Aircorp
10-31-2003, 05:55 PM
FROM THE BALFA WEBSITE:
Canadian downhillers will probably remember the difficult days following the Ste-Anne world cup last June for the BALFA Factory team. We only had a few days rest before the big trip to the west coast and we decided to do a few minor improvements to the trailer. The night before we were scheduled to leave, we had loaded the trailer and this proved to be a costly mistake: The trailer was burglarized overnight and Mathieu Laurin’s prototype bb7 was stolen, along with Geoff Pendrel’s race bike and a few others.
They had done a relatively good job at not leaving prints, and we figured we would never see the bikes again. That was until Luc, our chef machinist, was almost certain he saw the proto repainted blue with Marzo Shiver on in downtown Montreal in September. This was our first clue since the incident. 2 weeks ago, a BALFA friend called Mathieu, telling him he saw the bike on sale on a popular web site. A quick call to the thieves, and then to the police and we now have the bicycle back (and a Shiver in place of a boXXer World Cup... eurk!) and a couple bike thieves in big trouble.
Of course those idiots would do something else in life if they were more intelligent. But stealing a BALFA race prototype and trying to sell it back in Canada is definitely a proof of their amateurism. May this be a lesson to all bike thieves out there and buyers of stolen equipment: There are hundreds of people who only want you to be caught out there, and messing with only one BALFA owner is messing with them all
Canadian downhillers will probably remember the difficult days following the Ste-Anne world cup last June for the BALFA Factory team. We only had a few days rest before the big trip to the west coast and we decided to do a few minor improvements to the trailer. The night before we were scheduled to leave, we had loaded the trailer and this proved to be a costly mistake: The trailer was burglarized overnight and Mathieu Laurin’s prototype bb7 was stolen, along with Geoff Pendrel’s race bike and a few others.
They had done a relatively good job at not leaving prints, and we figured we would never see the bikes again. That was until Luc, our chef machinist, was almost certain he saw the proto repainted blue with Marzo Shiver on in downtown Montreal in September. This was our first clue since the incident. 2 weeks ago, a BALFA friend called Mathieu, telling him he saw the bike on sale on a popular web site. A quick call to the thieves, and then to the police and we now have the bicycle back (and a Shiver in place of a boXXer World Cup... eurk!) and a couple bike thieves in big trouble.
Of course those idiots would do something else in life if they were more intelligent. But stealing a BALFA race prototype and trying to sell it back in Canada is definitely a proof of their amateurism. May this be a lesson to all bike thieves out there and buyers of stolen equipment: There are hundreds of people who only want you to be caught out there, and messing with only one BALFA owner is messing with them all