Bike Missing in Oakhurst
Decatur Metro | December 1, 2011Heather wrote in yesterday…
We live in Oakhurst, on Greenwood Place near College Avenue. Sunday night our family went to dinner, after my daughter had ridden her bike up and down our street a few times. We keep our bikes unlocked, but so far haven’t had a problem since they are pretty well hidden from passers-by. When we returned home, there was a bike that did not belong to us or neighbors lying on its side on the sidewalk in front of our house, which immediately got our attention. As we walked toward the house, we noticed that my daughter’s bike was missing. We went back to look at the bike left behind and discovered it had a flat rear tire.
Our first assumption was that someone had a flat and borrowed my daughter’s bike (since the other bikes and ride-on toys were all still there–even my nicer mountain bike). We thought the owner of the flat tire bike might come back to claim it, and hoped they would also bring back my daughter’s bike. Just in case, we secured the stranger’s bike and brought my bike inside.
Here we are Wednesday, and my daughter’s bike is still missing. It is a purple and white 20″ cruiser, with fenders and foam tape wrapped around the handlebars, which was coming off. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of it. The bike that was left here is a KHS FXT Sport, a blue mountain bike.
Unless someone comes forward, I suppose we will make a police report, which I was hoping would not be necessary, since we were hoping her bike was borrowed, and not stolen. Perhaps the bike that was left was also “borrowed,” and someone out there will be happy to know it is secure at our house.
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The other bike might have been stolen too.
Have you checked the basement at the Alamo?
+1.
I was actually there 2 weeks ago and they apparently don’t have a basement. Unfortunately, Large Marge wasn’t around to give me a ride.
+1
My guess is that the bike was stolen because the bike the thief was riding had a flat tire and thieves like easy answers to their problems. When a neighbor’s car was stolen during a downpour a few years ago, the thief left their bicycle in the yard. The police said that car thefts are common in inclement weather. The thieves are cold or wet and motivated.
Don’t hesitate. Call the police. You may be one of many and may be able to prevent future thefts.
we learned the hard way about not locking our bikes when 2 were stolen from behind our driveway gate on a sunny sunday afternoon while my husband worked in the back yard. unfortunately we didn’t have the serial numbers for the police report so it was harder to recover the bikes. when another one of our bikes was stolen from outside oakhurst elementary in the middle of the school day we had our serial number in hand for the police. thankfully they apprehended the n’er-do-well a couple nights later and we got our albeit busted up bike back. i’d say call the police so they have record of it and take a few minutes to write down the serial numbers of the other bikes. it is really the ONLY way the police can prove a stolen bike (or any property for that matter) is yours.
We’ve found the National Bike Registry helpful and retrieved a bike through it–2 years after it was stolen! It was in fairly good shape and is now an extra for visitors.
I had a bike stolen when I was a kid in the ’80s. My dad took me to the Dekalb police station to look at all the stolen bikes. There were dozens of them neatly lined up. Mine was the last one on the row and they let me leave with it with no proof of ownership. My dad probably had to sign something before we left, but we were in and out in no time.
i can’t find my glasses.
After they return the bike, maybe we can work on getting back my golf clubs, leaf blowers, lap top and cell phone.
The Decatur Police will register your bike for you and then they will have a record of it as well as a photo. Give them a call.