When Silver Lake film editor Christine Louise Berry decided to give up her car, she purchased a black, a Batavus Breukelen, a sturdy, stylish and expensive Dutch-made bicycle that retails for $1,200 Earlier this week, Berry’s bike was stolen from the porch of her Manzanita Street home. Now, Berry and others have asked cyclists to keep an eye out for the bike, which is a rare piece of cycling equipment, at least in Los Angeles. Josef Bray-Ali of Flying Pigeon L.A., the Cypress Park bike shop where Berry purchased the bike, said he knows of only a handful of other Los Angeles riders who own similar bikes. Last June, Berry told the Velo Vogue blog what attracted her to the Batavus Breukelen:
“When I gave up my car, I knew I wanted a bike that would go with everything. So I chose a bike that replaces a car: it’s sturdy, visible, beautiful. The line of it is sweeping. It’s got this long stride. And the way the top bar slopes down — it’s so f-ing elegant. It has a skirt guard and a hub-generated light that never needs batteries – everything is made to last. Ultimately, it’s just springy, really fun, and I never have to think twice about riding.”
Anyone with information about Berry’s bike can contact Bray-Ali at at 213-909-8986 or info@flyingpigeon-la.com.
Photo from Flying Pigeon L.A.
I had a bike lifted off of Manzanita a few years ago myself.
It sucks that her bike was stolen and I hope she gets it back, but honestly, I wouldn’t ever park a bike worth more than you can afford to pay tomorrow outside. Rule of thumb…
Seriously, who would leave that bike on a porch?! I’d no sooner leave my laptop outside.
I do ride a bike I could afford to pay for tomorrow and I keep it inside at home and locked up everywhere else.
But I’m gonna refrain from needlessly comparing my diligence to the victim’s innocence in leaving such a prized pair of pedals so accessible and instead just keep my eyes wide open for the rare thing.
Here’s hoping it gets found and returned. She may never have had to think twice about riding, but if the two are reunited I’ll bet she thinks twice about where to park it.
If I see it for sale I hope to buy it at a good price.
I’m sure she misses her bike dearly and I hope she gets it back, but there are plenty of folks who have bikes worth a fraction of hers, who depend on them just as much as she does (if not more), but they don’t have the connections to enlist the entire Internets to help them find them when they’re stolen.
Yikes, such hate. This gal has given up her car for a bike; if I did the same, I’d want a nice ride, too. (And that 1200 is retail, btw, maybe she got a good deal.) In none of the links does it say whether she locked it up on the porch or not; nor does it show what her porch looks like (not all L.A. porches look like the ones in Forrest Gump, with a rocker swing and a cobblestone path, so inviting to thieves). Plus she didn’t enlist the “entire internets” to find it — she told the dude at the bike shop, and he posted it on the shop’s site. Hope she gets it back soon.
Hate? I already said I’m sorry she lost her bike. I’m just noting a dichotomy of life in this here City of the “Angels.” A lot of people ride a bike because it’s the only transportation they can afford and losing it can have tragic consequences. If pointing that out is “hate,” I guess I’m a hater. Merry Christmas.
Hmm, no bicycle license (would not help that much in recovery) but maybe homeowner/apartment owner insurance would lessen the financial loss of this burgarlry?
However if anyone purchases stolen property, I hope they get prosecuted for receiving stolen goods. If the electric light generator was taken off of the original bike it might be harder to prove receiving stolen goods.
The bike has a couple of serial numbers on it as well as a special RFID chip (which, unfortunately, the police in this country don’t use to register bikes as they do in Holland).
It was locked to itself, via a rear wheel lock, and had a u-lock on it as well to a table of some sort. The “porch” is not visible from the street. All of this points to (at least to me) a neighbor with a drug addiction or a need for some quick cash.
As for the remark about how “some people” can or can’t enlist the power of social media to help find their bike, what is there to say about that? We work very hard to bring the best transportation bikes in the world to LA. We are grateful that our customers give us a chance to do this for a living. What should we do? Say, “Tough luck” and “Wanna buy another one?”. This isn’t some service we offer – we are just trying to lend a hand how best we can. Since we’re manning the workstand or the front counter at the shop and unable to canvas the neighborhood in person, doesn’t it make sense to use all the tools we have at our disposal to help someone that has patronized us?
Apologies if my comment was construed as “hate.” Dismay definitely, in part because I narrowly avoided becoming a similar victim. It was only by dumb luck and good timing a couple years ago that I caught two punks sneaking up to my porch to steal my locked up $300 ride. They had the good sense to slither off quickly when I inquired which one would first like to have their ass fed to them. The bike’s been indoor since.
But no hate here. I sincerely hope she gets her bike back and in the trips I’ve made across the uptown area I’ve been actively looking for it.
What?? Is the bike made out of gold? I say she got ripped off twice.