The last reply from Mike on that page also provides some context for the amount of the $1000 reward for information. I know I made a joke about it above, but it wasn't my intention to belittle the strategy, just to make a fun observation about the relative amount of drama in 2 unrelated and not-very-comparable theft incidents.
I would point out, though, that there are plenty of scenarios where the information would come from someone other than a friend of the thieves getting motivated to turn their friends in. I imagine that there are plenty of things that regular citizens see that they don't question or think to report until a reward makes them scour their memories and reconsider what they might have seen. "Two guys pushing a sport bike down the street" may or not be the stolen bike and it would be a hassle to make a report for the low probability of making a difference - but a reward brings out all of the tidbits onto the table, only one of which has to pan out.
I'm glad they recovered it, but one of them was charged with Aggravated Theft. I usually associate the word aggravated with the use of a weapon - perhaps it was the high value of the vehicle? Or a tie in to gang activity?
