The bike rack and sculpture stolen more than a week ago from Tucson’s newest bicycle business was returned yesterday.
BikeShopHub.com‘s owner Josh Lipton said he received a call from a man saying he had the rack and wanted to return it, but wanted to make sure they weren’t going to call the police.
Lipton said they didn’t ask a lot of questions, so it wasn’t clear exactly what happened and how the man ended up with the sculpture. He said the man told employees that he thought they were throwing it out, which is why he took it.
Now that the warehouse is up and running they have space to store it inside until they can get it installed securely.
“We joked that he was just storing it for us until we could clear out space in the warehouse,” Lipton said.
Lipton speculated that after the Arizona Daily Star and KVOA picked up the story originally published on Tucson Velo, the man realized it wasn’t trash and wanted to return the rack.
Lipton said it didn’t seem like he intended to try to sell it for scrap.
The rack weighs close to 1,000 pounds and was valued between $5,000 – $8,000, but would likely have fetched a few hundred dollars for the scrap metal.
Lipton is thrilled to have it back and said it’s making him feel better about moving to Tucson.
I’m still curious as to how he managed to take it. It isn’t like he could’ve just thrown it into his truck.
CarolynAudilet Given the photo above, it looks like the size of his truck compared to the size of the rack could create some real good leverage for a strong young guy to tip it over the side of the bed and then drag it in. One rope or a strap would help even more once it was tipped.
You could never mistake that for scrap. He stole it, then felt bad about it due to pleas from the owners. Its easy to be a thief, jerk and a lot of other things when you never see the direct effects of your actions. I’m glad he has a conscience.
very cool he gave it back.
Well. Can’t buy publicity splash like this one, not even in the Old Pueblo’s frenzied, grasping and vapid media. Let things happen naturally.
Has anyone in local media thought to ask this simple online retailer, the perpetual start up, what they think about the proposed national sales tax (localized, of course!) on online sales? Apparently not, the distraction…
I think he stole it for scrap and then with all the media hype realized it would be hard to sell off.
I’m sure his mom found it in the backyard and demanded her son return it. Or the junk yard foreman wouldn’t take it cause it was too hot. No body has any idea how this one played out. The bottom line is good enough…the bike rack was returned…maybe I’ll ride by and lock my bike to it for fun.
StefanWalz How did you know? The guy showed up with his mother when he returned it.
Commute_by_Bike StefanWalz LOL. The article in the paper mentioned his mother was there…and in my youthful ignorance I was told by my own mother to return something that was not my own.