'It was just like it disappeared': Hundreds fall victim to bike theft each year in Saskatoon

A reminder from police to lock up your bikes because bike thefts are a constant concern in our city, and the thefts are being linked to other criminal activity.

Caleb Brown was in disbelief when he checked on his bike during recess at school last month to discover it was missing from the bike rack behind his school.

“As I looked, I could not find it and it was just like it disappeared. I was a little down and mad,” the 11-year-old told CTV News.

His mom Chelsea Brown was angry at first, but then was sad for Caleb, who she says relied on his bike to meet with friends since they moved from Moose Jaw last year.

There were no cameras in the back of the school where the bikes are kept, so there were no leads about who stole it.

“It was in an area with lots of kids coming and going, in the middle of the day. They had to find the one unlocked bike in the 20 that were there. It’s like they were watching it,” Chelsea said.

Caleb says it was his first brand-new bike and he recognizes he made it really easy for thieves — it was the one day he forgot his lock. Now, he’s riding a bike on loan from his grandma.

The stolen bike was found by his uncle a few blocks from his home, in a strip mall behind his school, but the tires were stripped, and it was in rough shape.

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“I tried my brakes, and the back brake was just gone. It wasn’t even screwed on,” he said. His bike was missing for about a week before being discovered.

Bike theft is a common issue in our city and, according to the chief of police, its linked to other criminal activity.

“We do see, unfortunately, bicycles associated to drug culture and so where we find individuals who are consuming drugs, we often find bicycles associated to those areas as well,” Chief Cam McBride told CTV News.

According to the chief, police are constantly watching out for this link between bikes and drugs on our streets.

Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) stats show 995 bikes were stolen in 2019 and the numbers fluctuated between 750 in 2020 to 699 in 2021, 834 in 2022 and 743 last year.

So far this year 519 bikes have been stolen, with three months to go before the end of the year, but the bulk of these types of thefts occur in the spring and summer.

Occasionally, evidence of the stolen bike trade is visible in plain sight. A video taken in the summer shows a mass of bike parts stockpiled and discarded in a vacant lot just south of 22nd Street.

A Facebook user shared an image of this stockpile of bike parts, presumed stolen, found in a Saskatoon vacant lot. (Source: Facebook / Tegan Bosco)

According to city officials, the fire marshal has since visited the location and reported the lot has been somewhat cleared up.

Police recommend keeping your bike’s serial number handy in case your bike does go missing, but for Chelsea Brown, she doesn’t know how it would’ve helped.

“We did double check the serial number when it came back and told the police that it was returned, but, yeah, it didn't help us at all because it's too broken to fix it anyway,” she says.

The bike cost them just over $600 and after taking it to a repair shop to assess the damage, they were disappointed to hear it would cost about that much to fix.

Caleb is doubtful a new bike will be in the cards for him because of cost, so he’ll use the bike from his grandma for the rest of the season and says, he’ll be sure to remember to take his lock with him every time.