Stolen bikes do get returned - sometimes 24 yrs later

[pete@nsmb.com]

Some of you may know I'm living in Holland right now. If you think bike theft is a problem in North America, it's way worse here - I know one guy who's had his bike stolen 6 times. Check that - he's had 6 bikes stolen. In the last year. Not nice freeride tmountain bikes. POS Commuter bikes. Anyway, check this out:

Oct 1, 9:11 am ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch woman was reunited on Tuesday with a bicycle stolen 24 years ago after police spotted a man trying to steal it again.

The woman reported the bike's theft from a hospital in the eastern Dutch city of Enschede in 1979, two weeks after she bought it, police said.

It reappeared by chance earlier this year when police saw a man trying to steal it again in Amsterdam. A postcode marking linked the cycle to its rightful owner, who traveled to the Dutch capital on Tuesday from her current home in Germany to reclaim it.

Cycling is a way of life in the pancake-flat Netherlands, and bike theft is endemic.

"The bike was in a pretty good condition, considering," said Amsterdam police spokesman Ron Moes. "It's still rideable, so it must have been a good one."

I guess there's hope for humanity after all.

Pete

[Curtis]

ahhh what a sweet story ;}. I've herd there are more bike thefts then there are bikes. The ratio stat works out to each bike being stolen something like 3 three times on average a year.

[cookedbananas]

thats crazy! :eek:

[parksvilleguy]

thats a long time to wait for your bike to come back. my mom is off to the netherlands tommorrow for a few weeks and shes taking her running shoes instead of her bike, a little cheaper and less risk

[damian]

Thats really cool, I would be happy. I feel bad for all the people that get their bikes stolen, its horrible.

[wickedmcdougle]

Isn't it in some nederlands city that they have literal freeride bikes, ones that people donate and are painted bright yellow, and anyone can take one if they need it as long as they leave it on the road for the next guy?? or am I making up complete shit?

[Spaz]

I've heard there is a place (in Japan I think) where they have bike stations where you pay a deposit, take a bike and then drop it off at another station. It's like shopping carts where you put in your loonie and take your cart.