$500 reward for return of stolen bike

[Kodachrome-Burning]

I am having a real hard time holding it together after having a great mountain bike that I have held dear for 15 years, stolen literally right from behind my back. I was shooting the "rabbit" precession on Wednesday, I leaned the bike on a pole I was in front of and after just a few frames, it was gone. If you were there, you know the crowd was thick as the rabbit eared people engaged.

I locked the bike up everywhere I went, but figured I could lean it on the wooden pole for the whole 3 minutes I shot photos and it would be safe. Well, I thought wrong and to be honest, it totally took the wind out of my sails for including BM in my book on Kodachrome. So much so that my friend took a day off of work, found a ticket on here and drove out from Sacramento to get me centered again.

The bike is a dark blue Raleigh carbon fiber, circa 1995, gold shocks and badging, lots of parts from the period, blue Cook Brothers cranks, red Ringle stem, teal Chris King headset, Race Face rings, red brake levers and lots of cool stickers like "KROQ" from L.A., a white bad boy sticker on the front.

I have a photo of it on my phone after I installed the rear rack for the pannier and the glow in the dark tape, I will try to post it on here but not sure it will work from my iPhone.

If I never get the bike back, I am positive that my younger brother's ghost will haunt the playa and Burning Man for eternity....for that is who the bike originally belonged to, I inherited it when he died...

I was not very impressed with the hungover and cavalier attitude of the people at the so called help desk or lost and found so maybe the fine burners on here can lend a hand.

If you know where it I can find my brother's soul on wheels, call me at nine seven zero-six one eight-four three three zero or email me at:

dan at kodachromeproject dot com

Reward is at minimum, $500

Thanks!

[lucky420]

awww damn, sorry this happened to you and i hope you get your bike back...

[Kodachrome-Burning]

Uploaded it to flickr, try this link:



Mod Note - Edited so your pic shows up, rather than the link. 1 out of 5 may look up the link

[Kodachrome-Burning]

awww damn, sorry this happened to you and i hope you get your bike back...

Thanks 420 ( might be due for that about now my self ). I should never have brought it. I also had a small carbon fiber Gitzo tripod in the side bag, that might have been the allure. I would rather have lost one of my Leica cameras than the bike, they are insured and can be replaced, the soul in this bike can not...

[Hoolie]

Sorry to hear that. My wife's bike was stolen too, literally from behind our backs. We stopped to watch the Roller Disco, turned around, and the bike was gone. I had always locked our bikes when we left them unattended, but this is just getting ridiculous now. It really brought both of us down and put a huge damper on our burn. I hope you get your bike back. There is a Lost & Found section on here, with a subsection for lost bikes. I would suggest posting there too, as I just did.

viewforum.php?f=175

[Gwydeon]

This is not intended to be snark.

You need to decorate your bike, or you need to lock it (optionally make it crappy enough that no one would want it). If you do neither it is too easy to steal, especially if it is in good condition and a higher quality bike.

I express my sadness for your loss, any such theft or maliciousness should be above the majority of this community. I hope that you get it back, or that some one can reach out and get you a replacement. There are an incredible amount of extra bikes all over Gerlach and surrounding areas that might fit the bill.

[bluesbob]

Ryan from New York had his bike stolen from outside Opulent Temple. It was a real shitty thing to do since Ryan road out to the burn on that bike. He was left with no way to get home, so we took a collection for an airline ticket. Whoever stole the bike cut the lock, and many more bikes were stolen in this fashion. It seems we need more law enforcement of some type to watch for this stuff.

[707]

A bait bike with glue on the grips, seat, or pedals.

Sorry about your bike some people just enjoy being asshat's.

[gyre]

Ryan from New York had his bike stolen from outside Opulent Temple. It was a real shitty thing to do since Ryan road out to the burn on that bike. He was left with no way to get home, so we took a collection for an airline ticket. Whoever stole the bike cut the lock, and many more bikes were stolen in this fashion. It seems we need more law enforcement of some type to watch for this stuff.

What kind of lock?

[bluesbob]

Ryan from New York had his bike stolen from outside Opulent Temple. It was a real shitty thing to do since Ryan road out to the burn on that bike. He was left with no way to get home, so we took a collection for an airline ticket. Whoever stole the bike cut the lock, and many more bikes were stolen in this fashion. It seems we need more law enforcement of some type to watch for this stuff.

What kind of lock?

Not sure...it's all moot now. Just felt sorry for the guy. He stayed in our camp.

[kickstart]

Not sure...it's all moot now. Just felt sorry for the guy. He stayed in our camp.

if you could try to find out the brand and model it would be a great help for future burns. lets others know what to avoid if it can be circumvented too easily.

