And you will know him by the trail of bike parts…

People can often be very hard to please and tend to find fault with even the most well-made things. For some, this drives them to do great things, and for others, it drives them to do really weird things.

As an example of one of the “others,” we have the case of a 51-year-old man in Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture, who was arrested for stealing 42 bicycles. If you were thinking that’s way more bicycles than one person needs, you’d be right because upon his arrest he admitted to police that, “I wanted to collect the parts and make a bike to my own liking.”

He was caught on 2 April, when he was stopped by a police officer on the street for routine questioning. The officer discovered the bicycle the man was riding was stolen and arrested him on the spot. Afterward, the police checked the man’s home and found over 50 other bikes there worth well over 1,000,000 yen (US$7,000) in total. Despite the man’s claim to want to make an ideal bike, news reports showed the stolen bicycles appearing still intact, suggesting he made no effort so far.

Even though the man admitted to stealing all of them over the past four years, he is currently facing charges for the theft of 35 bicycles and a further 7 charges of misappropriating lost property, a crime that essentially means finders-keepers is not permitted by Japanese law and one must follow due process of turning lost items into police first. Initially, the man said he only took unlocked bikes, perhaps on the assumption they were abandoned, but it was later learned that he had indeed broken some locks to get what he wanted for his master plan.

Although clearly in the wrong, there is a slightly endearing aspect to someone following their dream and trying to make the best bike they can. Some readers of the news seemed to express that in comments, while others just wanted to know what, if anything, he managed to make.

“He has a lot of passion.”
“He’s just like Dr. Frankenstein.”
“I wonder what kind of bike he was making.”
“I need to see a picture of this bike.”
“I guess he’s very particular about bikes.”
“He’s not making a bicycle. He just likes stealing and made an excuse.”
“My bike was stolen a while ago. Maybe he’s got it.”
“I’m just jealous he has enough space for 50 bikes.”
“Was he planning on making a 100-wheeler?”
“But all the bicycles look in their original condition. Wouldn’t they be in pieces if he was making a bike?”

That last comment brings up a good point, but these aren’t really the actions of a person I would describe as especially methodical so maybe we shouldn’t read too much into how the bikes look.

Unfortunately, we’ll never know what he was trying to make. Even if he does manage to get through all this with a suspended sentence for his rather sizable theft, he’d be wise to stay far away from any bicycle while on parole.

Hopefully, he can find himself a hobby that doesn’t require depriving others of their hard-earned property, maybe something like working out and volunteering, so instead of a bike he can make himself the best him he can be.

Source: Niigata News NST, Itai News
Featured image: Pakutaso
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!