Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. I recieved a text message from Christian (at left, above) saying that he had spotted my red stolen Bullitt in his backyard in the Nørrebro neighbourhood.
I called him instantly. (I mean INSTANTLY) and we went over the details on the bike. There was no question it was The Missing Bullitt. My friend Andreas and I hopped onto our bikes and flew off from Copenhagenize Consulting's offices in the centre of Copenhagen to meet up with Christian.
Sure enough, there it was. My primary means of transport. Not locked to anything, with just a cheap wire lock through the wheel and frame. Christian had locked it with his own lock to the railing, just in case.
The guy who nicked it peeled a few of the stickers off - the Bike Portland ones, the Cycle Chic one, but left the main stickers on the sides intact. DUH! The little seat where my daughter sits on the crossbar was gone, as was the wheel lock, but that's about it. Almost completely as I last saw it.
As fate would have it, it was in a backyard only 75 metres from Larry vs Harry's workshop so I just lifted the back wheel and took it there. Borrowed some tools and cut the lock. Freedom! Liberation! A2Bism Revisited!
I promptly threw Christian in the box and we rode to the nearest supermarket. Rewarding him with the traditional Danish summer menu: A case of Tuborg Classic, some potato chips and a bottle of Gammel Dansk.
THIS is what social media is for. THAT'S why we we're here. THAT'S why we came.
I would like to thank everyone who has been on the lookout for the bike in Copenhagen. Thanks to Thue who posted about it on the Fixie King website here in Copenhagen, which is where Christian saw it. Get Christian to give you one of the beers and a shot of Gammel Dansk.
Thanks also to Treehugger and Bike Portland who wrote about it on their sites. And all the retweets and facebook sharing.
Thanks to Andreas from Baisikeli who offered to loan me his Bullitt, too! And to Thorsten, who spotted another Red Bullitt and interegated the rider about where he got it! :-)
You people are amazing.
37 comments:
I don't kwow why, but I can't stop smiling having read this. It's like finding my own stolen bike.
I'm really happy that you were reunited with your bike, Mikael.
Great! That is the good news story for today :-)
I love it!! Nice to hear a happy ending. And wonderful photos. :)
I love a happy reunion!
Great news! For all sorts of reasons!
I'm surprised you didn't lay in wait, with a bat made from a handlebar, or the police in tow!
Glad to hear your baby's now back where it belongs :-)
As I predicted.
Hooray! Have been following this story since you blogged it (from Melbourne). Lovely to see a positive outcome.
So very exciting! Congratulations on the quick return!
Let me know if you're looking to replace any of the uniquely Portland stickers. I'd be happy to pick up a few and mail them your way.
AWESOME! Now go out and get yourself a proper U-Lock!
Glad it all turned out all right.
We had you covered- even looking for your bike here in San Francisco.
Glad du fandt din Bullit, og du fandt en ny ven.
Hooray that you have your bike back! Here's to hoping that the "borrower" learns to not steal another.
Congratulations!!!
HOORAY!
Congratulations. I am so glad you got your bike back in basically good shape.
I was extremely cheered by this great news - funny though, I bet I wouldn't have been half as annoyed if your car had been nicked.
Justice is done.
Glad your bike was found!
This is great news. Your children will be so happy that their Dad's transportation vehicle will be available once again for the family's use.
Great News!! Good to hear you found it. What an amazing story. I love the photos of Christian too!
I love it when a stolen bicycle is recovered! So many of them are not.
spectacular!!!!!
the world wide web is a thing of joy :-)
good news Mikael!
and bloody well done Christian :-)
Congratulations! I believed it would be found. Lu Lu chan should be happy too.
funny, I haven't been over here in quite a while and then I read the sad tale of the theft and was disheartened. now I return to great news!! so lovely it has been returned to you! i love good bike karma. when I lived in Denver a guy I worked with told me how someone had stole his bike. one day I went for a walk on a route I never walked on and there it was - his bike! I told him, he went over with the cops, and back in his hands she was. i was so happy they were reunited, there is nothing better!
Yay! What a wonderfully happy ending! :)
Wow, what a happy ending! Well done Christian.
Congratulations again. Please let us know how it was locked when it was stolen.
That's great news. Couldn't Copenhagenize think about a way to recover stolen bikes using social media?
I would happily tweet a number, or other id, ane location on some bike I think is stolen.
Thanks for all your comments!
The bike was locked with a wheel lock, in a backyard.
Congratulations!
It reminds me of the joy I felt when I found my stolen bike some months after it had been nicked, standing hardly 50m from where it had been standing in the yard. The thief had just abandoned it there when he was unable to destroy the second lock. Amateur (fortunately).
Initially, the German police couldn't care less and wouldn't come around when I (naively) reported the theft of a bike, but I had to call and wait for them to come around and close the case when I found it. That enabled them to improve their dismal resolution statistics, totally undeservedly. They much prefer harassing cyclists for missing pedal reflectors and whatnot. (This obligation was inserted in the StVO by the nazis to help a friend of the party, and never removed, according to a footnote in a thesis on intellectual property).
From my rough estimates, I would bet some good money that the aggregated value of stolen bikes exceeds that of stolen cars. The German media only ever cares about the latter.
This is amazing!
Wow, I am so glad you got it back. A feel good Friday story for sure!
Congrats! I actually had the same nice bit of luck last time one of my bikes was stolen :-) - I had put up posters with a decent portrait of the bike everywhere in the neighbourhood, and a girl called me to tell that apparently, one of her neighbours had stolen it...
Incidentally, it was an old Crescent of almost exactly the same vintage as the one seen next to your liberated Bullitt!
nice news!
Copenhagenize! Good things do happen! I recently had my single speed Cannondale F800 stolen and it was found by a local bicycle shop owner 3 months later. The guy who had it bought it from a local pawn shop chain and he was very cool about the whole thing - he was happy to give my bike back AND he's avidly in single speed mountain biking now! Plus he was willing for me to photograph him him for out project about everyday South African bicycle commuters, Bicycle Portraits. Go to http://www.dayonepublications.com/Bicycle_Portraits/Shane_Engelbrecht.html to check out the portrait and story...
Stan.
www.bicycleportraits.co.za
I'm happy for you because your bike is back.
But i'm almost happy because you rewarded christian with good stuff, food and drinks that brings joy and simple pleasure in a life.
A good behavior from him, a good behavior from you : a bike way of life...
wow! Amazing story and very happy for u! This is the power of social media!
Post a Comment