Stolen recumbent recovered

[Kit Wolf]

A little while back my recumbent was stolen near Morpeth and I posted a 'stolen' ad here. After
several months of adventures it found its way back to me - suffering a little from surface rust and
vandalism, but it will live again.

To add insult to injury, after being stolen from private farmland in the middle of nowhere it was
abandoned unlocked on a rough estate in full public view - and stayed put for several months judging
by its condition.

So, Hurrah! - and thanks to those who gave suggestions as to how to recover
it. And if you do see a recumbent with custom modified etc. etc. please _don't_ call the police!

Kit

kit@brain.ncl.ac.uk

[Simonb]

Kit Wolf wrote:

> So, Hurrah! - and thanks to those who gave suggestions as to how to recover it. And if you do see
> a recumbent with custom modified etc. etc. please _don't_ call the police!

Excellent. I remember your posting. How exactly did it find its way back?

Simon

[Graeme]

Wow, that was way back in July last year! Great to hear you got it back in
what sounds like fairly good condition. Who knows how many people have been
converted to the Dark Side by it since it was stolen? :-)

Graeme

[Kit Wolf]

On Fri, 27 Feb 2004 19:00:24 +0000, Simonb wrote:

> Kit Wolf wrote:
>
>> So, Hurrah! - and thanks to those who gave suggestions as to how to recover it. And if you do see
>> a recumbent with custom modified etc. etc. please _don't_ call the police!
>
> Excellent. I remember your posting. How exactly did it find its way back?

I figured that if whoever had taken it had any nouse, they might have waited a while for the fuss to
die down before daring to ride it anywhere. So a few weeks back, I put up a second round of posters
in several villages near to where it was taken. A few very helpful people told me they'd seen
someone riding about on it in Pegswood, a bleak ex-mining town - and with a few pointers the police
managed to pick it up. Unfortunately it was outside, so no chance of catching the thief - or finding
any of my other property. Maybe he was sensible enough not to keep it in his house for this reason -
or maybe he didn't want his parents to find out. Apparently he's just a kid - 16 or 17ish.

It looks like it was ridden a fair amount - more than just a joy-ride. Some of the tyres had been
patched several times, but Mr Bicycle Thief's abilities seemed to end there and he'd botched a few
other repairs
- my guess is that when he reached the limits of his technical abilities, he just abandoned it. This
is actually the bit that annoys me most - property theft I can just about understand on some
level; destruction upsets me.

Kit

[Kit Wolf]

On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 01:23:19 +0000, Graeme wrote:

>
> Wow, that was way back in July last year! Great to hear you got it back in what sounds like fairly
> good condition. Who knows how many people have been converted to the Dark Side by it since it was
> stolen? :-)

Mr bicycle thief genuinely seemed to enjoy it - I heard a bit about his exploits from various
sources. I now have two recumbents (unfortunately I splashed out on a new one whilst the old one was
on holiday - and went overboard on the uglification / engraving so I probaly can't sell it) so
someone in my family may yet get converted by it :-)

Kit