[thirt33n]

gosh
being someone who has never locked my bike on the playa....
being someone who has elaborately modified/decorated/made unique his bike i an effort to deter thieves....
being someone who has been to 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2008....
and actually having my bike "borrowed" partially dismantled for it's el wire and saddle bags and then found, as i drove towards my exodus, in a pile in 2008....

knowing that this is too late and should'a could'a would'a.....locked or not, it is foolish to bring anything of such value (especially a bike) to burningman.

next time try this.....get two bikes for less than $30....decorate them. lock them...whatever, but worry less about your bikes and have a better time. if they get stolen...bummer...just "bummer". you're asking for a let down by bringing valuable gear.

i know how you feel as far as the overall betrayal. thieves in BRC is a slap.
sorry buddy. hope you get it back.

[Melvynman]

We need to start busting people for bike thief.
Some body tried stealing my bike using bolt cutters. I reached down one morning to unlock my bike and cut my thumb. Right by the lock they tried cutting the cable and got 2/3 way through but left sharp cable that cut my finger. This person came prepared to seal bikes. BM policy of locking your bike doesn't cut it anymore. I have been going for 14 years and have had three bike stolen in the last five years only, got two back after looking for days. The biggest crime at BM is thief but you only hear about drug bust.

[Kodachrome-Burning]

Unlike 99% of burners, I am on the road full time doing a photo book project, I am constantly shooting Kodachrome film as there is now just a matter of months in which to do so and then history comes to a close. So I did the best I could in terms of getting ready for the burn which was incredibly disruptive to the overall operational flow of my task to begin with. It takes a lot of work to manage shooting over 1,000 rolls of film, keeping it cool, shipping it off, keeping te truck camper in order, cleaning, stocking, security.

In other words, the only thing time would permit was to put glow in the dark tape on my ride, I could not even locate lighting on short notice.
Now I am screwed out of my dead brother's bike, have no transportation to ride around neighborhoods while on the road instead of pulling up in an obvious truck camper sometimes spooking small town folk out and my heart is still not back in my own project in which I have spent close to 70K and 6 years getting ready for. My mother is extremely distraught over this, does not think I should even include this loser sh_t show in my book and I am starting to agree.

So at this point, I know I am not getting the bike back, will never return to Burning Man for the event and will simply hand the developed rolls of BM 2010 to the Library of Congress to be entered in as I told them I would with a few selects and be done with it.

Right now I need to finish getting my rig clean and get my heart back into doing the project of a lifetime. There will be no next Burning Man for me, so all this great and much appreciated advice should be of great value for others who have yet to burn and be burned...

Sincerely, Daniel Bayer, Creator / Director of the Kodachrome Project

www.kodachromeproject.com

[thirt33n]

i hope you and your mother can recover your lives that you so carelessly lost.
amazing that you can inseparably connect the life/soul of your brother with a piece of metal and rubber. sad. like mother like son.
your poor brother is now represented by a stolen bicycle. I hope for his sake you can now remember him for who HE was. ...although if he's anything like you he's crying and pointing blame at someone or something other than himself.

of course, we won't miss you next year.

bike thieves suck. we're all together on that one

good luck with your future endeavors.

later

[Kodachrome-Burning]

If you actually knew the full scope of details of why this bike was significant to my family, you would totally feel like crap for what you just wrote.

[thirt33n]

Kodachrome-Burning-

get this through your Kodachrome head.

I would have hung my brothers favorite bike on my wall like art. Anything that meant so much to me and my family would never have been brought to the playa unless it was going there to be burned and sent into the universe.

You obviously came unprepared and were not properly schooled on what Burning Man is and is not.

..and to include things now, after the fact, like this:

Now I am screwed out of my dead brother's bike, have no transportation to ride around neighborhoods while on the road instead of pulling up in an obvious truck camper sometimes spooking small town folk out and my heart is still not back in my own project in which I have spent close to 70K and 6 years getting ready for. My mother is extremely distraught over this, does not think I should even include this loser sh_t show in my book and I am starting to agree.

is only an indicator of what kind of clueless, finger pointing dude you are.

go to a pawn shop. buy a $30 bike. get over it. DUH! you fucked up. get over it.

Bike thieves suck. we know.
So do biting dogs. Take precautions. Be prepared.

now, go! Go into your Kodachrome and leave us to our fucking "shit show".

get

[Kodachrome-Burning]

Despite what you may think, I still consider this event to be one of the premier gatherings of art and humanity on the planet, the party atmosphere a giant artist reception. But it does not change the fact that it also contains losers and their shit show, more so than any other gathering I have been to and as a photographer who had published in Life, Time, National Geographic and more, I have seen and done a lot.

