My very first bike that was stolen was a 1982 black Schwinn World that my parents bought be as an 8th grade graduation gift, I had the bike for about a year and literally rode that bike all over town, that was back in the days when we went out as kids and just spent the entire day in the summer outside. I road that bike practically all over Oak Lawn, IL. where I grew up, one day I had ridden to my friends house on the other side of town, parked in her fenced in backyard just like I had done so many times before but then one day it was stolen out of her yard. I always had a suspicion it was stolen by one of her idiot younger brother's friends but of course I could never prove it and never got it back. My parents were upset with me, but as a 13 year old kid I never thought about chaining it up at my friend's house especially not inside her fenced in yard, crime was not really a big thing back then and it was all the way in the backyard so someone just walking by could not have seen it, that's why I figured it was her brother's friends that stole it.
Then a few months after that they bought me a cheap ugly poop brown old lady looking 3 speed bike, the kind of cruiser now that I would enjoy riding at 52 years old
but as a 14 year old kid at the time that was the ugliest thing ever compared to my beautiful sleek black Schwinn World with the toe clips on the pedals I bought with my graduation money. I hated that ugly brown old lady 3 speed so much I road it to the library one day and left it unlocked in the bike racks on purpose hoping someone would steal that ugly thing, and low and behold someone did... I had forgotten that I rode it to the library I hated it that much and ended up leaving the library though the other set of doors and started walking home totally forgetting I rode the ugly bike so after I was halfway home I had to walk back to the library only to find out that it was actually stolen and someone took it from the bike rack. I rejoiced with such great joy and then got home and lied to my mom and dad and told them I had the bike locked up but it was stolen anyways, and took the bike chain and stupid me threw it all the way in the corner of the garage thinking they would never find the lock because the garage was a holy hell mess filled with crap. But alas one day they decided to really clean out the garage and my parents found that bike lock that I told them was on the ugly 3 speed when it was stolen and they were mad as hell that I lied to them. Sadly after that debacle I never had another new bike and road a cheap fixer up the old man down the street had for sale, he was one of those old guys that fixed up bikes and sold them for a couple of bucks displayed in his driveway.
I did not have a new bike until I was in college in 1988 and that is when I bought my 1987 Raleigh Seneca Mountain tour brand new at the Bike shop. I still have that bike today, that is my vintage Raleigh that I absolutely love, I have kept it indoors for most of the 32 years I have had it, except for two winters when I lived in an apartment and it was chained up under the breezeway in an apartment building. Silly me even tried to sell that Raleigh just this year thinking that It just didn't fit me right anymore because of my weight gain and my bad back, but I took off the straight handlebars and put riser bars on and put better tires on it.
I have never really gotten over the butt hurt anger I had when my 1982 Schwinn World got stolen, I think because I knew my friend's brother had something to do it, but we could never prove it. Had it never been stolen I know I would have still had that bike today. It may have been the cheapest Schwinn that they put out but growing up in the Chicago Suburbs in the late 70s and 80's any Schwinn from the Bike store was a holy grail bike in our eyes at the time.