just destroyed everything that can be imagined.


God, that must have felt like a kick in the solar plexus. Years ago, I had a little cabin up on Lake Superior. Not much of a place, but we loved it, until some criminal masterminds broke in and just beat the crap out of it. They wrecked every stick of furniture and every humble possession in the place. So what did they steal? Just a used porta-potty and its contents (Who steals somebody's poop?), and a woodstove that hadn't been installed yet. Being idiots, they didn't take the firebrick lining, so at least we got to hope they installed the unlined stove and burned their house down with it.
On a lighter note, we were victimized by a raccoon crime wave years ago while car camping in Kentucky. Somehow the critters unlatched and opened a steel Coleman cooler and made off with some cheese and a country ham we had just bought at a general store down the road. Those little guys make Yogi Bear look like an amateur!

My 1972 Atala (giro de) 95% rebuilt to tour was removed from my shed, cables and locks cut. We rode to Art/Science degree-college (1980-82), across USA (AdvCycling e/w + SFCA 1982), philly to erie, pa (1983), Vermont (1984), all Nova Scotia Canada (1985), and commuted to work/other tours before it was Stolen 1994 Police did Jac shift, nothing!

sad day to see a friend removed, ....still in memory!

tomg

After my First year of college,I built a Nine speed commuter from a Raleigh record frameset and a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub with a Cyclo-Benelux triple cog converter. The crakn set was from a Viscount Aerospace bike and it was my first complete build fron scratch. The bike hade full black Bluemel fenders , and"mixte" bars and an early Blackburn Brake-bridge mounted rack. I had a small rivit Brooks Pro saddle on it,as well. After three years of commuting on it around Philadelphia, I got a job in Bucks County ( Just a little too far for me to effectively commute, by bike, to). I used SEPTA buses to get to the job (near the Willow Grove Naval Air Station) accessed from a bus "depot" near Ogontz Avenue. I chained the bike there with a case hardened chain and an "armored" Masterlock padlock. I returned after a days work to find my beloved commuter gone..... It was a very terrible feeling, loosing something I had crafted so carefully.

God, that must have felt like a kick in the solar plexus. Years ago, I had a little cabin up on Lake Superior. Not much of a place, but we loved it, until some criminal masterminds broke in and just beat the crap out of it. They wrecked every stick of furniture and every humble possession in the place. So what did they steal? Just a used porta-potty and its contents (Who steals somebody's poop?), and a woodstove that hadn't been installed yet. Being idiots, they didn't take the firebrick lining, so at least we got to hope they installed the unlined stove and burned their house down with it.
On a lighter note, we were victimized by a raccoon crime wave years ago while car camping in Kentucky. Somehow the critters unlatched and opened a steel Coleman cooler and made off with some cheese and a country ham we had just bought at a general store down the road. Those little guys make Yogi Bear look like an amateur!

My consolation: Most of my personal items which where lost or destroyed, where all items I would have sold before the bike tour I'm planning. It was all covered by insurance, and even with depreciation figured in, I probably got more for most of it then I would have on craigslist. They put my family up in a really spiffy hotel for a month, too. Just what I need in the middle of a long, boring winter.... though it's easier to say that now that the monumental effort of cataloging the destruction for the insurance company is over ><

Heh - Raccoons, man. A few years ago I was treating myself to some campfire steak late at night in a state park. A reckless young raccoon jumped right up on the table with me and tried to snatch my cooler! In both raccoons and people, it's the dumb young ones you got to watch out for.

Sorry to hear about the cabin. It's really disheartening to see how short-sighted and heartless people can be, to decide that one night of partying is worth destroying pieces of someones life.

Sorry to hear about the cabin. It's really disheartening to see how short-sighted and heartless people can be, to decide that one night of partying is worth destroying pieces of someones life.
I've always been baffled by vandalism, a crime that hurts the victim, often very badly, and does nothing to benefit the perpetrator. At least a thief gets to keep or sell the stuff the victim worked for and earned. The sheer stupidity is part of what makes vandalism so disturbing.

Seagulls are the worst and as they seem to have stolen part in this thread too, here's my story:

A couple of years ago I was kayak touring the Finnish lake district when I accidentally paddled into a seagull couple's territory. Apparently their offspring was somewhere in the vicinity. I know I never saw their nest or any baby seagulls. But the couple were big, loud and very aggressive, so the nest must've been near. After a few minutes of frantic paddling they finally considered me not a threat anymore. A bit later I realized my Rudy Project sunglasses were gone. I must have knocked them off the deck during the hassle. The seagulls got an expensive addition to their trophy collection, and I switched to no-brand sunglasses.

