Itty-Bitty Bike Stolen
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
NEW YORK (AP) – There was a reward, a toll-free tip line and a news conference – all for a lost little bike.
The foot-high, 6-inch-wide contraption belongs to Bello Nock, the daredevil clown star of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus appearing at Madison Square Garden.
The bitty bike was taken from a Manhattan street Friday, while Bello, well, clowned around. He and two fellow clowns had put on an impromptu show for a passing camera crew, when Bello rested his bike against a street sign and forgetfully walked away.
“Can I please have my bike back?” he said a day after the disappearance, adding that he was “very upset.”
The orange-haired, Florida-born clown said he can’t replace his trademark bike, which was built in Mexico City and has been in his family of circus performers for a dozen years.
Without it, the 38-year-old performer once named “America’s Best Clown” by Time magazine will have to change the show named for him – “Bellobration.”
The bike, which is about as high as his foot is long, “is not something I can go buy in a store,” he said. “I’d have to find someone willing and able to make it.”
