With his colourful hand painted helmet, cyclist Paul Rayburn is hard to miss on Winnipeg streets.
The 47-year-old’s bike was just as recognizable.
"It was green, olive colour green with white and 29 inch rims, nice disc brakes," he said.
Rayburn loved that bike, not just because it had all the bells and whistles, but because it was a gift from his dying father.
"I rode it everywhere. I rode it for two years everywhere. Everyone knows me with it."
But on October 20th of this year, Rayburn was out for food at a Main Street restaurant, when he said his bike was stolen, even though he had locked it up to a sign in the parking lot.
The whole thing was caught was on security video.
"He took a crowbar or something and destroyed the sign," said Rayburn describing what he saw on the video. "He took the whole bike and lifted it right off."
There has been no sign of Rayburns bike since.
Rayburn's friend David Stern is helping look for the bike. Stern had his bike stolen from right outside his workplace in The Maples in April.
"When I had it stolen I was surprised because where it was, was a good neighbourhood," he said.
Both men reported their stolen bikes to the Winnipeg Police Service.
CTV News obtained information from Winnipeg Police about where bikes are being taken from in the city.
Of the 2,101 cases reported to police between January 2015 and September 2016, and 1,874 had exact locations.
When mapped out the top five neighbourhoods for bike theft are:
- Wolseley (63 bikes stolen)
- University of Manitoba (58 bikes stolen)
- Central St. Boniface (51 bikes stolen)
- West Broadway (50 bikes stolen)
- River-Osborne (48 bikes stolen)
Winnipeg Police are aware the most bikes are stolen from the neighbourhoods in or close to the downtown area.
"What we are seeing is an upward trend. It is continuing to spike," said Const. Rejeanne Caron, downtown safety coordinator for WPS.
One of the contributing factors is simple, more people are using their bikes to commute downtown.
In August, Caron put out a public warning to cyclists because bike thefts had spiked.
Cyclists were reminded about three steps to take when locking up:
- Lock it with two locks, one u-lock and one cable lock to secure the wheels together
- Pick a location in a high traffic area with good lighting
- Secure it to something that cannot be breached in any way
Another tip from police is to keep digital copies of your bike’s serial number and a photo of your bike, so if it is stolen, it can be returned to you.
As well, police would like victims to report bike thefts no matter the value of the bike.
Caron said in the months since the public service announcement, Winnipeg Police have seen a dramatic drop in bike thefts.
"We've actually seen a 51 percent decrease since then and that's very positive."
However, there has been no good news for Rayburn.
He has exhausted all his resources in the search for his beloved bike, on foot and online.
"I've put it everywhere. Everybody knows. I have five or six people looking for my bike right now," he said.
He has had a few tips, but nothing concrete.
Rayburn is now riding his wintertime bike around, and will not be leaving it out if his sight anytime soon.
