Give It Back!!!

Yesterday, while watching our oldest son graduate from high school, some heartless creep with no morals and a hole in his soul STOLE DECLAN'S BICYCLE!!!!!!!

As anyone who has read this blog knows, Declan loves his bicycle.  He rides it everywhere.  People all over San Francisco see him ride with us everyday, they recognize him and some of them wave to him as he goes along.  Declan is somewhat unusual as he is probably the youngest regular bicycle commuter in San Francisco. While the rest of us get yelled at by drivers, Declan gets all kinds of waves and shout outs by those driving by.  I know for a fact that other parents who have seen him ride all the time have started to let their own young kids start riding with them through SF.  Without meaning to, Declan has become a catalyst in our community by doing nothing more than riding to the Farmer's Market or pedaling to school.

Help us find Declan's bicycle!  The description of it is as follows-

It is a Free Agent steel BMX, black paint with yellow and red decals. The rear wheel is a custom built, skinny 20", anodized blue and laced up with a new S-A 3-speed hub with integrated coaster brake (if you see the wheel it is ours, there isn't another one like it). It does not match the front wheel which is silver. There are no hand brakes. It has a 3-speed twist shift with blue hand grips. The cranks are quite rare because of their size- 145mm. It has a new black Tony Hawk seat with molded finger grips under the seat nose and under the back of the seat (makes it easy to pick up and move). There is a brass Incredibell on the handlebars and the lights were mounted on it at the time (Planet Bike blinky on front handle bars and Knog light on seat post. This bicycle was stolen from Otsega Ave near Onondaga between 2:30 and 4:00 pm on May 24th, 2012.

 If you see Declan's bicycle, or parts of it call your local police and reference the San Francisco police complaint #T12008286.  It is out there, probably heading for a Bay Area flea market or Craig's List!

It took us months to find all the parts to make a bicycle that would grow with him, was light enough for him to pick up and get around easily on, and had the right gearing for him to be able to utilize successfully.  James had to build the real wheel himself as well as make modifications to the frame to allow us to use an internal hub.  Without his bicycle, all of our summer riding plans are scuttled until we can put a whole new bicycle together. 

Declan no longer rides on the back of our bicycles much.  He can ride 20 miles in a day through San Francisco.  He is a strong, sweet, independent child who thinks riding in a pack with his family and friends is the best thing ever.  He is too young to have to learn that there are a lot of people out there who couldn't possibly care less.

Addendum-  This was how happy he was to get his training wheels off his old bicycle.