'I might have seen that bike before': Facebook group reunites owner with stolen bicycle

AlanSchietzchsees plenty of bikes in the McCauley neighbourhood, but on Friday he spotted one that made him do a double-take.

The baby-blue Kona with shiny black fenders was locked to a railing outside a cafe.

Schietzch, a self-described bike aficionado, thought the bike looked out of place, not to mention familiar.

"I'm going, 'I think I might have seen that bike before,' " Schietzchsaid in an interview with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM on Tuesday.

• Cyclists steering own investigations into stolen bikes

It turned out he had seen the bicycle on theStolen Bikes Edmonton group Facebook page.

He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture, posted it to the group (he's a member), and waited for a response.

"Sure enough, it was recognized immediately," he said.

Within minutes he was in touch with the bike's owner, Sara Venskaitis, who had posted a photo of her stolen bike months earlier on the Facebook page.

Venskaitis described the unique accessories on her bike, andSchietzchcompared them with the bike he was looking at.

'It was her bike'

Another member of the group who was following the conversation thread got in touch with police. Officers working nearby at an Edmonton Eskimos game were dispatched and soon arrived.

"Tip of the hat to the Edmonton police on their responsiveness," Schietzchsaid. "They rolled up, were able to check the serial number and verify that it was her bike."

Confident with the information they had, police went into the coffee shop to look for the person who locked the bike up.

• Someone shipped this Toronto man's stolen bike to the Philippines, then he got it back
• Register bicycles, report thefts, Winnipeg police say after seizing stolen bike that hadn't been reported

Nobody fessed up. The officers cut the lock and eventually returned the bike to Venskaitis.

"I think it's really amazing that these people came together and helped me get my bike back when they had never met me," she said. "It really made me feel a lot better about the community in Edmonton than I had felt when the bike was stolen."

Schietzch said the Facebook group has helped severalmembers locate their stolen bikes.

He advisedbike owners to take photos of the serial number, along with the bike itself.