Ladri della Rottella di Biciclette? Bicycle (Wheel) Thief Strikes in North Beach.

Mamma mia!

​It is an iconic image of San Francisco: The locked-up bicycle robbed of its front wheel, sagging forward sadly as it rests against a metal rack or the pole of a parking sign. This sight may be more common in the Mission District, where preening hipsters are wont to abandon their fixies on overnight benders, but let's face it -- nobody's wheels are totally safe in this city.

Apparently that's the case in North Beach, which was home to a bizarre and somewhat poignant act of wheel theft last weekend. On Saturday, according to police, two plainclothes cops were flagged down by a woman who said her husband's bicycle wheel had just been stolen. She pointed to the bike -- locked to a pole, sans front wheel -- and to the man she said was responsible.

Now for the bizarre poignancy. According to police, the suspect was busily trying to attach this piece of stolen property to his own bicycle, which had no front wheel of its own. Sorta like the hero of the Italian film classic The Bicycle Thief, who rips off a bike in a tragic quest for dignity after his own bike is stolen.

Or maybe not. Who can guess the motives of this particular Bicycle Wheel Thief? We just hope he wasn't some guy with a thin beard and skinny jeans en route to throw back some cans of Tecate at Pop's.

Photo   |   bixentro