Perth Voice Interactive

AFTER riding his bike 4000km to Melbourne for charity, Warren Hepworth returned to Perth — only to have it stolen.

There are fears thefts are organised, with speciality bikes stolen across Perth being sent east for sale.

Nicked from Carr Street in West Perth a few months after arriving home, Mr Hepworth’s steel frame “Specialized Awol” is a tough-as-nails steel frame bike built for strength and durability over transcontinental journeys, but is probably too heavy for a civilian to cruise around the city on every day.

After copping a shoulder injury shortly after getting back to Perth, he had only recently got back on the bike.

“And now it’s gone,” he sighed.

Following his massive marathan for suicide prevention charity RU OK?, he says the distinctive Brooks leather saddle “has been worn in and fits my butt like Cinderella’s slipper”.

Mr Hepworth chose RU OK? after heading out west to ride the mining boom but finding the 98-hour working weeks left him struggling with depression.

Mr Hepworth knows two buddies in nearby neighbourhoods had bikes stolen the same night.

Online chatter amongst enthusiasts pegs bike theft in Perth as “out of control”: the “little shits” are now using carjacks to bust open locks, cyclist Craig Harris reports.

A Mt Hawthorn parent reports bikes bought to replace the kids’ stolen bikes have now also been nicked. Back in June entrepreneur Mike O’Hanlon also had his high-end treadly nicked from Mt Lawley, going so far as to offer an “infinite toasted sandwich” reward from his shop Toastface Grillah for its return.

Mr Hepworth has reported the theft to police and his buddies have also provided the fuzz with the rego of a bike thief who was spotted as they were tearing away.

But reckoning it’s unlikely to make it to the top of the police “to do” list, Mr Hepworth is urging anyone who spots his iron steed to message him a photo and location on 0438 507 711 “so I can appear like Batman to claim it back”.

by DAVID BELL