--J

I've always been baffled by vandalism, a crime that hurts the victim, often very badly, and does nothing to benefit the perpetrator. At least a thief gets to keep or sell the stuff the victim worked for and earned. The sheer stupidity is part of what makes vandalism so disturbing.

exactly - it just doesn't make sense to me.

I thought of another stolen bike story! When I was a kid (like 6th grade or so) my sister brought her bike into our house and left it on the porch. All seven of us were inside watching TV or something and some idiot broke the pane of glass on the door, opened the door, walked in, and stole her bike!!!

About three years later the Boise somebody-or-other were dredging the Boise River to clean it up. We got a call. Sure enough - my sister's bike.

Here at college the $20 bike is in highest demand as bike are stolen by the rack. How in the winter we as a rule don't ride a lot. Most people buy a nice bike and from then on buy the $20 one. An unlucky friend loss four bikes in one term, with each new bike she locked it to a different rack at school. This friend now walks.

Actually, I have a seagull story that might be worth a laugh. I was at a nice little resort on Lake Superior, climbing around the shoreline and taking pictures.

At some point, climbing became more interesting then taking pictures, so I set the camera down to free up my hands. I was maybe 50 feet from my camera, when I see an awkwardly flying seagull. The bird can barely get off the ground, and seems to be carrying something large and silvery in its beak. My camera is silver. The seagull is dragging this unknown object around by what appears to be a lanyard. Oh, crap.

I was pretty sure this wouldn't end well, and the seagull would end up dumping my camera in the lake, but I ran after it anyway. To my great relief, the bird seemed a bit confused as well and dropped it on dry ground after flapping around a bit. However.... it wasn't my camera. It was a silvery, dead, headless fish. What I mistook for a lanyard, of course, was fish guts. The camera was right where I left it. Just gross.

How where you able to deal with the police and guards so quickly? Do yo speak fluent Spanish or did they speak English?

I can see t real problem in touring to non English speaking countries when dealing with emergencies like these. I know how stressful it was for me just trying to deal with minor day to day things with my limited Italian when touring Italy.

While visiting my daughter in Salt Lake city last summer she was showing us around the downtown area by bikes.We locked our bikes outside a restuarant at 1:00 pm on a sunday afternoon only to come out a half hour later to find the lock cut and my daughter's prized Santa Cruz mountain bike gone.They left my wife's trek hybrid that was locked with it.Evidently not worth stealing.Needless to say my Daughter was heartbroken and distraught having saved a good long time for the bike.I felt so bad for her within 3 hours I had bought her a new bike thanks to all the numerous bike shops in SLC.In fact I am still paying off my credit card from that purchase but there was no way I was going to leave my daughter without a bike.If we had not planned to head home the following day I had thought about laying a trap for the thief the very next day by putting the new bike in the same spot with a cheap lock and lay in wait for him to try to steal it.THEN BEAT HIM TO A PULP WHEN HE DID!!!!

Several things that may help with bike theft happening to you.

1.U-Lock (Kryptonite): Really hard to defeat for most thieves and comes with a warranty insuring your bike, if locked with it. (I still need to buy one myself, but everyone I meet swears by them.)

2.Bicycle Registration: Many thieves steal the bikes to get somewhere and then dump them. The police usually find them, but have no way of giving them back to the owner. In California as an example, you can go down to the local fire station or register a bicycle online for little less than 10 dollars. Your bicycle information and contact information is stored in their database for several years, and you get a very difficult to remove metal licence sticker.

3.Police: Remember how I said there are hundereds of bicycles the police find and cant track down the owner? These bicycles fill up their space and they have no choice but to sell them after about a year. If your bicycle was stolen and it didnt was not registered, you can go down to your local police station and try to find it in their pile, or by contacting them and just giving them you bicycle information. Consequently also a great place to go buy a used bicycle, as they are usually sold at police auctions to make space not money.

4.Beusaged Bicycles: Yes if your bike looks ****ty it will be less likely its stolen. If the bicycle runs fine and there are not rust spots developing that will compromise frame strength, leaving it as is will help deter thieves. Also if you park your used bicycle next to a newer bicycle with less "defences", you could be adding an anti-theft lightning rod.

5.All the basics: Other things that help: locking your bike through the front wheel and frame, taking off the front wheel, taking off the front wheel and locking the bike through front back and frame, avoiding quickrelease seats, parking the bike out of gear, taking the bike in with you (sometimes its better to try and be told no, than to not try), using more than one lock, removing head badge and/or decals, melting candle wax into areas a screwdriver or hexwrench need to get into.

cant think of anything else atm :P

Thankfully, I haven't had any bikes stolen, yet. This happened to my roommate, but still worth telling: He had an old Trek 520 sitting unlocked in our carport, and one morning he found it gone. He posted an ad on craigslist saying something like "Stolen Trek bike - this bike has only sentimental value, its not worth much and I'd like it back. I'm sure you had a drunk night with your friends, having a good time, and decided to steal a bike. You had fun, but please just bring it back and put where you found it, thanks."

