Last month my bike was stolen. It was locked. Just a cable and master lock. I was only in the store for a minute. Got a chocolate milk and right back out. My bike was gone. OK enough excuses. I know, <sigh>.
I figured I would never see it again. Then about a week and a half ago she showed up in Craigslist. At first I wasn't sure. But the seat was custom. And the magnet for the computer was in exactly the same place on the same spoke.
My bike is a Trek 7.1FX Hybrid. I bought her in 2010 and have a lot of pictures. Including pix of the serial number and decal on the underside. I printed some of these out. The more I looked at the ad and at my pix the more I felt like it was my bike.
I called the police a week ago and they wrote down the info. The officer who came out called the number in the ad and asked if they could read off the serial number. The person on the other end said they weren't home at that time. The officer said she would turn over the info to detectives.
After not hearing from the police over the last week I got to thinking. While my bike is important to me, to them this is a might be stolen bike. If I wanted her back I would have to meet with the person and ID the bike myself.
So this morning I called the number and set up a meet. It was my bike. You know how you see little scars that you couldn't describe but that are familiar to you? It was her but I needed the SN.
He looked like a high school or college aged kid. When I asked if I could test ride her he got a suspicious look and said no but he would show me she shifted good. So he flipped her over himself and demonstrated the shifting. While he did I read the SN. The decal was gone but the stamped SN was still on the bottom.
I told him I needed to think about it and would call back a little later. Then I called the police and set up another meet.
The bike is in the shop now. The kid had changed the rear wheel and tire for the worse. And the brakes barely worked. Not sure what he did. The clamp for the light is still there but not the light. Anyways I'm happy now.
