When a couple turned up at 99 Bikes in O’Connor for a front tube change – but didn’t know the bike’s make or model and were more interested in what it was worth – alarm bells went off for team leader Adrian.  In the next 60 minutes, his quick thinking and teamwork would soon make one cyclist a lifelong fan.

While Adrian started on the tube change, his colleague Calum came over to ‘inspect’ the bike (actually just finding the serial number) and then went on his ‘lunch break’ (actually just out the back searching the serial number on Bikelinc).  When this search identified the bike was listed as lost/stolen, Calum discreetly told Adrian then called the police whilst Adrian continued performing the world’s slowest tube change.

By this point the couple were browsing around the shop so Calum told Adrian to keep chatting because police were on the way.  For the next hour or so they struck up a lengthy conversation, fixed up some issues on the bike and invented some new ones to buy more time. The couple only had $20 for the tube change so were told that because it was a slow day, 99 Bikes were happy to fix up the other issues free of charge.

Although police got diverted to another situation, Adrian had already decided he wasn’t letting this bike go.  When he told the couple that it was flagged as lost or stolen, this didn’t seem surprised but were annoyed. To de-escalate the situation Adrian suggested it was probably just a misunderstanding and he wanted to clear things up so they wouldn’t have the same issues next time they brought the bike in for servicing. The woman then realised what was going on and took off without much fuss.  Her companion hung around and vented his frustration but eventually gave up, leaving a slipstream of swear words on his exit.

As it turned out, just the day before, that bike had been swiped from an underground garage private bay.  As soon as the owner realised, they put out a few Facebook posts in their area vaguely hoping someone could help.  One comment suggested ‘don’t forget to put it on Bikelinc’ and although the owner had never heard about it, they went online and registered.

The very next day, Adrian contacted them through the secure email function and was just so happy to reunite the owner with their bike.

‘I can’t thank you enough for all you have done for us!!  I was so amazed to receive Adrian’s email after less than 24 hours on Bikelinc, it seemed unreal.’

‘We will promote Bikelinc and 99 Bikes shop in O’Connor – not to mention Adrian for this incredible timely action!  A thousand thanks to the team(s) involved!’