The Reykjavík “bike whisperer”

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Anger was a strong driving factor for Leósson when he first started his investigative work, he says. Photograph: Sigga Ella/The Guardian
Photograph: Sigga Ella/The Guardian

So many things that I admire about Bjartmar Leósson and his Icelandic stolen bike ventures, firstly his "I can do this" attitude:
He put notes through neighbours’ doors and before long he had a description of a person believed to have been seen with his bike in the city centre. “Every single day I thought to myself: today is a good day to find my bike.” And one day he spotted somebody on his bike, stopped him and got it back.
Secondly, his ability and willingness to change from anger to curiosity, with even more bikes being recovered:
“I was very angry, they were angry – it was very rough at first. But then I started to think: OK, it doesn’t matter, I can scream until I’m blue in the face, nothing’s going to change. So I decided to try to level with them and just talk to them.”

From that point, the dynamic changed. He started to become friends with residents of the shelter, some of whom started to help him track down bikes. Some of those, he says, he helped into rehab and the impact on Leósson himself was life changing.
Great wee story about one person making a difference to those that need help, to himself, and to those he encounters.

Top work Bjartmar Leósson.
Reykjavík, Iceland

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