Bike Description
small candy pink bike with cross bar and curly handle bars called "Dave Yates". its very pink with some pale blue outlines of the lugs (frame joints). its a 20 inch / 50 cm audax / randonneur / light tourer with Campagnolo triple chain ring group set (mainly Chorus and Athena). it was custom built by Dave Yates in 1991 mostly in Reynolds 531 steel tubing. it has black handlebar tape and silver mudguards. the tops of the forks and seat stays have "D / Y" engraved in light blue. the bottom bracket (barrel shape that the pedals rotate around) probably has the postcode "E5 0AY" stamped on it. It's also probably got a data tag. the saddle is black with a 2-pronged nose and called "ISM".Theft Description
on Wednesday May 29th I was late for work and grabbed my things and rushed into the building forgetting to put my bike in the car. that was at 0830 approx. At 1700 approx I left work jumped into the car and drove off without noticing there was no bike in the back. I realised it was missing on Sunday June 2nd when it wasn't in the bike shed and wasn't at the boyfriend's house. the bike was taken from Timber St car park in South Wigston. that's behind the Social Services building on Basset st.Recovery Description
My bicycle, a candy pink Dave Yates Tourer, was stolen in May 2019. I looked at all the advice and did all that was suggested. The main advice was to publicise the theft so widely that the bike becomes “too hot to handle”. • I put up laminated posters with pictures, my mobile number, and a big fat reward (£1000) all over the surrounding district; • I handed out flyers on the street and in local shops (60 were printed); • I went around all the local bicycle shops with flyers and telling my story. I asked them to put it on their Facebook pages; • I also went around local pawn brokers and gave them a flyer; • I reported the theft to the police and registered with bike register; • I went on Facebook. I hate Facebook and am not competent so I got other people to go on Facebook on my behalf. I even joined the magnet fishing group and asked them to check the canal on my behalf. • I wrote to dealers in second-hand, steel, vintage and touring bikes asking them to look out for it and offering the reward. • My boyfriend searched local parks, canal towpath etc. He was thorough on my behalf. Searching for the bike rather took over my life until my psychotherapist suggested imagining it peddling off to its new life to be loved by a new owner. This helped a lot. Eventually the hoax phone calls became less frequent and I did buy myself a new pink tourer, again from Dave Yates. In January 2020 a man phoned saying he had found my bike abandoned in a local park, “probably abandoned because it was too hot to handle”. I met him in a public place; my favourite cafe where they know me. He gave me the bike, said he didn’t want a reward, but did give me his bank details. I went home and transferred the reward money into his bank account. The bike got stolen because I forgot to lock it. But I have friends who had their bikes stolen from their houses. So, I am looking at phone tracking devices.