Brian YeagleMark Potoczny and his Deluxe 'PA' model frame. Launch Gallery »(Recently, Brian Yeagle contacted us in regards to a bike check with Deluxe pro Mark Potoczny. According to Yeagle, Potoczny's latest bike had a unique story to go along with it -- the bike, his first signature prototype, was stolen, then recovered. So Brian completed the bike check, then asked Mark to detail his account of the bike being stolen and recovered. What follows is Mark's story. -ESPN BMX)
Mark Potoczny's Deluxe PA
After riding all afternoon at Hazelwood Trails, Ryan Popple and I left to meet Bobby Valentine at a rope swing into the Allegheny River on the other side of town. Ryan left after the swim, so the two of us rode back across town to the South Side (notorious for bar fights and theft) for food and a few drinks. When we came back to where our bikes were locked up, all that we saw left was the lock cut in half. We were stunned, it was like a scene out of a bad movie, and this was our scene. We made the obligatory survey through the city blocks surrounding the site of theft in hopeless desperation. That done, without a voicing a word of farewell, we walked in opposite directions toward our cars, each miles away.
For me, this was the second Deluxe prototype frame I had received. This time, with prototype forks and a few changes to the frame made it one of kind. As for Bobby, it was his road bike stolen making it a greater financial loss for him. I was stressed because some friends and I were set to travel to Posh trails the next Friday and a week later I would be leaving for France for "Kill the Line."
I got new a bike dialed in the evening before we left for Posh and everything seemed like it was back to normal. Then on the drive to Posh, I received a call from Bobby. "I got it, I got it," Bobby was screaming through the phone.
I asked, "got what?"
"Your bike," Bobby said out of breath after riding it back to safety.
Good Ol' Bob saw a young kid riding it only a few blocks from the scene of the crime. He accosted the kid saying, "This isn't yours" and pushed him off of it and pedaled away. The weirdest part is that all this had taken place while Bobby was waiting for a ride to confront someone who was selling his bike on Craigslist. Unfortunately, they were unable to get his bike back even after a brawl outside the bike thief's apartment. Someone present clocked the bike thief in the side of the head, he still clutched onto the bike as he hit the ground and everything went downhill from there.
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