The next day it was back in the carport. Whether or not the "thief" actually saw the post or maybe one of our friends was messing with us, we'll never know. Makes for a good story though, haha.

How where you able to deal with the police and guards so quickly? Do yo speak fluent Spanish or did they speak English?

I can see t real problem in touring to non English speaking countries when dealing with emergencies like these. I know how stressful it was for me just trying to deal with minor day to day things with my limited Italian when touring Italy.

I am fluent in Spanish, so am the one to deal with everything regarding the language. It does help to have fluency in the language!

cierto que si, y por este sujete, tengo solemente dos palabras......

touch wood

The week before this past Christmas, a guy came into my house while the GF and I were upstairs watching the news in bed. He took my cell phone and my LHT with my custom Beckman rear rack and the mounting hardware for the front rack attached. I heard him going out the door, but didn't know at the time that he had left. When I finally ventured downstairs I could smell his unwashed funk in my livingroom. If I can say anything good about the expericence it's that we will never accidentally leave the door unlocked again and that he left behind the two custom IF road bikes. (No, we didn't by them as a couple. We bought them independently (pun intended) before we started dating.)

I am ordering a new LHT today, but I have a feeling I will see the stolen one being ridden around once spring comes.

I've had two bikes stolen. The first was my racing MTB when I lived in Italy in the army. I went to a friends apartment to drop off a DVD I had borrowed, locked the bike to a drain pipe on the building, wasn't inside twenty minutes and it was gone.
The second time was just two weeks ago. Left the garage door open while I took the dogs out to pee, went around the corner and came back, bike was gone. It was a surly pacer road bike. I live in one of the most low crime towns in California, called Moraga, but thieves from out of town have recently started robbing places here.

Machak was stolen last Easter from about 3 feet away in front of the tent, next to the van. We heard the thieves (more than one) outside the tent, but by the time we got out ... they were gone and so was Machak. We managed to determine the direction they went because they took out my bottles and removed my helmet from the bicycle and dropped them on the ground ... but then they vanished.

It was a quiet little town where "nothing like this ever happens". We reported it to the police, and spent days searching and searching. The police did a door knock, put up posters, and even dragged a pond ... to no avail. We're not sure if it was local kids ... other campers ... someone driving by from another town or city ... or perhaps even someone who was watching and waiting.

I still check craigslist and others fairly frequently to see if maybe someone has put Machak up for sale ... and we even went back up to the town recently when they had a town yard sale to see if maybe .... but it's getting on for a year now ...

Several things that may help with bike theft happening to you.

1.U-Lock (Kryptonite): Really hard to defeat for most thieves and comes with a warranty insuring your bike, if locked with it. (I still need to buy one myself, but everyone I meet swears by them.)You need to meet more BF'ers then. :)

Seriously, Kryptonites are good locks, but many other manufacturers offer similar (i.e. far from perfect) protection. I have an Abus myself. If a thief knows what he's doing and really wants the bike, your bike is his no matter which lock(s) you used. Good (heavy and expensive) locks do help to deter the occasional thief, and they make the next bike look like a better target.

Regarding the Kryptonite warranty part... don't count on it, especially when touring. It's only offered in a handful of countries to begin with. I don't know if one can claim for compensation for a loss that occurred outside of those countries. There's also a lot of red tape involved with the warranty claims. You will have to present the broken Kryptonite for inspection, for example. Any decent traveller's insurance offers better coverage with less hassle.

--J

Along the California Coast I caught a fox trying to steal my drink out of my water bottle.... Next morning went to take my drink from that same bottle and it proceeded to spray juice mix all over me. Those little buggers have sharp teeth it seems since the bottle had about ten small holes around the spout.

Seagulls and crows...... well, if it's not nailed down it will fly away. :)

Nancy, glad you got the bike back!

A few years ago I was doing a road trip in a big white moving van with two other friends. It was a two seater with a cargo back (gutted no windows). We wielded a third bucket seat to the floor and loaded the van with everything you’re not supposed to bring on a road trip 3 bikes, 5 skateboards, 2 bowling balls, fireworks, Halloween costumes and anything we thought would be funny or useful on our travels. When we arrived in New York and we parked the van in an overnight parking lot in downtown Manhattan. We adventured around the city for the day on our bikes. We usually locked the bikes up by chaining them up with u-locks inside the van, when we arrived back to the parking lot it was closed. We had no way of getting to our van to lock up our bikes. We had one U-lock and a cable lock to secure 3 bikes. The hotel wouldn’t let us bring our bikes inside so we were in a pickle. We could fit the u-lock on two of bikes and the third bike was just cable locked to the other two bikes. Sure enough in the morning the cable was cut and one of the bikes was stolen. I guess we got the true New York bike experience. The rest of the trip we tied a rope to one of our bikes and someone skitched on a skateboard to get around.

I started bike commuting in the early 1990's on my first Hard Rock. I stopped after work one night in 1994 to buy something at a store and locked it up to some bars with a cheap chain lock. I was in the store for 5 minutes. It was gone when I came out, the lock laying on the ground (cut). Someone sitting nearby said he saw someone ride off with it. Notified the police, but never saw that bike again. Later that year I bought another Hard Rock and took it on my first tour. Three years later I lost it in flood waters (I lived on a boat at the time and it fell off the dock when I was leaving for work). Replaced it with another Hard Rock in 1998, and (knock on wood) still have that one.

The rest of the trip we tied a rope to one of our bikes and someone skitched on a skateboard to get around while dressed as a gorilla, throwing lit firecrackers at old ladies and waving the bowling ball at groups of small schoolchildren on the sidewalk.......

real story sucks though....

I was coming home from a training ride once and set my racing bike just outside a convenience store door, could see it from inside, went inside to get a coke, and came out to see a guy carrying my bike off. there I was in road shoes, helmet still on and cleats clicking as I chased him across the parking lot. He dropped the bike and stopped like he was going to talk to me. I drew back like to punch him and he just walked off, muttering about how he was sorry but he had a bad habit he had to support.

hence my support for making Soylent Green out of addicts who steal stuff (he says whilst reading a piece by Jonathon Swift)

Actually, I have a seagull story that might be worth a laugh. I was at a nice little resort on Lake Superior, climbing around the shoreline and taking pictures.

At some point, climbing became more interesting then taking pictures, so I set the camera down to free up my hands. I was maybe 50 feet from my camera, when I see an awkwardly flying seagull. The bird can barely get off the ground, and seems to be carrying something large and silvery in its beak. My camera is silver. The seagull is dragging this unknown object around by what appears to be a lanyard. Oh, crap.

I was pretty sure this wouldn't end well, and the seagull would end up dumping my camera in the lake, but I ran after it anyway. To my great relief, the bird seemed a bit confused as well and dropped it on dry ground after flapping around a bit. However.... it wasn't my camera. It was a silvery, dead, headless fish. What I mistook for a lanyard, of course, was fish guts. The camera was right where I left it. Just gross.

That's funny! I love when stories take a turn like that.

Nothing as interesting as your story, and nothing that turned out for the best.

That's crazy that you got the bike back though. AWESOME victory!

El Bolson seems to have a crime problem. When I camped there last month some passing cyclists told me someone had their panniers stolen in a campsite the night before. Also last month some german cyclists had there bags stolen as well. My friend and the cyclists and a guy from the campsite we able to track down the thieves. They had rocks thrown at them, but thankfully no knives. It's too bad, El Bolson seems nice otherwise.

Glad to hear you got the bike back!

Also sorry we never crossed paths, I ended up heading north through Chile after San Martin de Los Andes.

Mine isn't a touring story but I was riding on the San Gabriel River bike path - the path is closed to cars except the occasional Army Corp of Engineers or county of Los Angeles trucks. I hear a pick-up truck behind me so I move to the right. The truck driver guns the engine and moves to my left as if to pass. The driver hits me with the pick up and down I go. He jumps out with a tire iron and picks my bike up off the ground and puts it into the bed of the truck. I get up and go to the truck and grab my bike and the guy comes at me with the tire iron. I drop the bike and the guy gets into the truck and pulls away. I got the license number but it turns out the truck was stolen.

Soylent Green candidate there I reckon.

Mine isn't a touring story but I was riding on the San Gabriel River bike path - the path is closed to cars except the occasional Army Corp of Engineers or county of Los Angeles trucks. I hear a pick-up truck behind me so I move to the right. The truck driver guns the engine and moves to my left as if to pass. The driver hits me with the pick up and down I go. He jumps out with a tire iron and picks my bike up off the ground and puts it into the bed of the truck. I get up and go to the truck and grab my bike and the guy comes at me with the tire iron. I drop the bike and the guy gets into the truck and pulls away. I got the license number but it turns out the truck was stolen.

Holy crap, that sounds like something right out of the GTA video game! I will have to watch out for maniac trucks when im on that path then.

OK - I've now got a stolen bike story. I've been touring for years and my bike has never been stolen - but last night someone came into the campground and stole my son's bike. Fortunately, my husband heard them taking it and woke up in time to get it back, but we were pretty darn scared for that 20 minutes or so!! I've got the whole story here: http://familyonbikes.org/blog/?p=1699

So - what kind of stolen bike stories do you have?

Yay! Was it locked?