Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 07/05) - All Marcel Lupton has left of his 2005 Kona Shred bike is the seat.

The bike was stolen out of the backyard of his Forrest Dr. home on the night of Oct. 2.

Marcel Lupton with all that remains of his $960 bike. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

"I was really mad and frustrated because I saved up for it for a long time," Lupton, 13, said.

He saved over $690 by collecting all his allowance, birthday and Christmas money for a year to buy the $960 bike. He still owes his parents $300 he borrowed from them.

"I missed going to the movies with my friends, going places and buying stuff," said Lupton about how hard it was to save the money. But he really wanted the bike.

The Kona Shred is good for dirt jumping, the kind of biking Lupton likes to do. His friends all have similar bikes and they went riding together on the weekends. The Kona Shred was an upgrade from the mountain bike he had before. Now he doesn't have a bike at all.

On the week the bike was stolen Lupton wasn't able to lock it up. He was locking the bike with his friend at school, but the key broke so they snapped the lock to get the bikes back.

On the night of Oct. 2 the bike was in the fully gated backyard of his house. It was behind the propane tank where it couldn't be seen from the street, Lupton said.

He realized it was gone the next morning. The police have been informed and Lupton has been looking for it every night. His friends are looking too and all the teachers at Ecole St. Joseph school, where he is a student, know about the robbery.

The light brown bike can be identified by the touch-up paint on the frame by the handlebars where it's two different shades of brown.

There is a $50 reward offered with no questions asked for the return of the bike.