The Nanaimo RCMP is looking for the owner of a ‘relatively new and expensive’ mountain bike that was seized from a man who was not the owner on Christmas Eve.
At around 1:30 in the afternoon on Dec. 24, a patrol officer noticed a man riding a bike on View Street in South Nanaimo. The cyclist was riding without a helmet and was on the wrong side of the road.
The officer stopped to speak with the 32-year-old man, and noticed nearly the entire bike was covered in duct tape, including the serial number.
The bike is a green and grey coloured Giant Reign with an estimated value of $2,500-$3,000. The Rock Shox components were also covered in duct tape, making the bike appear to be grey in colour.
The cyclist told the officer he paid $300 and offered no further explanation for how he came to be in possession of it.
Based on the man’s answers, the police officer formed the opinion that the bike had most likely been stolen. The serial number was checked on police databases and at that time, but no one had reported it stolen.
The man voluntarily gave the bike over to the officer.
He was then presented with several violation tickets under the Motor Vehicle Act for operating a bike without a helmet and riding on the wrong side of the road.
If you have any information on the ownership of this bike, you are asked to call the Nanaimo RCMP non-emergency line at 250-754-2345 and quote file # 2020-45715.
Rebecca Lawrence
