The Chainlink

Another stolen bike :- (

My teen son's bike was stolen from the rack at NSCP at Kedzie and Bryn Mawr.   He went home early from school yesterday due to illness and didn't take the bike.  It was locked to the rack with a Kryptonite lock but of course that's not much security.   Bringing the bike home would have been.


Bike is fairly unique looking so I have a faint hope someone will spot it.  Unfortunately I don't have a photo to upload.

It's a 70s Motobecane (headbadge still on) brushpainted BROWN with the original red showing through the scratches.   Bullhorns with inverse brake levers in the ends, no bar tape but blue masking tape is holding the (red) brake cables down.

Semi-deep-V rims over high flange Nashbar hubs (flipflop rear), very unusual BROWN Schwalbe Delta Cruiser tires (fat) with wide reflective sidewalls.

There is a security camera and they are looking at the tapes for what that's worth.  I have already put up a listing on the CSBD.  I may look at the notorious flea market for it, schedule allowing.   The bike is not worth much but son is pretty disappointed esp as it's the second bike he's had stolen this year.

Any information gratefully received.   Please, comments about how bad an idea it was for him to have left the bike there would not be helpful.

Thanks for reading.

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on September 7, 2012 at 6:23pm

Sorry for the bike loss, Al.  I'm sure all of us will keep our eyes open for your son's bike.  Beyond scouting Swap-o-Rama this weekend and putting Google alerts on Craig's List & eBay for the Motobecane, you might want to post flyers in all the area bike shops, so that the shop employees & customers are aware.  Lately, area bike shops have been in the forefront of a lot of bike recoveries.

Permalink Reply by Jaik S. on September 7, 2012 at 6:37pm

In my searches i've found statewidelist to be a big help in searching craigslist. It searches the entire state, so that you don't have to search individual cities. I would also recommend checking bordering states if it's something you think may turn up or are really invested in getting it back. 

The site isn't perfect and it takes a few minutes to get used to, but it's worth it in my opinion.

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on September 7, 2012 at 6:42pm

^^  +1 J. Smith!  ^^

Permalink Reply by Albany Park Al on September 8, 2012 at 12:31pm

Thanks, guys, esp Thunder Snow.  I put up a listing on CL, no responses yet, and we may contact local shops.   Doubtful if that will work without a photo.    I have the rest of our family's bikes documented well, but this was a recent addition and son was seemingly never home, so it never got its picture taken or SN recorded.

'Statewidelist' is a CL aggregator, and I kind of doubt anyone would take this bike out the area to sell it.   I've used 'Searchtempest' which goes straight by mileage distance, perhaps more useful as it would show Milwaukee or Gary before say Carbondale.   However it can also make Kalamazoo appear easily accessible since it doesn't care about the lake.  Best of all was jaxed.com, which collected *all* CL listings and then allowed you to narrow it to state or region; that's where I found my Motobecane (in Milwaukee), however they've apparently been hit with another cease and desist order.  Not sure how the others get away with it.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 8, 2012 at 1:34pm

Don't overlook the Google Alert recommendation. It's typically my third after making sure the victim has filed a CSBR report and a police report.

Permalink Reply by Josh L. on September 8, 2012 at 4:55pm

I am surprised that a kryptonite was cut through at that location. My undersatanding is only the serious bike thieves have the equipment/will  to cut those and they go after expensive bikes in the loop/lincoln park. Not a slam on kedzie/bryn mawr (i live in uptown)..just not expected.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 8, 2012 at 5:58pm

I was also a hair surprised, but the professional thieves who cut U-locks tend to stick to main arteries and could have easily just passed this location while on their way to or from their favorite brown line stops.

Fingers crossed, sometime in the not too distant future you'll be able to filter the map view of the Chicago Stolen Bike Registry by lock type and other criteria, and these patterns will pop out at you...



jolondon30 said:

I am surprised that a kryptonite was cut through at that location. My undersatanding is only the serious bike thieves have the equipment/will  to cut those and they go after expensive bikes in the loop/lincoln park. Not a slam on kedzie/bryn mawr (i live in uptown)..just not expected.

Permalink Reply by Josh L. on September 8, 2012 at 6:14pm

Interesting...good theory.  I'll bet they had a van..maybe coming down Bryn Mawr.

Permalink Reply by Barse5 on September 8, 2012 at 10:14pm

I am sorry to hear about your son's bike and will keep a look out. There have been a few bikes stolen from Northside College Prep. I would hope that the school is making the kids aware of this...recently  the security guard bike was also stolen.

Permalink Reply by Albany Park Al on September 9, 2012 at 10:53am

We'll see what security at NS says tomorrow about the tapes.  Our daughter's bike was stolen from there a few years ago, but it only had a cable lock.  That was a beatup mixte that I would not have thought was of interest to a thief...they took it while taking the wheels off a very nice bike that was next to it.

I had not heard about the guard's bike also being stolen...you'd think that would have caused some more measures to be taken.   Not that I know what those would be!

Permalink Reply by Albany Park Al on September 10, 2012 at 3:33pm

Well, with the strike, no chance of reviewing the school's security tapes today.  On Friday the security guard had at least started with that process.


And as chances of recovery seemed slight and a teen without a bike is like a...something that needs something very much...we scanned CL over the weekend, and he ended up buying a vintage Trek that someone had done a fixie/ss conversion on.  The conversion is pretty slapdash, cheap wheels, stem and bullhorns mounted upside down.   And an inspection of the BB revealed it had not even been overhauled, though it turned out to be in okay condition.  But son is very happy with the new bike and hopefully has learned a valuable lesson.   And so have I--bike is already photographed and serial number recorded.

Of course before even going to look at the bike, I searched the CSBR to make sure this bike was not stolen, at least not recently.    I wonder what percentage of bikes 20+ years old have been stolen at some point?  I would bet a large number, maybe a majority, esp if you were to include 'changed hands accidentally due to being left behind in apartment, dorm storage, etc.'

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 10, 2012 at 4:47pm

You're probably right about a good percentage of older bikes having a kidnapping and evil stepfather in their past.

What was the lesson he learned? I may be jumbling the details with another theft at this point, but he had it properly lokced with a U-lock, right?

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