But dude, let a person grieve and vent for pete's sake. Otherwise, you are what is wrong with BM, not right.


I gave out over $200 worth of film to people who were inspired to shoot it, gave out water, food, etc.

Don't be such an ass, yeah?

[thirt33n]

go on now.
git.

we have next year's shit show to plan for.

good job. nice work.

bike thieves suck.

[Gwydeon]

Ok now you get snark.

If that bike was so important to you, why did you bring it to the burn?!? Did you not read the survival guide? Any of these boards? Don't bring ANYTHING to the burn you couldn't afford or stand to... well burn.

[gyre]

For many of us, a bike is essential to getting around, and not a $30 bike will cut it either.

And losing even a cheap bike can ruin your time, if you need it.

It really isn't unusual for people to bring their good bike.

And I find decorating dramatically enhances the attraction to casual thieves.

Knowing information about the lock would be useful.


You guys should at least be polite about this theft.

[Bad-Budhist]

I am very sorry about your loss.

I remember when my mother died I wore he sweater everywhere until one day it was lost on BART. I was inconsolable....but then....few more thing of her that were dear to me dissapeared , broke or died over the years. With each material loss I was no as inconsolable as it become clear to me that I already suffered the biggest loss of my very young (at that time life) and mementos were just things. Now i find my mother in the kitchen,on the yoga mat and in the zendo.


I do not consider bike thiefs real burners. Playa is just like rest of the life...some people are god and some are not.

My lover's bike was soles last year. I walked around playa for day looking for it and amazingly, it was found.


I hope your brother;s bike will be founds as well.

I am sorry about your and your mother;s sorrow. I can't imagine the pain she feels.

[thirt33n]

For many of us, a bike is essential to getting around, and not a $30 bike will cut it either.

And losing even a cheap bike can ruin your time, if you need it.

It really isn't unusual for people to bring their good bike.

And I find decorating dramatically enhances the attraction to casual thieves.

Knowing information about the lock would be useful.


You guys should at least be polite about this theft.

Hi gyre! nice to see ya.
I have to say i disagree with many of your points.
1. I've gotten around better that sufficiently on bikes that were purchased for less than $30. One, my main playa bike, i bought at goodwill for $9.
2. Having my bike stolen in 2008 put a small nick in my morning and then I made my re-entry into the fun-zone.
3. I have found that people are less inclined to steal "art" aka a finely decorated/modified bike.
4. I find that the OP is a finger pointing, ill prepared and blame filled baby who has openly called burning man a "shit show".
5. I realize that it is not unusual for people to bring their good bike. this would primarily be the reason that thieves are bringing bolt cutters and stealing them.

I was taught to bring an inexpensive bike. The logic behind this is elementary.

I understand your being polite statement.
At the same time I just didn't have it in me to let Mr. Kodachrome symbolically scream and cry while flailing blame and his mother and his dead brother's soul and his current inability to do his mission without his brothers bike and it's all the fault of this "shit show" and the "cavalier" attitude of the help desk and the blah blah blah

fault, blame, fault, blame.....

hi gyre

i don't think i began here in this thread in an impolite manner. just stating how i feel....

[Hoolie]

I'm not digging this blame the victim mentality. Kodachrome did nothing wrong, and blaming him for his loss effectively excuses the actions the thief, who owns 100% of the responsibility for this crime.

[thirt33n]

^
that's cool. everyone has their opinions.

mine is:
it doesn't matter that the driver who smashed into you was a drunken criminal. you went through the window because you didn't wear your seat belt. stop blaming anyone but yourself for smashing your head on the lamp post.

[Bad-Budhist]

It is normal to be mad at the world after an extreme loss. The grief is not all gentle tears and weeping.

[thirt33n]

^

i get you too bad-bud.
you are very gentle and that's always a good thing.
maybe my "loss" this year was that I stayed default side...maybe that's why i'm such an ass

[lambert13]

we have next year's shit show to plan for.

While I don't necessarily agree with the other stuff you wrote......I loved this line. My Dad and I are going to be virgins in 2011. I just sent him an email with just that one line in it. I know he will appreciate it.

[lambert13]

On a more constructive note:

It might be worth it to keep an eye out on the Reno are classified listings. Craigslist, newspapers, etc. If the bike thieves were a local "ring" they might be trying to sell them off after everyone leaves the shit show in the desert.

That advice goes for others who lost bikes also.

I had a friend recover a stolen bike using this method a while ago.

[alt12]

If you actually knew the full scope of details of why this bike was significant to my family, you would totally feel like crap for what you just wrote.

attachment leads to suffering.... you are attached to the bike. it is gone. now you suffer...