As you may be aware from our social media posts and email blast – all of our Rental Fleet Track Bikes and all of our Helmets were stolen sometime after Thanksgiving. Our office trailer with bars on the windows was cut apart and the bikes were removed through a window. Unfortunately, our motion detectors, security lights, and video surveillance were all successfully bypassed. In total 25 Felt and Specialized bikes along with about 20 helmets are gone.
Cleveland Police are investigating and we continue to monitor sites like Facebook Marketplace, Craig’s List, and Ebay for any sign of the bikes. Our worst-case guess is that these bikes were sold for the aluminum scrap value – nothing has shown up to recover.
The rental fleet is the heart and soul for exposing new riders to the Velodrome and allowing riders (including youth riders) without the means to buy another bike the access to successfully ride the track. The Cleveland Velodrome is located in the heart of the city in one of the worst economic zones in the region. We pride ourselves on our youth programming and working to expose new people to the sport we all love.
We are very thankful to those of you that have made a donation which will allow us to slowly rebuild our fleet as well as source helmets and pedals. We are also arranging to complete annual spring maintenance with continued focus on the wood track surface. With the support of the community our goal is to re-open the track in May of 2023.
Our two requests to the community are simple:
- Can you consider making a monetary donation? If so, visit our web site to make a tax deductible donation.
2. Can you donate a used or new helmet, a track bike, or some parts of a track bike (wheels or pedals especially)? If so email us at info@clevelandvelodrome.org.
Thanks again to all those that reached out or contributed. Any additional help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Matt Litzler and Brett Davis
Trustees – Cleveland Velodrome
w: clevelandvelodrome.org
p: 216-256-4285
e: info@clevelandvelodrome.org
