jhnmrk

hi everyone. someone broke into our apartment building last night with a screwdriver and walked off with my orange fixie and my girlfriend's white geared bike out in the hallway. we live in the ft. greene/clinton hill area, so if any of you out there could keep an eye out for our dearly departed babies and PM me if you see them anywhere, we'd really appreciate it. descriptions are below...

my orange bike: orange bianchi touring frame with all blue components. the bianchi decals are all gone, though. fixed, ny mets decal on the front of the seat tube, #45 on the back of the seat tube, bianchi "rollo" headbadge. pictures: https://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2005...MarkBoling.htm only difference is that it's a little more scratched up and instead of having handlebar tape, it now has blue rubber grips, and the black toe clips on the pedals are steel and silver with black straps.

lindsay's white bike: white nycbikes cyclocross frame, mustache bars with tan bar tape and bar-end shifters, 18 gears, black rear fender, black seat with a V with bat wings on the front of it, suspension seatpost, nycbikes sticker on the bottom of the downtube, wide hybrid tires. i know she has some pics, but i'm not sure where they are. in the meantime, here's a pic from the nycbikes site:
https://nycbikes.com/item.php?item_id=223

we'd really appreciate any info or sightings, and for our part, we'll just try not to stab anyone in the throat in the next couple days.
-john mark

BlindRobert

sorry to hear about this. I have seen your orange bike before in the hood. (I ride an orange fixie too and have a thing for orange bikes.) Will definitely keep my eyes open. Good luck to you, bad luck to the a-hole that stole them.

EnLaCalle

that hurts, man. sorry. i live in your parts too. I'll keep my eyes peeled. If, for some reason, I see a crackhead trying to sell your bikes, I will try to buy them back for you.

Let's hope for a recovery.

J

el twe

Oh, that sucks! I remember oggling that bike on the FGG. Best of luck to you.

sabretech2001

I'll keep an eye out for it here in Queens. Do you mind if there are bloodstains on it?

wangster

I'm in the area also, so will keep a look out.

aksent

sorry to hear about your bikes, i'll definately keep my eyes open in my parts.

One suggestion might be to check the flea market on 26th and 6th ave in manhattan over the weekend, not the one you pay to get in as for it has moved, but the one over in the alley off of 26th. For some reason they always seem to be getting bikes from somewhere and you know they aren't going to garage sales in long island to get them.

good luck
paul

ImOnCrank

That sucks man, get that lock fixed. I'll be on the lookout in manhattan.

slvoid

I ride through that area every day on my commute, I'll keep an eye out for yours and ms.lohan's bikes.

Gurgus

That sucks! Your discription of your bike is kinda of ironic now, though(not to be mean).
I seriously hope you find your bikes.

wangster

if the thief isn't a complete moron, he would've painted over that sexy paint job already. That would call for an extra kick in the nuts when we catch him.

shishi

I'll keep my eye out for it.

jhnmrk

thanks for keeping your eyes peeled everyone... and for the flea market tip, and the orange bike props. this is even worse than if pedro himself had season ending surgery.

if we ever get the bikes back (oh god please), i'll be sure to post something here before riding them around so we don't get jumped by the posse of vigilantes we've assembled. in the meantime, regulators, mount up!

jhnmrk

just wanted to bump this topic back up to the top for all the neighborhood folks (EnLaCalle, BlindRobert, wangster, svloid).

yesterday my girlfriend was locking up at the library on washington and greene and heard my slightly jacked chainline grinding by and looked up and saw someone on a flat orange fixie with chipped paint, but with chopped and flipped bullhorns instead of the preacher bar style i had on it. she couldn't get unlocked and catch up w/ him in time, but she put it at a 75% positive ID, and aside from me she probably knows this bike better than anyone.

sooooooooo, as they say...if you see something, say something. don't go for blood or anything, or confront or even talk to the guy, because i'd hate for him to get all paranoid and mess up my paint job, but if you see my precious bicycle, pleeeeaaaase let me know. if it's still in the hood, i'll find it soon enough...and i've got a pulp fiction samuel l. jackson like speech i'm just itchin' to deliver. thanks everyone!

