SEQUIM — The bill was steep. Then one guy flattened it.
A new Specialized Body Geometry seat, a headlight, disk brakes and handlebars for Joe Sallee’s bicycle, plus labor, cost about $620 at Mike’s Bikes in Sequim.
Sallee, 27, would have had to foot that cost. His bicycle is his only transportation to two jobs: one at Big Lots, the other gardening on Kitchen-Dick Road.
Sallee’s year-old bike and the trailer he uses to tote groceries were stolen June 3 in what Sequim police are calling a rash of bicycle thefts.
A week later, police found both trailer and bike in a field east of Sequim Avenue.
The trailer was intact but the bicycle had been stripped of just about everything except its wheels.
Mystery man
Enter the man who didn’t give his name.
“He’s a retired gentleman in Sequim,” said Mike Wanner, owner of Mike’s Bikes.
The man had heard about the theft of Sallee’s bike, “and he wanted to make it right for him,” so he went to the shop and asked what the parts and repairs amounted to.
“I told him what [the bill] was,” said Wanner, “and that anything would help.”
“He said, ‘I’ll pay for all of it.”‘
The man paid, expressed a preference to remain anonymous, and left.
Sallee, who is developmentally delayed, said his newly outfitted bicycle looked and felt different.
But last weekend, he and his father, Bill, came to Mike’s Bikes to collect the silver Specialized Crossroads, and Sallee took a quick spin around the parking lot.
Man and vehicle appeared well-synchronized.
“He’s back on the road,” said Bill.
