NORTH PARK — Note to thieves: Swiping a highly distinctive cargo bike might not be the smartest move.
Less than two weeks after the Johnny Loco-brand bike was stolen from a North Park garage, where it was on loan to resident Craighton Berman, the cycle was recovered under what he called "shifty" circumstances.
"I'm happy that we have it back," said Berman, but he added that he's frustrated he wasn't able to solve the mystery of the bike's disappearance.
The saga started in early summer when Berman borrowed the bike — an import from Amsterdam that costs approximately $3,000 — from a friend.
"I only rode it a few times. I'm guessing someone saw it," said Berman, a product designer and inventor.
His wife woke up on the morning of July 8 and noticed that the bike, which had been locked to a pole in the family's garage, was gone.
"I went straight out of a deep sleep into panic mode," said Berman.
In hindsight, he said, he should have been on guard.
"A week before, our gates were open. They were probably scoping it out," he said of the thieves.
Immediately after the bike went missing, Berman blanketed the area with flyers, listed the cycle on the Chicago Stolen Bike Registry, and posted news of the theft to Facebook.
"I was searching obsessively on Craigslist," where stolen bikes often turn up for sale, he said.
After receiving a couple of fishy tips, Berman said he got a text from an unknown number stating, "Hey, I've seen your bike."
The location mentioned was near the Bermans' home. They saw the bike, in a tucked away building nook, locked to a simple rack — way less secure than it had been in his garage, he said.
Berman called police, who arrived on the scene and waited with the bike while the Bermans went to Home Depot and bought bolt cutters.
After liberating the bike, Berman pedaled it home, with his wife trailing in the couple's car just to be on the safe side.
Though the bike's new "owner" may have purchased it unwittingly, Berman said, "Someone else might have gotten screwed, I can't worry about that."
Joking that the experience has left him "hardened and jaded," Berman said the theft has cured him of any desire to own a Loco himself.
"It proved to me that maybe I should not have something this flashy," he said. "If somebody wants something, they find a way to get it."
Berman said he and his wife are now on edge.
"In a city, garage theft is way common. But it is creepy," he said. "They went into my yard."
Berman suspects that all of the attention, including media reports, coupled with the bike's can't-miss-it appearance, led to its recovery.
"In the age of the Internet, word spread really fast," he said. "Thieves should beware."
THE VICTORIOUS TROJAN WARRIOR RETURNS HOME ON HIS GILDED CHARIOT pic.twitter.com/Kza6DyrOEA
— Craighton Berman (@craightonberman) July 16, 2017
