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Seeking Revenge In 'Underworld Of Vanished Bikes'

February 6, 2012
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In 2006, thieves stole writer Patrick Symmes' bike in broad daylight on a crowded, New York City street. This inspired Symmes to set out to catch a bike thief — any bike thief.

He tells the tale of this revenge-fueled, cross-country journey in the Outside magazine piece "Who Pinched My Ride?" The story is filled with GPS trackers, police stake-outs and undercover stings.

By some estimates, more than one million bike thefts go unreported annually. The annual value of stolen bikes is as much as $350 million, according to the FBI and the National Bike Registry. Still, some police departments are not following up on the crimes.

Symmes talks with NPR's Neal Conan about the world of organized bike crime and the measures bike owners will take to retrieve their stolen property.

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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