Bike Thieves 0, Framemaker 1

Dec 11, 2003

Well I had to share this little story with you! Being so close to the holiday season, this is as good as any Christmas tale out there! So without further addue, here is a sad story with quite a happy ending!

Back in October I received this e-mail from Mat «The Welder » Albert indicating that some punks had broken into his brothers apartment on Halloween night, not only stealing the stereo system, but his hand build frame called “Berta”! Obviously Mat was gutted since Berta was a “one of a kind” frame, which he designed, assembled, machined and welded with his bare hands when he used to work for Balfa Cycles! For those of you who were attending Interbike this year, you might of seen it hanging at the 24Bikes booth.

Mat 'The Welder' Albert at work

He swore to do everything humanly possible to get her back! He contacted the local newspapers, radio, TV and local authorities. He even went as far as saying “It’s worst than a kidnapping!!!” But as you know, in most cases like this, you never end up getting your precious goods back.

That’s until recently, when Berta showed up in the classified section here on PinkBike.com. Jeff from Dropmachine.com was the first one to see the add in the Buy&Sell forum, he immediately notified Alain from 24bikes, who then contacted Mat. Thinking he could make some quick dough with the stolen frame, the crook probably had no clue Berta was a very unique frame!! Hahahaha…SUCKA!!!

Mat, Tristan and Alain at Interbike earlier this year

Mat and Alain Lavoie (24Bikes), with the help of the local Police, were able to recover Berta two months later! Alain first contacted the guy via e-mail and was able to schedule a meeting date/location to purchase Berta. Once Mat and Alain got to the meeting spot, they saw half a dozen guys standing at the corner of the street, where one of them had Berta. They immediately contacted the cops who were well aware of the planned “bikebust”! Mat got out of the car first and approached the guy who had Berta, as you can guess Mat never lost Berta of his eyesight!! The culprit handed the frame to him and then Mat proceeded to ask many questions about the frame, trying to make up some time. Alain got out of the car to meet with Mat. At that very moment the cops showed up, seconds later they pulled in the “meat wagon”. Mat tells him “HA!! BUSTED” at the same time the cops were screaming, “Nobody moves!!!” The rest is history!!

The artist and his mater piece!

Wish every story about stolen bikes would have such happy endings! The bike community fights back!! So word to all you bike thieves out there - We’re like a family, you mess with one of us, you mess with ALL of us!!

The End