Article content

The owner of a local bike shop would like to see pawnshops prohibited from buying bikes from people in Saskatoon as a way to curb bike theft, but some pawnshop owners aren’t sold on the idea.

Jay Woytowich, who owns Doug’s Spoke N Sport on 20th Street, said the idea, adopted in some other jurisdictions, could help prevent bike theft in the city. Local cycling advocacy group Saskatoon Cycles has described bike thefts as “rampant.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'One less avenue': Bike shop owner wants bike sales to pawnshops prohibited Back to video

While police are already taking steps to curb the sale of stolen bikes in pawnshops, this could be a proactive move to eliminate the practice entirely, Woytowich said.

“They are doing something about it, but if they were able to completely stop the process … it would give some people one less avenue (for thieves to sell stolen bikes).”

Because some bike owners don’t report thefts to police, pawnshop owners and law enforcement have no way of knowing if some bikes for sale in pawnshops are stolen, he said.