Er, could I have my stolen, home-made, utterly unique, bamboo bike back? | BBC News

Thousands of bikes are stolen in the UK each year. Most are never seen again by their owners, and some even have to be bought back from criminals. But when advertising account manager Hugh Allman, 28, had his taken, he was eventually reunited with it - largely because he had hand-built it himself out of bamboo and it was utterly unique.

I have friends who run a workshop where you can build a bamboo bike frame, so last summer I decided to make one for myself. The handles and wheels came from an old racer. Because bamboo is hollow, it's very light, but it's pretty solid - I rode it from London to Brussels over the August bank holiday. On Saturday I went out with friends for a ride. At about 16:00 there was a downpour so we took shelter a coffee shop. I could look outside and see the bike. After five minutes I looked out again and it was gone - the lock, the bike, everything. I was gutted. I called the police but was 99.9% sure I wouldn't get it back.

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