August 4, 2006
The wrong bike to steal
Fixed gear bikes enjoy something of a cult following, one that seems to be expanding as a growing number of cyclists are finding they enjoy the challenge of pedaling a bike with no brakes and no freewheel. Stopping requires gradually slowing your pedaling cadence, or skillfully skidding to a stop.
My childhood friend Pete Burchell, a hardcore bike geek who works in a bike shop in Florida, has one of the bikes. The other night he left it on his porch. The next morning the bike was gone.
But it wasn't gone for long. That day the bike showed up in the shop, dropped off by someone who didn't stick around. The bike's front wheel was broken in five places. Pete said it was the worst wheel demolition he's ever seen.
It was pretty easy to figure out what happened. The thief nabbed the bike and ran to the road, then started pedaling down the hill that runs out of the neighborhood. By the time he realized the bike had no brakes it was too late.
Pete said he actually had some sympathy for the thief, who surely got banged up pretty bad in the crash. I've got no sympathy for the guy. He got what he had coming.
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