bike auction . . .

. . . goes down next weekend. Pick up an old road bike like Jonny G did a few years back. Or go and watch people bid too much for shiny but crappy mountain bikes. See the story below, courtesy of the WFP:

EVERY year, Brad Mart helps find owners for hundreds of stolen, lost or abandoned bicycles. Some of the bikes get returned to owners who lost them to a thief. But most end up hanging by the back wheel from one of dozens of tall racks in the basement of the Community Services building, where they wait to be owned again.

As the city's bike recovery officer, Mart takes in up to 1,500 bikes a year. About 300 come from the police -- bikes that have been found and turned in to them, or seized as evidence with no known owner.

"Sometimes it's an upgrade, where somebody steals a newer bike and leaves the old one. Sometimes it's transportation to go steal a car," says Mart.

The rest, about 1,000, Mart picks up himself from back lanes and sidewalks and boulevards after responding to calls about abandoned bikes. "A lot of the job is going around throwing bikes in the back of a truck," he says.

He guesses that most of the bikes he picks up may have been stolen by someone as a quick way to get from one place to another.

"When it's hot and dry, we get lots; when it's cold and wet, we hardly get any," says Mart. Or they may be bikes no one wants.

"There's a pattern of junk bike pick-ups and garbage days around the city. Someone sees a bike in the trash and rides it a few blocks before abandoning it."

Mart runs a serial-number check for the bikes in his care against a Canadian Police Information Centre database listing numbers of stolen bikes from around the country. But only about 10 per cent of bikes in the database are found and returned their original owners. Most of the rest get hung up for the city's annual bike auction, which will be held this year on April 21 and 22.

"Some garbage bikes end up in the scrapyard, but all these bikes go every year," says Mart, gesturing to the holding racks that fill the vast basement.

Mart says buyers at last year's auction paid an average $70 per bike, with one custom-built mountain bike selling for $700.

"People at the sale said it would've cost well over $2,000 to build," says Mart. The vast majority of the bikes have a serial number when Mart gets them, but most bike owners don't record it.

And while a tiny purple child's bike with flower decals can be plausibly identified by its description alone, Mart only assures a bike's return to someone who knows the serial number.

The city has bike theft rings "to some extent," says Mart, pointing to a pile of BMX frames and parts that police sent over after a chop-shop bust.

Mart's boss, the city's chief licence inspector, says he hopes to move 650 of the 1,040 bikes currently on hand next Saturday, and the rest on Sunday. "Everything's got to go," says Bryan Verity. "At the end of the day on Sunday, it's a buyer's market. But remember, it's an auction. If you're the high bidder, you bought it."

If you do buy, keep the bill. Mart says it will list the serial number, make and colour of the bike. If he ever picks your bike up off the street, you can prove you own it by showing him the bill.

Mart says if someone steals your bike, you should first report it to police and then to him at 986-2473. If someone took your bike within the last year and you didn't report it but you have the serial number, give him a call now. Your bike might be up for sale.


Get in on the auction:

The auction has a new venue this year -- the Varsity View Sportsplex Arena, at 4230 Ridgewood Ave.

Associated Auto Auction, which is administering the sale, will post a list of bikes up for grabs on its website at www.associatedautoauction.com.

Public viewing is from 7 to 8:45 a.m. on Saturday and bidding starts at 9.

On Sunday, viewing runs from 10 to 11:45 a.m. and bidding starts at noon.

Bidders may register anytime during either day. There is no fee to participate in the auction, but you can't bid without registering.

OTT: Yo La Tengo, I Feel Like Going Home