Who left their bike out?

Something doesn't seem normal here...

Two arrests after dozens of bikes stolen from non-profit

Detectives arrested two men they said stole more than two dozen bicycles from a Vancouver non-profit.

The theft happened back on August 9 at the Hough Pool, where the group Bike Clark County stored their bikes.

Officers from the Vancouver Police Department’s “Neighborhood Response Team” took over the investigation and about two weeks later arrested Matthew Robert Smith, 27, and Jory John Aultman, 19, according to police spokeswoman Kim Kapp.

Both men face charges for burglary and trafficking stolen property.

Kapp said officers so far have only recovered one of the stolen bikes. They think the rest are still in the neighborhood somewhere.

 

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"Scraper Bikes for Life" Saves Lives in Oakland

On a recent afternoon, the skateboard park was the most populated section of gritty DeFremery Park in West Oakland. In this working class area, with unemployment, crime, violence and gentrification, just under the giant shipping cranes from the nearby Port of Oakland, a dozen skateboard enthusiasts, boys and young men, glided up and down the complicated series of ramps and jumps over and over, without saying a word. The calm was was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of The Original Scraper Bike crew.

This is a neighborhood where, much like boys everywhere, youth spend their summer days gazing at the passing traffic, fantasizing about the car of their future, the car of their dreams. But unlike their more affluent counterparts with stable homes and intact families, a car of one's own may be financially out of reach. After all, how many boys from this struggling neighborhood, in a bad economy, will be able to purchase and maintain a customized automobile, when one week, they may "stay with" their grandma, and the next, at their "play sister" or "auntie's" house? Where "family stuff," spoken with downcast eyes, is the reason given for not being able to stay in school or keep a job?

 

 

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Oregon man recovers stolen bike after sting operation

Jake Gillum loves his bike. So when it got stolen in Portland, Ore., while he was on a date, he was determined to get it back.

The quest seemed hopeless, but a week of poring over online postings for his 2009 carbon fiber Fuji paid off when he spotted the road bike offered for sale in Seattle. That sparked an elaborate interstate sting operation last weekend in which Gillum not only got his bicycle back but used it to chase down the suspect before police arrested him.

Gillum documented it all on YouTube under the username Simon Jackson.

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Md. couple ditches moving van, uses bikes instead

People move every day. They typically use moving trucks or vans or station wagons or pickup trucks or cars with mattresses strung to the roof, sort of like the horse and wagon days, though without the horse and wagon.

Anthony and Jess Reiss used bikes.

The College Park couple — he works at Proteus Bicycles, she’s an environmental attorney — sold their cars about a year ago. The idea: Cycle or use public transportation wherever they roam.

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Bikes For Kids: Detroit Program In City's Osborn Neighborhood

Kids in a northeast Detroit neighborhood known for its high concentration of children spent their summer immersed in bike culture.

The program, which wraps up this week, combines courses in bicycle safety and repair with community service. Along with fixing gears, kids in the program have also helped clean up the neighborhood's Millbank Greenway bike trail and set up a "pop-up" bike shop to tune up bicycles for local residents in a building located near the intersection of Van Dyke Avenue and Outer Drive. It was organized locally by the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative (DECC) with the partnership of several other groups and made possible by a $12,500 Rails-to-Trails Conservancy grant sponsored by Coca-Cola.

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Another reason to buy used, Big-buck bikes are a popular burglary target in Minneapolis

In the hunt for high-end bicycles, thieves have gone beyond lurking around bike racks. Now they're driving down alleys, breaking into garages and loading their increasingly valuable loot into trucks and vans.

In Minneapolis alone, more than 1,000 bikes were reported stolen since January, up 12 percent from last year. The percentage of bikes stolen in burglaries -- typically from garages -- rose from 25 percent in 2011 to 34 percent since January, said Doug Hicks, a crime analyst with the Minneapolis Police Department.

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Come in for a bike Tune Up, I promise we can do better than this

For This Olympian, ‘Track Cycling Is NASCAR on Bikes’

Adam Duvendeck is a five-time member of the USA Cycling track world championship team who competed in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Games.

Track cycling is the coolest Olympic event you’re not watching. It’s understandable, because the sport is pretty esoteric, even among cyclists.

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Amazing cardboard bike lets you go green for only $9

Choosing to eliminate (or even just minimize) your vehicle emissions is a big adjustment for most people.



It can be hard enough to reroute your life in a way that makes bike commuting possible, but then there's the need for the bike itself. If the last time you straddled a bike was back in elementary school, it can be daunting to go about choosing a bicycle that will be both durable and comfortable to your adult frame.

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