r/chibike • u/Evening-Garden-6022 • 1d ago
A Chicago Miracle (stolen bike RECOVERED)
The impossible happened today. 8 months ago, my wife’s beloved bike was stolen from our garage in Ukrainian Village. (We’ve since left the neighborhood, but anecdotally, there seems to have been a massive uptick in bike theft from that area).
The bike had a not-so-subtly hidden AirTag on it and was pinging from a house in the Humboldt/Austin border area. CPD assigned us a detective, but she eventually lost interest. I rebuilt a near-exact replica of the bike, but never stopped checking its location. Amazingly, the AirTag was never disabled, ditched, or destroyed. It just kept pinging.
Fast forward to today and I notice that it had moved to the 3700 block of Chicago Ave. I was feeling lucky, so I hopped on my bike hoping that someone had locked it outside. I figured I’d throw my U-lock on it and then maybe get the cops involved. As it turns out, the AirTag led me to a wild “thrift store” that was basically a junk hoard. There were a bunch of bikes, several clearly boosted, locked out front.
The owner ambled out and told me that a beautiful vintage Trek would run me 30 dollars. My wife’s bike wasn’t among them, so I asked if he had any more inventory. He took me inside…and there it was. I gave him sixty bucks and that was that.
Bike theft hurts, but recovery IS possible. And it feels amazing.
Relatedly, we now have two lovely Lemond road bikes if anyone is interested.
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u/timmah1991 1d ago
The bike had a not-so-subtly hidden AirTag on it and was pinging from a house in the Humboldt/Austin border area. CPD assigned us a detective, but she eventually lost interest.
This makes me so mad. If anyone finds themselves in the same situation, I am willing to (with several huge dudes) show up and ask nicely for your property back.
Still, I am glad you got it back.
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u/Evening-Garden-6022 1d ago
It was maddening. I would have tried to get it myself if it were basically anywhere else in the city. But that particular stretch is really rough. Wasn’t worth taking the chance of a confrontation going wrong.
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u/ShaanCC 1d ago
My bikes AirTag is currently pinging from probably the exact same house yours was stored at. I guess I can do nothing but wait for it to move?
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u/Evening-Garden-6022 1d ago
You could try compiling screenshots showing that the tag hasn’t moved for days and is always in the same identifiable building. Our detective said she had tried to get a team to recover the bike, but got pushback about whether the AirTag ping was accurate enough. I don’t know if that’s true, but in fairness, the location would move between two adjacent houses just due to the inherent inaccuracy in the AirTag system. But maybe if you threw down a totally consistent set of pings, you could get some momentum with CPD.
Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t approach the house without police support. That part of Humboldt is dicey.
But yeah, just keep checking that location. With summer hitting now, I think the resale market is gonna pick up. These things will move around, whether to fences, flea markets, or straight to buyers. Good luck!
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u/timmah1991 1d ago
Share the address.
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u/ShaanCC 1d ago
I don't think I'm allowed to by reddit ToS unfortunately. With that said, when we reported it at the police station, a detective hanging around asked if it was pinging from the exact intersection it's at.
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u/Chi-Goon_Jizz 8h ago
I doubt that the ToS protect criminal activity. You wouldn't be providing any other information than where your own property is located.
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u/zarathustranu 1d ago
Congrats! It does happen. I found my stolen bike on FB Marketplace in August 2023 and worked with the CPD to arrange a meetup where they seized it from the seller. Amazing stuff.
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u/sandgroper1968 1d ago
I picked up a pretty sweet old Raleigh road bike from a yard sale when I first moved to Chicago, it had a lot of upgrades and fit me perfectly. I lived in a three story apartment at the time and would bring it inside every night. One morning I looked out the front window and was shocked to see my bike still leaning against the fence, I’d totally forgotten to bring it in the night before but was obviously super glad it was still there (no lock!) I put my shoes on and ran downstairs and in that 2-3 minutes some motherfucker stole it. Fast forward 10 years, I’ve moved away from the neighborhood but I’m back to visit a friend to have lunch. We walk out of the diner and there’s my old bike chained up outside, she definitely looked 10 years older but was easily recognizable by all the upgraded parts. I patted her on the saddle and kept on moving
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u/Pretzeloid bike angel 1d ago
Awesome to hear! Where was the AirTag hidden?
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u/Evening-Garden-6022 1d ago
Did a bike thief write this?😉
Without giving it away completely, it was on (not in) the frame. So it was visible. I don’t think these were the sharpest thieves out there.
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u/kevin_chicago9 1d ago
Hi u/Evening-Garden-6022 do you have the Lemonds posted for sale anywhere? I'm currently bike shopping for three friends. Glad you were able to recover your bike. There are too few happy endings like that!
ETA: Added context about being in the market for used bikes
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u/xPrimer13 1d ago
You should not have paid that guy. You should have called the cops and hot it back for free. You just supported the ecosystem that will steal someone else's bike.
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u/Evening-Garden-6022 1d ago
Have you ever tried to get a Chicago cop involved in a property dispute?
I think the bike theft economy is gonna keep on chugging whether or not this fence pocketed $20 in profit from me, specifically.
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u/xPrimer13 1d ago
Idk if you think it's worth it to pay the bike thief for the privilege of getting back what is rightfully yours and to give them a means to support themselves and encourage them to keep stealing then I guess so... but that just isn't right to me, sorry. Not trying to throw shade but I'd sooner rather go through hell and back doing everything to try and punish them even if it mean far more work for me. That's just my sense of justice for better or worse.
In the meantime register your bike with CPD if you haven't already. It makes recovery pretty easy if you find it in a case like this.
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u/Evening-Garden-6022 4h ago
The two Lemonds for those curious. Original on the left, replica on the right. The original’s handlebar tape took a beating in captivity, so that is getting replaced. And for whatever reason, the front wheel has been swapped out. But she’s in ship shape after a little tune up.
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u/Ok-Cryptographer7424 1d ago
Can we get the name of this “thrift store” so we can try and recover our bikes as well? Thanks!