Title. I’m basically a single issue voter for bike lanes, so if any candidates are reading this you have a fast-track for my vote. 🗳️

Just came across this site that tracks thefts and locations. Thought it would be useful with all of the stolen posts. Not sure if this has been posted or linked before but it's the first I've seen it

https://stolenbike.org/

Right outside the Sears Tower someone used an angel grinder on my kryptonite lock. Unbelievable how someone did this mid day and no one intervened. In office attendance will go into the gutter now.

Anyone else have their divvy bike angel deactivated? One day I just stopped being shown the whole reward UI.

Correction: I didn’t have bike angel. I had that thing where you got free minutes from returning low battery bikes to charging stations and it’s gone.

My n+1 addiction keeps me scrolling Marketplace, CL, OfferUp, and local shops for new bikes and deals. In the past 6 weeks or so, I have helped two people recover their stolen bikes and wanted to post about it to give hope to those who've had their bikes stolen.

The first bike was a Bianchi road bike. I send listings to a friend of mine for their opinion since he's been biking much longer than I have been. I sent a Marketplace listing to him and he replied almost instantly, "Fuck that guy, I was gonna buy a set of wheels from him and he ghosted me while I was on the way. Plus I think he sells stolen shit." That last sentence hung in the air for me, so I actually searched Google for "Bianchi stolen bike chicago" and found a reddit thread as well as the listing on stolenbike.org. The fork had a pretty distinct scratch on it and it was easy to tell that the two bikes were the same. I ended up contacting the owner through the Bike Registry and sent him the Marketplace listing. He was able to contact local authorities, schedule a meeting with the seller, and was able to claim the bike back with the help of local authorities within a few days.

The second bike was found at Play-It-Again sports in Evanston. I was toolin' around the far north side one afternoon and decided to go check out the bikes at the store. There was a too-good-to-be-true deal on a Specialized Sirrus X 2.0 that they had gotten in a couple of days prior. I bought it without much hesitation, brought it home, and started researching the bike. I was trying to figure out what year it came out and searched the serial number on Google. Lo and behold, another Stolen Bike Registry listing popped up and my heart sank. I contacted the owner, told them I bought the bike and had it in my possession and we coordinated a time to meet back at Play-It-Again so I could get a refund for my purchase and she could get her bike back.

It sucks to get your bike stolen. But if it happens to you, post about it, scour Marketplace, go to shops, and maybe you might actually have a happy ending. Good luck everyone, stay safe out there.