BIKES: A Cliffhanger

I thought had I had posted about this but I guess not. The night before Valentine's Day, while Ryan and I were out to dinner from approx. 6-8:00 p.m., our bikes were stolen out of our garage. :( We had two Cannondale mountain bikes, one with a nice Ibert seat on it. The thieves ripped off the ibert seat first and left half of it on the floor of my garage, right in my parking space. We almost ran over it when we came home, so that was our rude awakening that we had been robbed.

I filed a police report and after mulling it over, decided to file a condo insurance claim for the bikes. We have a $500 deductible so it was kind of a tossup. Would we want to just look for two used bikes under $500? But by the time I priced out all of the components and upgrades I'd put in, it came to about $1900 in bike value, so we decided to do the claim.

Anyway, we have 1 year to buy everything, submit receipts and get reimbursed. I found a Burley bike trailer on sale at a store in San Diego and bought that. It's currently in my parents' garage waiting for us to buy bikes to tow it. The ibert seat was great, but Lauren had just about outgrown it when it was stolen anyway, so we needed a new way to transport her. The Burley cost more than twice what the Ibert seat cost (and we got it on sale at rock-bottom discount at a closeout store) so we will only be reimbursed for the $85 that the Ibert is worth.

I really liked my bike, had it since college, and throughout the years, upgraded the seat, added better road wheels, better kickstand, water bottle holder, and got it tuned regularly. It was a hybrid and at first I used it more on trails for fun, then later when it was pretty much paved roads, I changed the kind of tires.

Ryan, however, never liked his bike much. It was (to me)really comfortable, but it didn't shift all that well, and once the chain even came off while riding. But it had a very comfortable suspension and seemed more stable because it had the mountain bike tires, so I used to ride it with the Ibert seat. Worked for me.

Anyway, we have been pricing out bikes and trying to each find bikes we would love to ride, that are not too pricey, yet use up all of the allowance the insurance company is giving us. Ryan found a Specialized Rockhopper he liked, similar to a bike he had stolen from him in college. I have been testing and not loving the new Cannondales, which are no longer made in the USA.

I just want something super lightweight because I do a lot lifting of the bike up stairs, over the bike path barriers, onto a Hollywood Rack, etc. So light is my main concern. Light=expensive. :(

Anyway, a twist in the story came yesterday when my neighbor, who is active in our Neighborhood Watch, emailed me that our Senior Lead Officer got word of a house nearby which "another agency raided" (DEA? Immigration? Not sure) which had a bunch of stolen bikes, including some Cannondales. We are supposed to contact this one officer with our serial numbers or any identifying markings on the bikes. I have been trying to call him but LAPD is laughably inefficient and the other officers just say he is "out", they cannot take a message, he doesn't have voicemail and they don't know his email address. I can just try calling tomorrow.

I want to know right now if these are my bikes! And I have a message in to my insurance agent with some questions for him. If they are my bikes, what do I have to do as far as the insurance goes? Can I cancel the whole insurance claim? Will it still show up as a strike against me as far as not getting y rates raised? And if the bikes are damaged or not in as good of condition and I don't even want them back, then what? Keep in mind, these were always garaged, oiled, etc. Does the insurance company take them or do I get them back AND new bikes?

Anyway, stay tuned to see the answers to my first-ever blog cliffhanger!