I’m being slightly slow on the uptake here – last week the owner of the Bicycle Clinic on Queen Street West, Toronto was arrested for massive bicycle theft. The shop, a small hole in the wall location in the middle of trendy Queen Street, was raided last week and along with other locations, found to hold almost 3,000 bikes – all believed to be stolen. Pretty impressive work.
I’d walked past the Bicycle Clinic pretty much every time I’ve been to Toronto, the last time being a few months back. The place is a local institution, but it transpires this is more to do with every local knowing that if their bike was stolen they should head down to retrieve it (by argument or money) from the owner. Now the lengthy process of returning the stolen bikes to their rightful owners continues as a neighbourhood story ends.