Dear friends of old bikes,
I have been blessed by your outpourings of support, encouragement, tips, and generous offers of free or inexpensive frames, bikes, and parts from all over the USA. It is humbling and most welcome at such a hard time.
Here are just two interesting sample responses from list members:
"If I see it I will throw my bloody walker at em! Looked like a real nice mixtie, Cheers John Crump "
(John just fell on some ice while riding in CO and broke his pelvis, and will be out 4-6 weeks. Nice to know his sense of humor-- and his Mercian bike--are still intact! :-)
and from John Proch in Texas: "We have a top of the line Gitane frame (less fork we will send you for free if you will pick up the shipping. The paint is really nice in a pretty metallic blue. The frame is a 60 cm (c to top)."
(I appreciated John's generosity but would have to grow at least 6 inches or hacksaw off about 9 CM of that 60 CM seat tube for the Gitane to fit. Both resizing options seem unlikely, and thus make me chuckle, which always helps. )
The wealth of tips on how to locate and/or buy back a stolen bike have been wonderful, too. I'm acting on many of them, and know I have lots of trained CR eyes all over CA watching for my ride. ("You'll never walk alone," like it says in the song...)
The bike has not miraculously re-appeared, of course, but I have contacted many local bike shops personally, alerted my fellow a bike advocates on both sides of SF Bay, and contacted all the bikies and bike shops advertising bike swaps and garage sales on CraigsList in northern CA--about a dozen in just the past two days.
The local officer at Alameda PD who took my report was perfunctory and ignorant about bike parts in the extreme, but my beloved mixte is unique and well known in Alameda--just like its rider :-) --so I am getting lots of help locally, too.
I'm off to Kinko's with a color flyer I'll distribute tomorrow to local bike shops and, this weekend, at some of the more likely flea markets, swap meets, etc. I figure 500 color flyers is cheap compared to the time and effort of rebuilding another UO-18 mixte into a primo town bike. (With many of my own parts in hand it cost me $500-$600 7 years ago...)
Thanks again to every one of you for your kind thoughts, support, and good wishes. You are amazing, indeed.
Appreciatively yours,
Jon Spangler grateful and humble in Alameda, CA USA
Jon Spangler
Writer/editor
Linda Hudson Writing
TEL 510-864-2144
CEL 510-846-5356
JonSwriter@att.net
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