EnLaCalle

if i see someone on it, i will follow them until they stop at the place where i think they live (but on the sly so that they don't know)... unless you give me the nah-dog.

btw, the mets are killing me dude. first your bike, now this. I can feel the wildcard slowly slipping away from my fingertips. but like i say every year since 86... there's always next year.

jhnmrk

thanks, man...i'm not sure the bike/wildcard issues aren't connected...if we find the guy who broke into my apt we can drag his ass to shea and present willie with his scapegoat for the season. u-lock him up in the fan-zone and let the fans take their licks before home games.
on the other hand, if i get my bike back soon, the mets will turn it around, pedro will pitch a no-no to win the world series, i'll have 9 zeros across the top tube, and i'll be riding behind them in the parade...

luggedwithlove

if i see anything roll by my shop, i'll keep my eyes peeled.

wangster

what did the guy or girl on your bike look like?

crushkilldstroy

[redsoxfan]let's not talk about 1986, shall we?[/redsoxfan]

seriously though, good luck on finding the bike. and good luck with pedro too.

chrisg

hey i live right near there, i'll keep my eyes open. i would never believe a thief would have the chutzpah to keep a stolen bike in the same neighborhood. perhaps these master criminals are not as smart as i give them credit?

if i see him i'll get a shot with my cellphone, like they did with that subway ***********!

wallace125

Sorry dude. My wife and I just moved to brklyn from philly, and after asking the landlord and all our building mates, no one seemed to mind if we put a cinder block with a chain through the hole in our entry area. We then just lock our bikes to the chain. We also hung a curtain over the entry window door so that passersby cannot see in. I will keep my eyes open. I also love orange bikes.

EnLaCalle

wallace. If you can, I would definitely take your bikes into your apartment. I guess if you don't have enough space, you can't... but just my advice. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to leave my building only to find that one or many of the idiots that also live there just left the front door swung wide open. in our neighborhood, my girlfriend and I would comment on how we were surprised everytime we walked past a bike that was parked on Greene between adelphi and carleton that it was still there b/c it was a shiny new red cruiser... kinda retro looking. A junky bike, but pretty cool looking actually. Barely locked up (I don't remember how, but I think it was with one of those dinky cable cords...). Sure enough, walking by that spot the night before last, we noticed that only a wheel remained. It was only a matter of time, we thought.

I would hope that your bikes would be safe in your entrance way, but I wouldn't count on it. Especially if they're nice. If you're sure that the door closes all the time without someone having to actually make sure the door closed all the way and locked itself, then you're probably fine. If not, I wouldn't do it.

bikiola

the area is really safe (i live on lafayette and adelphi) but yeah, bikes are bikes. although i've left bikes outside overnight (if a bunch of friends are crashing, etc) but i keep mine inside always, locked to the banister. why not take the extra 5 seconds (if you have room)?

luckycat

Sorry about your loss, that blows. You've probably got a good chance of finding it though, sounds like it was pretty easy to steal, so I'm guessing it was either kids or crackheads.

And not to rub it in, but enlacalle andwallace are totally right. Either bring it in, or lock them up to something in the hall if you have to keep them out there. I have five bikes inside an LES studio, and usually keep them locked together inside.

Did you file a police report? I know it sounds kind of corny and useless, but if you do find someone on your bike things could get really nasty, and it's not a bad idea to have proof that it's your bike and it was stolen to back you up.

In any case, I'm all over the city and will keep an eye out. Good luck.

jhnmrk

the guy who *may* have been seen riding it was a 20ish white dude, probably a pratt student with jeans and button down shirt, so the poor guy's probably clueless and thinks he got a good deal on a bike. but no matter, i want it back.

it doesn't look like it was that easy to get into the apartment, prying open two doors with a screwdriver isn't exactly hard to do, but it's not like the doors were just sitting there all inviting-like just waiting to be jimmied open. we usually kept them locked up inside our place but were lazy that night. (we don't get lazy anymore though) anyhow, we did do the police report, and i have officer tucciarone's number at the 88th in my wallet for easy reference... the police report also comes in handy for the renter's insurance claim.

the neighborhood is great, but i wouldn't go so far as safe...i've known plenty of people (myself included) beaten and mugged around the park on the carlton side especially. but yeah, be smart, keep your bikes INSIDE inside, not hallway inside if you can help it.