Adam Craig and Todd Wells’ bikes stolen in Vegas

6 comments
By Matt Pacocha, US editor | Wednesday, Sep 29, 2010 8.00pm

Last Friday offered a unique Las Vegas morning headache for reigning US national cross-country champion Todd Wells (Specialized Factory Racing) and World Cup stalwart Adam Craig (Rabobank Off-Road Team). No, they weren’t hungover, nor did they lose all of their money gambling – instead they were notified that their bikes were stolen out of the Fox and Specialized Interbike displays.

The bikes went missing sometime between 6pm on Thursday 23 September and 7am on Friday 24. Craig’s Rabobank team issue Giant Anthem X Advanced SL was on display in the Fox Racing Shox booth with Fox’s just released, prototype, RAD cast titanium fork crown-steerer and prototype height adjustable seatpost.

Fox's mike van lienden and giant head mechanic joe staub file the report: fox's mike van lienden and giant head mechanic joe staub file the report

Fox's Mike Van Lienden and Giant head mechanic Joe Staub file a report with Las Vegas PD

“I don’t think we’re ever going to see it again,” said Elayna Caldwell, Fox Racing Shox's marketing manager. “I don’t think they just took them because they were easy [to grab] either; there are bikes all over the place and they were definitely targeting something there."

“We filled out an incident report with Interbike and we also had the real cops come,” said Caldwell.

Wells’ national cross-country championship winning Specialized S-Works Epic 29er was snatched from within Specialized’s cordoned-off tradeshow booth.

Todd wells' bike was here:

Wells' bike was here

“It sucks,” said Wells. “It was the first bike that I won mountain bike nationals on and in addition to that, it was my first 29er full-suspension bike. It was a pretty unique bike; it wasn’t just some bike that has been out for a while. It’s just a bummer.”

Both bikes were adorned with plenty of custom bits that should make them un-sellable. Caldwell estimated that just the prototype RAD titanium crown is worth thousands of dollars due to its engineering, which has yet to be offset by production and retail sales, and because of its limited prototype production; only three others currently exist.

Fox's prototype rad rlc fork:

Fox's prototype RAD RLC fork

The Giant Anthem X Advanced SL frame is also unique in its Rabobank Off-road team graphic package and due to being outfitted entirely with Shimano’s new XTR group, which is not commercially available; furthermore the components were part of the brand’s Skunk testing program and most sported hand engraved serial numbers and one-off test parts.

The national championship winning S-Works Epic 29er is also unique. Well’s bike was adorned with a seat clamp, skewers and SRAM/Avid XX BlackBox brakes, all of which are customized with his name. As with the 2011 Shimano XTR group, the S-Works Epic 29er isn’t commercially available. 

Wells' custom skewer:

Custom bits should make the bike's near impossible to sell

Neither racer’s season is over yet so both manufacturers scrambled to get new bikes back out to their athletes. Wells said his was in the mail and tweeted his appreciation for the team mechanic and sponsors for working so fast. Wells’ next mountain event will be Iceman Cometh in Michigan this November.

Craig needed a more immediate fix as he is flying to the Netherlands to race this coming weekend at the Hondsrug Classic in Gieten, after which he’s on to Roc d’Azur in France for the Enduro ROC all-mountain event.

“It’s kind of a pain in the ass, because I’m headed to Holland this weekend to do some racing and we had to scramble to get another bike shipped and now I’m scrambling to get down to the local bike shop to purchase some parts to complete the bike,” said Craig.

“I’m also bringing my Trance X because there’s an enduro downhill race at Roc d’Azur, and that sweet shred bike is going to have new XTR on it, but I just have my spare Anthem from this year with the current [XTR] stuff on it to race the cross-country.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Fox or Specialized. Fox’s Caldwell asks that any additional information be emailed to her at ecaldwell@foxracingshox.com, while Specialized ask that you call them on (877) 808-8154.

You can follow BikeRadar on Twitter at twitter.com/bikeradar and on Facebook at facebook.com/BikeRadar.

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User Comments

There are 6 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 6 of 6 comments

  • Good work rent-a-cops, good work.

  • Everyone that works for the convention centers in Vegas is union, and none of them give a rats tail about their job. Period. It was likely the rent-a-cops themselves that were involved in the theft. NOTHING is safe at a tradeshow, especially in Vegas. They're all ungrateful, selfish, lazy slobs that feel they're owed something for coming to work, and don't you dare ask them to do something for you if you're strong armed into hiring them at an exorbitant rate to do something you're more then capable of doing. Should you be such a fool to ask them to work you're likely to feel their wrath, and you'll be lucky if you get your cases back at the end of the show...your poor driver will be put to the bottom of the stack of call papers and be forced to sit and wait with no explanation. Screw exhibiting in Vegas. Almost as bad as Chicago!

  • A one-off prized bike is stolen and it's just a 'pain in the ass' for Craig. If my bike suffered the same fate I'd have gone on a mindless rampage followed by incoherent mumblings and head banging

  • HaHa - hilarious, if they are as valuable as the article makes out, then they should have been near theft-proof, obviously they weren't....

    How someone has got out with them is just plain embarrasing for all involved..

    And the narrative on the bottom picture claiming they will be near impossible to sell on? WHY? They will be sold for a fraction of the actual 'cost' to people who don't give a dam or ridden by the thieves who also don't care two hoots about the industry.

    And who will pick up the tab for these thefts? Well that will be the customer of course -As I doubt any insurance company in their right mind would cough up for these thefts!

  • Shame they weren't also testing some prototype 'Ti' D-Locks on the stands...

  • There is this new technology available now, it's going to change bike security for ever. Very simple, portable, often cheap too. Just can't think what it's called........ah yes, got it. It's called a lock. Clever eh?

    Adam Craig will get a new bike, Fox will make a new fork, security at tradeshows won't change, the world will continue turning and some dude will be ripping up some trail on a state-of-the-art bike dripping with the latest prototype gear.

    Lock it or lose it.

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