Heritage Bike Shop employee helps recover customer's stolen bike

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A worker at Chicago's Heritage Bike Shop on the city's North Side helped police set up a sting to recover a customer's stolen bike.

The victim says someone broke into his home in Roscoe Village and stole a $1,200 custom-made road bike from his basement. He was horrified when he noticed it was missing.

"I love my bike, it is a big part of my life in Chicago, I never thought I would get it back," he said. He declined to be identified.

He was contacted by Heritage Bike Shop, who made the custom bike for him. Within a few hours, Derrick Lewis of Heritage told him that a customer of theirs alerted them that the stolen bike was being sold online for $200 by a woman who was selling it for her boyfriend, a notorious bike thief.

Heritage and police created a sting to capture the offenders, creating a sale to take place in Albany Park.

"We had a friend contact the seller of the stolen bike who was selling it for the boyfriend," Lewis said.

"They talk with the girl, sit on the bike, test it out like they're interested in buying it, and while they're doing that the police come into the scene and arrest them," the victim said.

Although the bike has been recovered, it will be expensive to fix changes the alleged thieves made to it.

"It was marked up, they took parts off and changed it," Lewis said.

At Heritage, each bike is made by hand. It takes anywhere from two weeks to a month to custom make a bike. The shop prides itself on making one-of-a-kind bikes that customers save money to be able to afford.

"I'm just happy to have my bike back," the victim said.