Family's desperate plea after late brother's bike goes missing

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Baskets in the front and back, bamboo on the fenders.

Jeff Quinonez built the bicycle himself and rode it around the Fresno so often, people knew they could find him by finding the bike.

"He called it the sled because it was so heavy and so big," said Jeff's brother Mike Quinonez.

Quinonez rode his bikes everywhere and when doctors diagnosed him with Pancreatic Cancer six years ago, his love for riding shifted into a new gear.

"The thing he wanted to do most was become a bike technician and work on bicycles, so he put himself through bike school in Sacramento with cancer, wanted to open his own shop and opened up 1F Cyclery," said Quinonez.

Cancer stopped him last August, just short of his finishing the dream of opening a storefront in his beloved Tower District.

Since then, his brothers have stored all his stuff at their home near Cedar and Ashlan Avenue, even the car he only drove when a bike couldn't get him there.

What you won't see in the garage now are his bikes.

They are hiding what they still have after someone got into the garage and took just the sled.

The brothers posted about it on Facebook, where Jeff and his bike were well known.

They doubt anyone can ride it without getting busted for stealing, but even the idea gives them shivers.

"I don't want to go there really because it makes me really upset because they don't know what they have," said Quinonez.

All they really want is for the bike to roll back home, restored to its rightful spot in the garage, and restoring their happy memories of a brother whose ride, seemingly, should've lasted a lot longer.