I just sold my bike to the guy who made it...

30 May 09   /     /   5 Comments

Update: I have since bought a new bike. (See below.) I followed up with the guy and got my lights back, and it sounds like his wife is very very happy to have her bike back.

Well, this was my bike for about a week.

I found it at the big annual Roncesvalles Garage Sale. It was the coolest bike I had ever seen, with coaster breaks and an internal hub… The girl was hesitant to part with it, but we convinced her by offering her a bit more than she was asking.

I finally bought a bell, a lock, and lights, and was on my way to a meeting for my first real ride of the season, so excited!

As I am waiting at the lights at Bathurst and Dundas, a car reverses and heads toward me. The guy gets out and tells me that I am actually riding his wife’s bike, and that he was the one who built the bike many years ago. He said there were only maybe 5 in the world. I look at him like he’s crazy, thinking, Hey, I paid for this, i’m not just going to give you the bike I just paid money for! How can you prove it, right?

I said I would rather go through the proper channels… i.e. the police… since I didn’t think it was fair, and he had no way to prove it. He was with his wife and baby in the car, and I could tell that the bike obviously had a lot of sentimental value for them, not to mention the cost of creating it. I knew I had gotten a bargain. He had no problem calling the police. He asked me what I paid for it, and without flinching, he offered to go to the bank and he got me the money and offered to buy it off me right there. I was late for my meeting, the wife was late for work, and we had to file a report with the police. The officer said if I was ok with the trade, and they were ok with the trade, then it was fine, otherwise I would probably have kept the bike, and they’d have to do a paper trail to prove it was his initially. The problem is, it had probably passed through many hands before reaching mine! So, I sold it back to its maker (who was very grateful), and they dropped me off to my meeting a few blocks away.

I only had it for about 15 minutes of riding, and it was the sweetest bike ever. I hope I can find one equally awesome.

More than that, I am glad that the guy who made it, and the woman who rode it got their bike back, 3 years after it was stolen. I went with my gut… I wouldn’t have felt right to keep riding it, knowing how much it meant to them, and knowing how much money they had put into the bike.

Time to look for a new bike, sigh…

The new bike: