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"STOP! THIEF!"
"I don't like stealing cars, but sometimes it's necessary. I have rules, though: I'll keep it clean, and if I take your car on a workday, I'll have it back by five."
"I'MSORRYI'LLBRINGITBACKLATER THANK YOUUUU!"

A character is in a hurry, most likely during a Chase Scene, when he or she sees a bike or some other mode of transportation propped on the side of the road. He or she promptly gets on it and keeps going full-speed. If the owner is present, the character will hastily say something like "I'm just borrowing it!" or "I need your bike! I'll bring it back later!"

Note that you usually never see the bike actually get returned, and if it is returned, don't expect the warranty to cover the damage.

A Sister Trope to Flashed-Badge Hijack and Convenient Escape Boat. In Real Life, you can get away with this without criminal charges on the plea of "necessity" if you can establish that the harm done by your stealing the vehicle was less than would have occurred if you hadn't.

Contrast Casual Car Giveaway, in which the hero gives a random soul their vehicle. Compare Confiscated Phone, where it's a phone being seized.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Kei steals an old lady's scooter in AKIRA.
  • At the beginning of Azumanga Daioh, Yukari-sensei's bike chain comes loose while she's Late for School, and a student on a bike stops to help her fix it. She then, in an Establishing Character Moment, takes off with the poor kid's bike instead.
  • Done at least once in Bubblegum Crisis. A heroine dumps two motorcycles in one episode.
  • Conan does this in the first movie of Case Closed, stealing a kid's bike to make haste in disposing of a timed bomb. The bike is totally trashed, though it's implied that Conan would have returned it if he could, and actually asked Kogoro to replace it.
  • Subverted in Daily Lives of High School Boys when Motoharu tries to do this to chase down a thief who stole his wallet, but it turns out he doesn't know how to ride a bike. The rest of the segment is dedicated to the other students helping him learn how to ride a bike, completely forgetting about his missing wallet.
  • In episode 8 of The Devil is a Part-Timer!, Chiho steals Maou's bike after Suzuno overhears the former's Love Confession to him, although she apologizes later for it at their workplace.
  • In FAKE, Dee steals a random guy's motorcycle when he realizes that Ryo is in danger. Not only does he reach Ryo just in time, but he gets to make a bad ass entrance.
  • In Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Kaname and Sōusuke steal a bike in order to get back to school in time for their test. Hilarity Ensues when a crazy policewoman tries to pull them over, leading to a Chase Scene that results in her crashing her squad car. Which then explodes.
  • In Gakuen Alice, Mikan and Permy manage to find a two-person bicycle and borrow it to chase after the limo where Natsume is being kidnapped.
  • In episode 6 of Golden Time, Kouko steals a random bike in order to catch up with Banri who is running away from her for various dramatic reasons. She catches up to him, they have their dramatic moment and... the next episode begins with her getting arrested for it. Apparently saying "I'm just borrowing it" doesn't always work, although she got off with just a warning.
  • Gunslinger Girl. Downplayed in the first episode of Il Teatrino when the Jose/Henrietta fratello have to borrow Priscilla's Vespa (her own vehicle, not the Agency's) to chase after some terrorists. In a montage after the terrorists have been taken down, she's shown wailing when they hand the somewhat battered Vespa back to her.
  • Done in episode 51 of Hayate the Combat Butler by the title character. The bike owner, Nishizawa Ayumu, has a rather pronounced crush on him and immediately agreed to his request. Surprisingly, despite Hayate's Chew Toy tendencies, the bike is returned to Nishizawa intact.
    • He also "borrowed" Maria's bike in the first chapter. Although she managed to get to the scene, she probably didn't get it back, it was run over by a car after all (so was Hayate, but Hayate was tougher than the bike).
    • In the Shimoda arc, both Hayate and Nagi 'steal' Nishizawa's bike. Though it's not really stealing since she's driving for Nagi, and riding while Hayate pedals.
    • He borrows Ruri's bike in episode 1 of season 3 to chase after some more thugs who kidnapped Nagi. In a subversion, when Ruri protests him borrowing the bike, he simply grabs her and takes her along for the ride.
  • Early on in Highschool of the Dead, shortly after the two main characters get separated from the other survivors, they get attacked by one of them. After they kill him off, they notice that he was wearing a bike helmet and leather jacket. They look around to find his motorbike fallen over on the nearby hill. Despite the Zombie Apocalypse, they jokingly worry about getting a ticket by the police for not having a driver's license.
  • In Iketeru Futari, Saji steals a scooter from his friend Urawa to chase his would-be girlfriend Koizumi, who's taken a taxi. Especially troublesome for Urawa, since he was working at the time.
    Saji: Urawa! I'll never forget what a great friend you are!
    Urawa: Aaaahhh! Don't leave me with just the pizza!
  • The first meeting between Miroku and Kagome in Inuyasha was something like this. In fact shortly after returning the bike to Kagome, he takes it from her yet again to chase after a demonic ink painter. Fridge Logic sets in when you realize that Miroku shouldn't even know what a bike is, much less been able to ride one.
  • In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, while running away from Highway Star, Josuke steals a phone, while on a bike. The speed shatters the phone, however. What does he do? Steal another one, naturally! That one breaks as well, so needs to snatch another. The funny part is his Stand, Crazy Diamond, can fix things back to their previous state, meaning it was completely unnessassary.
  • Knight Hunters: In Weiß Side B, Ken 'borrows' a skateboard and, being really bad at English, leaves Aya to explain.
  • In Kill la Kill, Ryuko Matoi knocks down a delivery man and takes his motor bike while fleeing the bad guys in the first episode. She's polite enough to double back and hand him his deliveries. Later, she returns the bike with a note of apology.
  • In Maid-Sama!, Misaki borrowed Yukimura's bicycle once. She kept her word about returning it.
  • A training simulation in My Hero Academia has Kaminari use his Shock and Awe powers to hotwire a car. Downplayed, as the car was school property in one of their training facilities as part of the environment, so the car technically wasn't stolen.
  • Patlabor: In the first episode, policewoman Noa commandeers a motorcycle from a confused civilian. When it gets wrecked, she then 'borrows' a patrol car from a pair of traffic cops. The car is soon crushed by a huge truck, but Noa's out of it by then.
  • Ash steals Misty's bike in the first episode of Pokémon: The Original Series in order to escape an aggressive flock of Spearow, and Pikachu totals it. She initially tags along with him while he gathers enough money to pay her back. Misty does eventually get her bike back and working again, but this would be the only bike destroyed by Pikachu that would see repair. Speaking of which, despite being callbacks to Misty's bike incident, May and Dawn avert this trope, their bikes having been collateral damage with no thievery involved.
  • The Prince of Tennis: Takeshi Momoshiro stole a bike to catch a purse-napper on roller skates. Problem is: the owner of the bike, his quick-as-lightning rival Akira Kamio, sees Momoshiro doing this and starts chasing him because he believes he has stolen his bike. The two then race to see who's the fastest, forgetting the purse-napper in the process. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Re:CREATORS has Meteora, one of many Refugees From TV Land, deciding she needs some offensive power to confront the Uniformed Princess. She resolves this by flying over to a military base and "borrowing" over 160 million yen's worth of ordinance, including 6 anti-tank missiles.
  • In Skip Beat!, Kyouko does this using her grudge spirits in order to get Ren (who she was acting as an assistant towards at the time) to his next acting gig without being late.
  • In Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna, Ayumu steals Kousuke's bike. This is awesome because a) he's racing Kousuke to gain control of a MacGuffin, and b) Kousuke is left yelling "Stop! Thief!" after threatening to murder Ayumu's sidekick and breaking into his mailbox.
  • In the Venus Wars movie, the protagonist named Hiro, steals a parked motorbike while running from police.
  • In the climax of Your Name, Taki (in Mitsuha's body) borrows Tessie's bike so he can get to the Miyamizu goshintai; his body (and Mitsuha's consciousness) are there in 2016, which allows the two to meet face-to-face for the first time. On the way there Taki slips on a hill, barely saving himself but breaking the bike; later Mitsuha (back in her own body) tells Tessie "He said 'sorry about your bike'", much to the latter's confusion.
  • In YuYu Hakusho, Yusuke has to steal a bike. The bike actually was locked up but he had Charles Atlas superpowers, so it didn't matter. Later the bike's chain breaks and it falls apart, so he could never return it. (He had more pressing issues to deal with anyway.)
  • The "Waking the Dragons" anime-only arc of Yu-Gi-Oh! included a scene in which Joey and Tristan watch a random passerby abandons his motorcycle after an encounter with an Orichalcos Soldier; shortly afterward, Joey Wheeler gets on the bike and uses it to chase after a motorcycle-riding villain.
    • In a twist on this trope, the same arc had Seto Kaiba and Mokuba snitch a car from a nearby dealer. When he protests, Kaiba quickly writes him a $500,000 cheque and tells him to keep the change as they drive off.

    Comic Books 
  • In Asterix and the Banquet, Asterix and Obelix hijack several boats and carts on their way around Gaul; while most of the vehicles belong to the Romans, the rowboat they commandeer to get from Nicae to Massilia has been hired by a fellow Gaul, who then has to carry the boat over land back to Nicae (nearly 100 miles!).
  • Atomic Robo: Robo has a bad habit of this. It particularly harms his already fraught relationship with Sir Richard Branson.
    Robo: I know you're miffed about the time I stole your spaceship-
    Branson: And destroyed it.
    Robo: I was trying to save the world. Which I did, by the way. It's how we're having this conversation. And I paid you back with a hoverjet!
  • Batman: Year One features this trope at the end.
  • In The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #14, Indy steals a police car from outside a diner in order to continue a chase.
  • Evidently a favoured trope of Hergé, as it occurs both in Tintin and his other series, Jo, Zette and Jocko. At least Hergé's heroes were conscientious about returning the vehicles — or, more usually, making reparation, since the chases usually led to the vehicles' destruction!
  • In Jon Sable, Freelance #9, Sable steals a passing motorbike to chase after a truck carrying a stolen nuke. Given what happens after this, it is unlikely the original owner ever gets his bike back.
  • Robin (1993): Tim Drake, who was retired from the role of Robin at the time, once stole a Mini Cooper and drove it into a truck that contained a bunch of mafia hitmen trying to drive straight into his school guns blazing. He has to work with what little is available to him since he doesn't have any of his old gadgets or armor.
  • Sam & Max: In "Monkeys Violating the Heavenly Temple," Sam pulls this on an unsuspecting kid while searching for Max in the Philippines. He later drops it off of the side of a volcano.
  • Sin City has the stolen-car version of this trope. In one notable case, a hero actually stole a cop car.
  • Spirou & Fantasio:
    • Played with in a story, in which a villain tries to escape Spirou by stealing a moped. He was in too much of a hurry to see that it was missing its rear wheel.
    • Spirou himself steals a bike from Seccotine's apartment building in Machine qui Rêve. The keys had been deliberately left on it this one evening, because Seccotine had borrowed the bike and expected its owner to come fetch it.
  • Wonder Woman Vol 1: The downplayed version shows up when one of Paula's victims decides to get revenge by kidnapping her daughter Gerta and stealing Wondy's invisible plane to make her get away. In a rush Diana tells Zoe she needs to borrow her plane, and Zoe's only response is to warn her that it's considerably slower than Diana's experimental Space Plane.
  • In the 2016 IDW Wynonna Earp series, Wynonna 'borrows' a vintage Harley from a dealership in a mall when she decides she needs to get to Tombstone in a hurry.
  • Also used by the X-Men. On one occasion, Cyke collared a bike to go after Batroc and the Circus of Crime, left a note, and at the end Professor X complained about how often its owner was ringing and demanding it back.
    Cyclops: The Art of War says you must seize opportunities as they arise... The Book of Cyclops says you don't have to be a punk about it, though.

    Fan Works 
  • In Arc of the Revolution, Jaune derails the canon plot when he steals Amber's horse in order to get to Beacon faster. At least he gave her his savings to make up for it (along with accidentally saving her life from Cinder's ambush).
  • In Fate/Parallel Fantasia, Luvia and False Lancer steal an empty police car to get around for a bit before ditching it. Since the keys are missing, False Lancer points out she can drive it thanks to her Riding Skill, but she doesn't know how to hotwire it, so Luvia starts it with her magic.
  • In From the Beast Within Clint buys a teenager's bike so he can get to the zoo before Tony, Harry and Teddy do.
  • In the Good Omens fic Manchester Lost, the Four Archangels "borrow" some motorcycles. A note at the end of the scene reads "It’s not stealing if you’re On a Holy Mission."
  • Scarlet Lady has a Downplayed example in "Catalyst". In order to cover a lot of ground quickly during the mass akumatization, Ladybug borrows the Vespa of a Heroic Bystander... along with the bystander themselves, rather than riding off and leaving them in the lurch.
  • In the Third Movement of With Strings Attached, George steals a donkey as part of an awkward plan to get three of them through Goblin Valley without attracting (too much) attention. After they make it, he doesn't return the donkey, but he does make sure it's safe.
  • In Xtreme Freak Harry uses a random stranger's surfboard to rescue a two-year-old swept up by the current.

    Films — Animation 
  • Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero: When Mr. Freeze kidnaps Barbara, Dick grabs a bystander's motorcycle to make chase. Unlike most examples, he gives the guy something else in exchange: his Corvette.
  • Batman: Gotham by Gaslight: Bruce steals a horse from a warder at Blackgate when he escapes. It is not established what happens to it afterwards, but it probably wasn't returned to the prison.
  • Curious George (2006): Ted Shackleford (The Man in The Yellow Hat) in order to rescue George, ends up stealing many balloons from a balloon vendor and several kids at the zoo, and even a kite from the park to fly with. We don't see him pay for or return any of them.
  • Fantasia 2000: A character in the "Rhapsody in Blue" segment takes a little kid's scooter (one of those home-made Depression era deals, basically a box with roller skates and a couple of planks), but at least has the decency to pay for it first.
  • A Goofy Movie: Max steals a skateboard on his way home from school, then gives it to a random character he passes.
  • Kiki's Delivery Service: Amounts to the same thing when Kiki borrows a push-broom against its owner's will, she being a witch and all.
  • My Little Pony: A New Generation: Sprout takes a kid's skateboard during his attempt to pursue Sunny to the Canter Logic factory.
  • The Mystery of Mamo: After his Mercedes is blown up by one of Mamo's henchmen during a chase through Paris, Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon hijack Fujiko's Mini and kick her out before they leave the city. It too is later blown up by another one of Mamo's lackeys.
  • In Patlabor 2: The Movie, Matsui is left handcuffed to a pipe while the villains carry out their Evil Plan. Desperate to warn someone, he rips the pipe free of the wall, only to find they've immobilized his car. Later, Goto gets a call from him, showing he's stopped a sports car by smashing the window with his pipe (which is still handcuffed to him) so that he can borrow the man's mobile phone (and no doubt his car as well, if he could get the pipe to fit inside).
  • Shrek 2: Shrek rather unceremoniously steals the clothes of some travelers after he takes his potion... Though he does leave them with their actual vehicle, since Donkey is now a stallion.
    Shrek: Thank you, gentlemen. Someday I will repay you, unless of course I can't find you, or if I forget.
  • Wreck-It Ralph: Done during the climax of the movie, when he borrows Calhoun's jetboard to fly to Diet Cola Mountain. Under the circumstances, it seems doubtful that she minded. In the same scene, Vanellope is shown riding in Crumbelina's Kart to save Ralph.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Twice in Adele Hasn't Had Her Dinner Yet. First Carter and Commissar Ledvina get hold of a baker boy's bike in order to pursue the villain across town. Then Nick "borrows" the pedal-powered flying machine to follow the villain in his hot-air balloon.
  • Aquaman (2018). After being knocked out during his battle with Black Manta, Arthur Curry wakes up in a fishing boat piloted by Mera with no sign of the crew.
    Arthur: Did you steal this boat?
    Mera: Are the boats at the marina not for public use?
    Arthur: No, those belong to people.
    Mera: ...huh.
  • And Now For Something Completely Different: In the Hungarian Phrasebook sketch, a constable knocks a citizen off his bike and uses it to go to assist a tobacconist who has been assaulted by a Hungarian national. (In the TV version, there is no bike, so he takes much longer to arrive on the scene of the sketch.)
  • Apocalypse Now Redux has a restored scene in which Willard and his crew steal Kilgore's surfboard, and Kilgore sends helicopters in pursuit for several days.
  • Army of Thieves: Sebastian attempts it twice while fleeing from police. The first try is a catastrophic failure as he didn't notice the bike was tightly secured, and the bike's owner just watches him incredulously before questioning him. Sebastian flees, sees a passerby with another bike and steals it from him.
  • Ask a Policeman: In order to pursue the smugglers, Dudfoot, Brown and Harbottle steal—in turn—a motorbike from a milkman, a mobile coffee stall, and double-decker bus. They crash all three vehicles.
  • The Assignment (1997). While escaping from a carload of gunmen the protagonist carjacks a taxi, throwing the driver out onto the street where he barely avoids getting hit by another vehicle.
  • In the Back to the Future series Marty keeps borrowing skateboards (and proto-skateboards), but always gives them back (except when told to keep it). In fact, it's how he got the famous hoverboard: Its previous owner had just looted Griff Tannen's higher end model, so she let Marty keep hers.
  • In Bangkok Dangerous, Joe shoves a guy off his motorbike and takes it to chase his target — and blows it up less than a minute later. He also takes a hat and an expensive-looking camera for the purpose of looking inconspicuous.
  • Near the climax of Bedtime Stories (2008), Skeeter and Jill steal one of motorbikes in order to stop Kendall from blowing up Bobbi and Patrick's school along with them inside.
    Skeeter: This is for a good cause!
  • In Bet Your Life, Sonny swipes several vehicles while running around Cleveland attempting to evade Joseph. one of them survive the experience. Carmen also knocks out a biker at Cleveland airport and steals his hog. She, at least, manages to keep her stolen ride intact.
  • The Bourne Series:
  • Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman: When the Machine Gun Woman pushes him out of her jeep and drives off, Santiago steals a sports car to chase her. The last we see is him being flagged down by the police while she drives off into the distance.
  • In the 1990 Captain America (1990) film, Captain America feigns sickness to lure the unsuspecting driver out from the car before he steals it, twice. He also does steal a bike from a civilian during his and Sharon's escape from the Red Skull's thugs.
  • In The Car: Road to Revenge, Rainer attempts to commandeer a citizen's dirt bike to escape the murderous car. When the man resists, Rainer punches him in the face and takes the bike anyway.
  • The finale of Carry On Girls has Sid Fiddler escaping the town of Fircombe on an go-kart he finds.
  • In Cast Away, people kept on embellishing that Charlie stole a boy's bike just to get a delivery done on time. It even went as far as saying the boy was crippled. Charlie insists that he borrowed the bike because of the emergency and he returned it intact. It's treated as a Noodle Incident at best and is never really developed.
  • In The Cat from Outer Space, Frank steals a courier's motorcycle when he is rescuing Jake (the eponymous cat) from the Army base.
  • The everyman-hero from Chinese Ghost Story steals a rich townsman's horse to elude police and rush back to rescue his ghost-girlfriend.
  • Averted in Clear and Present Danger. Jack Ryan needs a helicopter, but the only one on offer costs $2 million. Jack suggests his pilot would need to take it up for a test flight. The owner, not being born yesterday, replies that will require a safety deposit. Of $2 million.
  • Deep in the Valley: While escaping from the police, Lester steals a pizza delivery car and then a pool cleaner's van while their owners are making a Pizza Boy Special Delivery.
  • Derailed (2002): While extracting Galina from the theatre, Jacques pulls a cab driver out of his cab and steals it.
  • Die Hard with a Vengeance:
    • Done, coupled with an Ironic Echo, when McClane steals the bike of a shoplifting kid.
    • Done again (And Lampshaded and Played With) when McClane trades up from his Yugo by stealing a Mercedes on the expressway. Zeus points out how pissed the other driver must be, until McClane reminds him that Zeus forgot his bar of gold in the Yugo's back seat.
  • A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!!: Timmy steals a dirt bike in order to get to the villains' hideout.
  • In First Blood, after being unlawfuly arrested and abused by the local police, Rambo snaps and steals a man's motorcycle in order to escape his aggressors.
  • In the Harold Lloyd comedy For Heaven's Sake, Harold is on the receiving end of this trope in the opening of the film, when the police commandeer his newly bought car to chase after some criminals. Later, at the end of the film, Harold sorta accidentally steals a bus while racing to his wedding.
  • In Buster Keaton's The General (1926), at one point Keaton steals a penny-farthing bicycle to chase after his stolen train, but isn't able to ride it very far before falling over.
  • The older brother in The Goonies had to do this after the kids flattened his bike tires. It apparently ends up getting trashed. Though he did say he owes her one. And the little girl is probably Data's sister.
  • Sedgwick steals a bicycle in The Great Escape. (And related, two others steal a rowboat.) The liner notes commentary in the DVD points out that stealing is not recommended for POWs because committing a crime gives the foreign government an excuse to prosecute the POW as a criminal. Luckily, all three escapees who steal manage to flee Nazi Germany. And of course Hilts steals a military motorcycle only to come to grief attempting the jump over the frontier fence.
  • Older Than Television: A segment of The Hazards of Helen, in "More Treasures from American Film Archives", depicts this.
  • In High Heels and Low Lifes, Frances steals the farmer's Range-Rover after he car explodes during the botched payoff pick-up, and later she steals Barry's sports car when she and Shannon escape from Mason's house.
  • Hollywood Homicide: Det. Gavilan steals a little girl's bike, pink and with a basket and tassels on the handlebars, in the climactic chase scene. All because he tried to commandeer a car but its owner handily rebuked him.
  • Indiana Jones does this in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: An old male peasant is replacing a hubcap on his old car when it pulls away from him without warning. Indy, of course, is at the wheel.
  • The James Bond films:
    • In Octopussy, Bond steals the car of a woman in a phone booth in order to get to an American airbase in Germany in time to stop a warhead from detonating. He was hoping to call the base, but the woman beat him to the booth. This actually backfires on him rather badly, as by the time he actually reaches the airbase there's an APB out for him. The MP guarding the gate was already less than impressed with 007's frantic demands to see the commander, and the arrival of several German police cars didn't help his credibility.
    • In Quantum of Solace, a guy on a motorbike starts yelling at Bond after nearly hitting him, only for Bond to knock him away and steal the bike.
  • In L: change the WorLd, after being caught on the train, L, Maki and Near have no choice but to avoid public transport. In the next scene they are cycling away on bikes that are clearly not theirs.
  • A Jolly Bad Fellow: Not exactly the hero, but when the Laughing Mad Bowles-Otterly tries to escape the police at the end of the movie, he jumps into a sports car that is conveniently parked just outside his house with the engine running.
  • Owen steals a motorcycle in Jurassic World Dominion to escape,the pack of Atrociraptors sent after him by one of the villains.
  • Subverted in Kate. Seeking to escape after a bungled assassination, Kate goes up to a bystander and knocks him out, then steals his muscle car. The moment she starts the engine however the interior lights up with neon strip lighting, revealing her face to all and sundry, and loud rock music blares from the speakers. She's unable to turn it off, a police car quickly gives chase and she crashes within a minute given that she's driving a powerful and unfamiliar car through Tokyo traffic, rather than somehow evading police pursuit.
  • Lady in Cement: While escaping from the police, Tony sneaks into a party on a houseboat and then steals the motorboat tied to the back of the houseboat. It is never seen again after he gets away, although presumably it was returned to its owner once Tony had cleared his name.
  • Played for humor in Lethal Weapon 4, where, while in pursuit of two suspects, Murtagh sees a young man standing by a bike in the street. He tries to commandeer it, but when the guy starts protesting, Murtagh instead reaches into a pocket and brings out a handful of $20 bills and thrusts it at the guy. The guy pockets the money, then smiles and calls out to an offscreen friend "Hey Johnny, someone stole your bike!"
  • In Loaded Weapon 1 Colt and Luger borrow a couple of children's bicycles after they fail to catch a bad guy in a chase scene.
    Luger: I'm gettin' too old for this bike-confiscating shit.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • In The Avengers, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye steal a quinjet from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier without even bothering to be be stealthy about it.
      Pilot: Hey! You guys aren't authorized to —
      Captain America: Son, just don't.
    • In perhaps a Shout-Out to the loathed 1990 film, Cap and Black Widow "borrow" a car in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. She's curious as to where he of all people learned to hotwire a car. It's implied he does intend to return it and he tells her to take her feet off the dash.
    • Cap does it again in Captain America: Civil War, in a car chase that also features the Winter Soldier literally stealing a (motor)bike.
    • In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man steals Flash's Audi in order to catch up to the Vulture. It ends up getting wrecked.
    • In Captain Marvel (2019), Carol Danvers steals a motorcycle from a rude biker who tried to hit on her while insulting her outfit. She waits until he enters a store, then after stealing some clothes from a store mannequin, drives off on the bike. A Deleted Scene shows an alternate take where she ends up confronting the biker directly and gives him a Crushing Handshake instead, forcing him to give her his keys and jacket if he wants her to let go.
    • In Black Widow (2021), Natasha and Yelena are being chased by Taskmaster, so Yelena threatens a nearby driver with her gun to make him leave it so they can drive off.
      Natasha: You can't just steal a car!
      Yelena: What, you want me to chase him down and un-steal it?
  • Interesting variation in The Matrix: While running away from Agent Smith, Neo steals a person's cellphone so he can contact the real world. As soon as he does so, the person in question is promptly overridden by Agent Smith.
  • Max Manus. The title character steals a bike from a man cowering in a doorway from the gun battle, who is shot moments later by a stray bullet. His pedal bicycle is then pursued by a machine-gun armed German motorcycle-sidecar, which fortunately Max is able to shoot off the road with some Offhand Backhand firing.
  • Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears: Phryne accidentally knocks a man off his bike while fleeing from the police in Jerusalem. She then grabs the fallen bike and rides off on it, promising to but him a new one.
  • In Mohawk, Oak and Joshua steal a canoe from a Hunter Trapper after their attempts to trade for it go badly awry.
  • In The Mountie, Corporal Grayling steals Nikolai's horse after being forced to shoot his own. He keeps the horse for the rest of the film.
  • The Mother:
    • While Hector is fleeing the title character he knocks down a moped in her path to slow her down. She picks it up and uses it to chase after Hector, only to hit a car and get flipped over the hood. When the driver gets out to shout at her for damaging his car, she steals it instead.
    • The first of the survival lessons the Mother teaches her 12-year-old daughter is how to drive a car. Naturally this becomes a Chekhov's Gun when Zoe steals Jon's car to go back and help her mother.
  • The Mummy Returns has Jonathan steal a double-decker bus when he breaks the keys to Rick's car, whilst in the ignition. A double-decker bus was simply the nearest available vehicle. How convenient!
  • Jack Harper gets both ends of the trope in Oblivion . La Résistance steals his motorcycle after an attempted ambush on the beginning of the movie, and he steals the Bubble Ship of one of his fellow clones when his own gets wrecked near the end.
  • In The Pacifier, Vin Diesel takes the (far-too-small for him) bike belonging to Seth, in order to follow the boy and find out why he'd dyed his hair blond, skipped wrestling practices, and had a Nazi armband in his locker.
  • In Pistolera, the title character carjacks a car from a pair of yuppies who are inexplicably parked in an abandoned housing development to chase after Edwardo.
  • Quick: After his police bike is totaled by the Toyota Tripwire, Myung-shik snatches a scooter from a food delivery driver to continue the chase. He winds up wrecking this vehicle as well.
  • During the climactic scene in Revenge of the Pink Panther where everyone's chasing everyone else, Cato commandeers a food cart motorbike. Rule of Funny dictates he wears a disguise with glasses that make him blind as a bat (who would know him?) and keep wearing them while driving.
  • RoboCop 2 sees Murphy stop a guy on a heavy cruiser motorcycle to continue his pursuit of Cain after he gets knocked off Cain's armored truck and the motorcycle owner's friends (in sports model motorcycles) jump over him.
  • The Rock:
    • Nicolas Cage's character does this in pursuit of Sean Connery's character with a Ferrari.
    • And a motorbike, after admitting to the owner that the Ferrari he just totaled wasn't his and neither was the guy's bike.
  • Rush Hour: Carter tries to pull this on a motorcyclist. When the guy initially refuses, Carter just slaps him on the back of his helmet until he gets off.
  • Scanner Cop: Near the climax, Sam brainwashes a random guy to confiscate his car so he can quickly race back to the hospital, where the bad guy is about to kill his previously wounded father.
  • While eloping, the romantic pairing in Buster Keaton's The Scarecrow make off with first a horse, and then a motorcycle with a sidecar.
  • In Seven (1979), Drew snatches a trail bike off some random guy who is picking up his mail to chase after the assassin who tried to shoot him at the airport. At least he shoves a handful of cash into the guy's hand before he takes it, which is just as well, as Drew winds up setting fire to the bike to create a signal fire to attract Alexa's attention.
  • Yuen-hsin from Slaughter in Xi'an hijacks a civilian's bicycle to pursue a thief. With the help of his police subordinates, no less.
  • Spawn (1997): Spawn rides off on a bike as the owner runs out of a bar angrily after him.
  • In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, while fleeing a bombing run from the First Order, Rey and Finn hop into an unattended "garbage" freighter and fly off. It turns out to be the Millennium Falcon.
    Unkar Plutt: Hey! That's MINE!
  • In Swashbuckler, Lynch and Nick steal a wagon full of bananas from a local fruit vendor to escape from the soldiers following the fight at the brothel. Given the chase ends with them driving the wagon off a cliff, it's unlikely he ever got it back. (lynch did, at least, release the horses before they went over the cliff.)
  • Terminator:
  • That Man from Rio: Early on, Adrian the hero sees his girlfriend knocked out and stuffed into a car — he grabs a policeman's motorcycle and pursues the kidnappers.
  • In Time Chasers, hero Nick is a terrible driver and crashes the car he just stole for the chase scene. He then steals a bicycle and does quite well with it because he's an avid bicyclist. The bad guys follow suit by stealing more bicycles. It is a very healthy chase scene.
    Tom Servo: So it's bicycles, then, eh? We accept your choice of vehicle. En garde!
  • In The Tournament, Lai Lai and Father MacAvoy commandeer a bus at gunpoint to escape from Joshua.
  • Transporter 3 saw one of these without the promise to return it. Necessary because Frank would've exploded had he not done so, and by the blast radius of the other bracelet explosions, we can tell that other people would have been hurt as well.
  • During a chase in True Lies, Harry knocks a police officer off a horse so he can take it and pursue the Big Bad, who is on a motorcycle. At least he apologizes for it.
  • Julius jacks a convertible with buffalo horns on the hood in Twins (1988), but later mentions that he returned it. "He was a cowboy!"
  • Vigilante Diaries: When Andreas and the Lion carjack a car to get away from the Vigilante, the Vigilante does exactly the same thing to the next motorist to come along in order to chase them. Neither vehicle survives the chase.
  • Roark from Volcano unapologetically steals a police officer's motorcycle to get to where Amy says the next eruption is building. The cop yells at him as he drives off.
  • Used in What's Up, Doc? when the heroes escape a San Francisco town house on a hijacked delivery bike. In the ensuing court case, the delivery guy actually shows up, insisting "I want my bike back!"
  • Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) steals a bike from a woman after threatening her with a gun in The Wicker Man (2006).
    Malus: Step away from the bike!
  • In Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold, Yellow Hair and the Pecos Kid steal a stagecoach from the stage station in order to escape from the comancheros. They end up abandoning it on a Mexican beach.

    Gamebooks 
  • Lone Wolf:
    • In The Kingdoms of Terror, Lone Wolf needs to follow someone fast. There's a horse in the open; he can either buy it legitimately off the owner, or just steal it. The latter's riskier but a heck of a lot cheaper.
    • This happens repeatedly to Lone Wolf throughout the books. At the end of the series, he probably has a dozen counts of mount thief on his tab, including some flying creatures.

    Literature 
  • Alex Rider: In Skeleton Key, Alex snatches a skateboard from a group of teenagers and uses it in an attempt to catch a yacht that is pulling away from the dock. He ramps off the jetty and manages to land on the yacht, but the skateboard plunges into the ocean.
  • Book of the New Sun has the protagonist Severian steal a stranger's Destrier (a horse-analog creature that can go very fast) to get to another place faster. And this was right after Severian had secured a mount from a friend. Humorously enough, another character Severian later meets comments that someone had stolen his Destrier — which was the same one Severian had procured.
  • In Lawrence Block's The Canceled Czech Evan and Greta steal a newlywed couple's car to make their getaway in, leading to a Chase Scene where the wedding party nearly catches up with them due to a faulty engine.
  • The Dead Can Wait by Robert Ryan. During World War One the British government has detained Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson on Foulness Island, but they plan to escape across the Broomway to the mainland where Holmes says they can steal a vehicle to get to London—he changes this to 'borrow' on Watson's aghast reaction. Watson points out he has no idea how to 'borrow' a motor vehicle, so they have to take Mrs. Gregson, a female ambulance driver, with them. Unfortunately a member of their party is a Femme Fatale Spy who forces Gregson to not only hotwire a military truck, but steals her leather riding clothes so she'll look less conspicuous driving it. Gregson then plays the trope straight, using a gun to 'borrow' a motorcycle so they can get to a phone and cut off the spy's means of escape.
  • In Donald E. Westlake's God Save the Mark Fred, while trying to escape from the Cadillac that's been following him, steals a boy's bike and rides it into Central Park.
  • Hoot: Beatrice swipes an unknown Trace Middle student's bike off the school's rack so that she and Roy can pedal out to see Mullet Fingers after he's been bitten by Kalo's guard dogs. Fortunately for its owner, the bike is later abandoned and recovered by the police.
  • Joe Pickett: In Below Zero, Nate grabs an old dirt bike from a ranch to chase the criminals who have kidnapped the rancher and stolen his truck. At the end of the novel, he decides he likes the bike and rides off with it.
  • In The Legends of Ethshar novel With a Single Spell, the hero steals a ship to escape his home village. This is one of the few examples where he does give it back... in the epilogue a couple of years later.
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians: In The Last Olympian, Morpheus has put a mass Forced Sleep spell on all of Manhattan except the demigods, who are immune. Percy considers "borrowing" a car to get around, but the streets are so packed he wouldn't be able to get anywhere. He ends up driving around on a scooter, figuring that he'll return it if they survive the battle.
  • Star Wars Legends: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina has the story of BoShek, a rough-and-tumble pilot who loves getting into friendly competitions with Han Solo. (In the original film, he's the one who introduces Obi-Wan Kenobi to Han and Chewbacca when Kenobi arrives at the cantina with Luke Skywalker.) He steals a landspeeder (newly purchased, no less!) from an unsuspecting citizen while fleeing from policemen who suspect him of a theft, but then the trope is lampshaded when BoShek (who regularly receives spiritual guidance at a local monastery) reflects that stealing wasn't really the ethical thing to do. After he manages to elude the police, BoShek vows to make things right by taking the stolen speeder back to the robbed person and apologizing.
  • In the Time Scout book, Wagers of Sin, Skeeter steals a champion racing horse to get away from some angry Romans, making this a case of Hero Stole My Horse.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Willow, Xander and Anya steal some bikes to get back to Giles' apartment in a hurry in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Pangs", which leads to a shot of them pedaling along to Big Damn Heroes-type music.
  • Burn Notice:
    • This happens so often that Michael has several "rules" about it; in particular, he emphasizes that he always returns the vehicle (usually off screen, unless it's a plot point) "reasonably intact" (which admittedly can mean "after a head-on collision"), and if he steals it from a business parking lot during business hours, it will be returned by 5:00 PM if at all possible.
    • His mom has reported the reappearance of "stolen" cars to the police so many times that she gets honored at a special ceremony.
  • In an episode of Charmed, Chris steals a car to pursue an escaping bad guy. Chris gets arrested for it, since nobody else noticed the bad guy and thought Chris just stole a car.
  • Chuck had one of the few examples where the bike owner is seen afterward... because, as it turns out, it was Morgan's bike. At least Chuck was nice enough to steal a bike he knew he could return.
  • Ben Mercer in Covert Affairs at least had the decency to throw the owner a stack of bills as he drove off with his motorcycle.
  • Doctor Who:
    • In his first appearance, the Third Doctor "borrows" a vintage car in one episode and takes a liking to it. UNIT does return the car to its rightful owner, but they get the Doctor another one a lot like it.
    • And there's the TARDIS, which he reportedly stole from a repair shop under "pressing circumstances". In the novel The Gallifrey Chronicles, the Time Lord villain is revealed as the guy the TARDIS really belongs to.
    • In "Logopolis", the last story from the Tom Baker era, Adric "borrows" a bike, though he doesn't attempt to ride it. Instead, he uses it to fake an accident in order to distract two policemen who are about to arrest the Doctor on suspicion of murder.
    • In the TV Movie, the Doctor steals a policeman's motorbike by holding himself at gunpoint.
  • The Equalizer. In "Counterfire", McCall has been framed for murder so steals a taxi to get out of the city. Unusually for this trope they follow it up in a later episode "Coal Black Soul", by showing that McCall has made amends with the cabbie by getting him a better job as a limousine driver.
  • Harrow: In "Non Sum Qualis Eram" ("I'm not what I used to be"), Harrow's car has been taken by Fern, so he helps himself to Fairley's car keys and nicks Fairley's car.
  • Subverted on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Mac is in a hurry to get to a movie, sees a motorbike parked at the side of the road, quickly pulls on a helmet, gets on and revs it... only to realize that he has no clue how to drive a motorcycle and abandoning it in the middle of the road.
  • In Itch, Darcy steals a golf cart to chase Mr. Lannister, who is also in a golf cart.
  • In Kamen Rider Kabuto, this happens in the first episode, by the hero (Tendo) and to the guy who'll be spending a while in Butt-Monkey territory (Kagami).
  • It also happened in the fourth episode of Kamen Rider Kuuga, with Yusuke attempting and failing to chase a monster up a flight of stairs on an older model police motorbike. Naturally, him jacking the bike to pursue the Grongi gets him arrested.
  • Played with in the flash sideways of Lost, where Kate hijacks a taxi with a pregnant Claire in the backseat while running away from the Marshal: she threatens the driver with a gun unless he drives her away. Further used when the driver flees from the car and Kate kicks out Claire to use the car for herself, practically playing the trope straight.
  • Midsomer Murders: In "The Glitch", Tom steals the murder weapon (a rally car) in order to get to where the killer is about to strike next as fast as possible.
  • Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: In "The Blood of Juana the Mad", Jack and Phryne jump on a conveniently placed motorcycle (in a university quad) to chase a fleeing killer.
  • A heavily pregnant Murphy Brown steals a kid's bike (kicking him off it!) to keep up with the press corps accompanying President Bush (the elder) on his daily jog. Unfortunately, she loses control and accidentally runs over him. The entire scene is played out to the Wicked Witch theme from The Wizard of Oz.
  • In My Name Is Earl, when Earl sees the local bookmobile (a bike), he realizes he is responsible for the theft of the previous one (an RV). He quickly steals the new one in order to retrieve the old one.
  • Alluded to when the MythBusters took on the movie Jaws. During test setup at an old Naval base, Jamie is getting around on a scooter (instead of his usual bike). Grant jokes "What little girl did you have to mug to get that?"
  • Done in an episode of NCIS where Tony goes undercover as a fugitive prisoner to get the location of stolen Iraqi treasure from a suspect and steals a guy's motorcycle after the suspect causes Tony to crash his truck.
  • NCIS: Los Angeles does a high-speed double subversion of this trope, as a guy being chased at the shore grabs a bike from someone, then notices someone else arriving on a motorcycle, so tosses the bicycle into the path of his pursuers and steals that instead.
  • The New Avengers: In "The Lion and the Unicorn", Gambit steals a window washer's three-wheeled van to chase a fleeing thug through the streets of Paris. Naturally he ends up wrecking it.
  • Person of Interest: Team Machine has a habit of doing this, often stealing any vehicle they can find whenever they need one (it helps that they have an all-seeing Artificial Intelligence telling them exactly where a useful vehicle is when they need it). Taken to Running Gag levels in the season two finale, where two separate groups of main characters, all trying to get across the country, steal multiple cars, a helicopter, and a private jet. They don't always treat their stolen goods very nicely, either.
    Finch: (after Root purposely crashes a car] Who's car was that?!
    Root: Someone who needs a good mechanic.
  • In the Red Dwarf episode "Backwards", when Lister and Cat, trying to recover Kryten and, what the hey, Rimmer, too, find themselves on a world in a reality where time runs backwards (though they don't yet realize it), they steal a tandem from a pair of picnickers and start riding... only to find that it goes backwards! Understandably, they don't get far...
    Cat: No more! I'm not moving another yard on this thing! I'm gettin' a part in the back of my head!
  • Rome. At the start of Season 2, Titus Pullo is relaxing in the countryside with his newlywed wife when a rider arrives shouting of Caesar's death. Without any discussion Pullo yanks him off his horse, places his wife behind him and they ride off for Rome at a gallop.
  • Supernatural:
    • It's not uncommon for Sam or Dean (and probably all hunters) to swipe a car from time to time when they're in a pinch, although it's usually a case of just generally needing a form of travel than needing one immediately during a chase.
    • Castiel of all people steals a truck in the first episode of season 12, in this case needing it immediately, as he was just blasted out of the bunker by a banishment sigil and has no idea what might be happening to Sam in his absence.note 
his wings being broken. He gets directions from the hapless driver before tapping him out and taking the keys.
  • The Umbrella Academy (2019): Five asks a biker to give up his motorbike so Five can chase Pogo. It doesn't work, so he instead teleports onto the bike and pushes the rider off, continuing the pursuit.
  • A rare consensual example happens in VR Troopers with two lines: "Can I borrow this?" "Go for it, dude!"
  • Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman has a special outfit specifically designed for stealing motorcycles. At no point is it ever established that she brought a motorcycle from Paradise Island or owns one as Diana Prince. However multiple times, such as the climax of "The Murderous Missile", she spins into her bike riding outfit and takes off with someone's bike. Why a super strong amazon who can run over 700 mph bothered with motorcycles at all is never addressed.
  • In the episode "Real Time" of Workaholics Blake and Ders need to get to the office in a hurry, so they ask a group of future babes to borrow one of their bikes, and are promptly turned down. So they steal one, initiating an epic - and lame - Chase Scene.
  • The Worst Year of My Life, Again: In the School Play episode, Alex steals Simon's bike in an attempt to catch up to Nicola to persuade her to return to the rehearsal. The second time around, he loses it by throwing it into the back of ute to hide from the bus that is chasing him (It Makes Sense in Context). While he is hiding, the ute drives off, taking the bike with it.
  • The X-Files, episode "Drive": Mulder is forced to borrow an old station wagon. He leaves an envelope on the front seat of his previous vehicle addressed to Agent Dana Scully FBI. AD Kersh chews him out later.
    AD Kersh: Compensation to one Walter R. Duncan for unauthorized use of his 1968 Caprice station wagon: $500.

    Music 
  • Inverted in Brentalfloss' Punch-Out!! With Lyrics: Brent, dressed in Little Mac's training hoodie, gets his bike stolen.
  • DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: "Just One of Those Days" has a scenario where Fresh Prince is on the verge of being late for work, and gets increasingly desperate to get there on time:
    I started hiking it
    I wasn't liking it
    I saw a little kid, I stole his bike and started biking it!
    I thought I got away,
    But when I ducked around the corner, there was twelve cop cars,
    I said "Man, I'm a goner!"
    Slammed on the brakes, did a 180 turn,
    Peddled the bike so fast I heard the rubber burn!
  • The Irish folk song "Johnson's Motor Car" has the IRA carjacking a doctor and taking his car for a mission against the English.

    Video Games 
  • Enforcers in All Points Bulletin can commandeer another person's car in much the same fashion as True Crime: New York City. Criminals, of course, take over vehicles in time-honored GTA fashion.
  • Grand Theft Auto:
    • Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: Optional in an early mission after the player acquires clothing for a yacht party. A white chopper will always pull up in front of the player to steal, complete with the rider's reaction to the theft.
    • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Done twice early on in the game. Done either to escape being shot at or escape being run over and riddled with bullets. Returning either risks same.
  • In L.A. Noire, you can steal almost any vehicle you find in the city at any time, and there's an achievement for driving every model of car at least once. Apparently everyone in LA in 1947 was unconcerned with auto theft and always left their keys in their vehicles.
  • Live A Live: In the Near Future chapter, once Kazu was kidnapped by the Crusaders and Lawless set off to rescue him on his own, Akira stops a random biker who drove by, shoves him out his bike under the excuse that it's an emergency, and then he and Taroimo drive the bike to the docks where Lawless and the Crusaders went.
  • In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Raiden needs to get to a location fast without exhausting himself with his own Super-Speed, and hijacks a random motorcycle nearby and carves a phone number into the pavement with his sword so the owner knows who to call to get it back. In the Jetstream DLC, it's revealed that the bike actually belonged to Sam, the very guy who stopped him on the way and dueled him to the death.
  • An early mission in Red Dead Redemption 2 has Arthur steal a horse to chase after a witness who knows who he is, shouting to the disgruntled owner that he's "just borrowin' it!" Unlike many examples, the game actually gives you the option to return it to its owner after the mission is over, giving you honor points.
  • Red Faction Guerrilla has plenty of situations where you'll be needing to 'borrow' a vehicle, be it parked or already inhabited. At low sector morale, the civilians make snide or even angry comments.
  • In the Shadow the Hedgehog level Lethal Highway, if you take one of the motorcycles a generic G.U.N soldier will say "Where's my bike? Does anyone know where it is?".
  • The Stalin Subway have you hijacking a civilian's convertible at gunpoint while evading KGB agents, even pointing your gun at him while shouting, "Drive, you bastard!" - cue several cars filled with mooks in pursuit, leading to a Car Chase Shoot-Out on Moscow's Red Square.
  • In True Crime: New York City, when Cowboy Cop (or, depending on your actions, Corrupt Cop) Marcus "commandeers" someone's car, he'll often spout lines like "You know you're not getting this back, right?"
  • In Wild ARMs 4, Jude steals a bike so he can chase a train containing his mother. He has Super-Speed, if you're wondering.

    Visual Novels 
  • ef - a fairy tale of the two. has this in one if its first scenes. Miyako chases a thief who's on a motorcycle. Upon finding the arc's hero, she promptly takes his bike and attempts to give chase to the thief.

    Web Animation 
  • Mystery Skulls Animated: Lewis steals a truck from an innocent passerby near the end of "Freaking Out" so that he can catch up to the Mystery Skulls' van; he's really not so much as a hero, though, as much as he is an Anti-Villain Protagonist.
  • Subverted in Shrapnel, as Reznya tries to drive off with some guy's bike to get on with her mission to kill the minions, but the dang thing is a piece of junk that won't start.

    Webcomics 

    Web Original 
  • Darwin's Soldiers:
    • In the second RP of this universe, Nixon steals a Lamborghini Gallardo and Alfred steals an expensive convertible to continue chasing Lab 101 after the truck rams Alfred's pickup truck through a cafe.
    • Later, Dr. Zanasiu steals a Chevy Corvette from Pelvanida's parking lot.
  • Last Life: In Season 2, Sloane & Taylor, main characters and soulmates on the run from their enemies, hijack a Jeep from a clearly drunken bro who mouths off drunken insults at them.
  • The trope's title was inspired by the "Nigga Stole My Bike" meme from Punch-Out!!, born on YTMND, which offered an alternate interpretation of the cutscenes featuring Little Mac jogging while his trainer Doc Louis rides ahead of him on a bike. Funny thing, the Wii game has Doc Louis make clear that the bike really does belong to Mac.
  • Spoofed in this homage to the Chained to a Railway trope, which has the hero nicking a bike when he finds the nearest horse is labeled "Out of Order". After pedaling and pedaling and pedaling we get the cue card: FINALLY he arrives!

    Western Animation 
  • Inverted in The Amazing World of Gumball, where Gumball ask permission to use a little girl's bike and she takes the opportunity to gouge as much money from him as possible. Of course he ended up destroying it anyway.
  • Around the World with Willy Fog: In the third episode, Dix tells Bully to find a coach so that they can chase after Fog (who Dix believes robbed the Bank of England) and his party. But there aren't any coaches available, so Dix decides they will have to "borrow" a nearby bicycle. When the bicycle's owner challenges them, Dix replies that he and Bully are "English pursuit in police of a criminal."
  • In an episode of Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos, Chuck Norris himself pulls a flashed-badge hijack minus the badge. Made hilarious by this trailer, which cuts him off mid-sentence.
    Civilian: Hey! That's my bike!
    Chuck: Sorry, guys, this is an emergency. I'm Chuck Norris!
  • In Danny Phantom, the hero Ecto-Rays Johnny 13 off his motorcycle and uses it to get to the Fenton Ghost Portal in time. This is also a Development Gag.
  • Of course, there's Dan Backslide, the villain of Chuck Jones' 1942 short The Dover Boys: "A runabout. I'LL STEAL IT! NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW!!"
  • DC Showcase: Catwoman: After Rough Cut manages to escape from the club in a getaway car, Catwoman notices a lone biker outside the entrance. She seductively walks up to him, grabs his collar, and leans in as if to kiss him... then pushes him over, takes his bike and drives off.
  • Pretty much Once an Episode in Fillmore!. Although since the main characters are (kinda) law enforcement officers, it's closer to Flashed-Badge Hijack.
  • Final Space: In the Season 2 episode "The Set Up", Gary, Nightfall and Little Cato steal a flying animal named Chucky to chase Clarence. Gary promises Chucky's owner they will bring him back; something Little Cato immediately expresses his doubts about. He is proven right, since at the end of the episode, Gary realizes Chucky is still with them.
  • Jackie Chan Adventures:
    • Jackie Chan seemed to have made a habit of this. "I'msorryI'llbringitbacklater Thank YOU!" was practically a catchphrase of the show. We do not actually see him ever return any of his borrowed stuff, though he may have simply done it off screen.
    • Jade took after her uncle and did this at least a few times. Once she stole a couch.
  • Kim Possible: Not only does Kim do it, she always goes back and borrows the accompanying helmet. Because riding without a helmet is uncool, yo.
  • In an episode of King of the Hill, Hank, Dale, and Kahn are stranded in Mexico and on the run from Border Patrol who have mistaken them for illegals. They see some punks leaning next to two motorcycles and beg them to let them have them, offering a lot of money. The punks shrug, take the money, and the men drive away. Then an old couple step out of the bar and wonder where their motorcycles went.
  • Lilo & Stitch: The Series: Stitch does this at one point in "Yaarp". And as if to justify to the audience why this is okay, Stitch shouts aloud—to no one in particular—"Not stealing. Borrowing!"
  • In The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, episode "Cross Country Double Cross", Penelope "borrows" a jalopy en route to the statue unveiling.
  • Phineas and Ferb: In "Leave the Busting to Us!", a kiddie vehicle chase between Doofenshmirtz and Perry highlights the difference between hero and villain. In the same episode, Doofenshmirtz also stole a TV crew's van during the chase.
    Boy: Hey, that evil scientist just stole my bike!
    Girl: Hey, that nice duck just gave me twenty bucks for my skateboard!
    • Also played with in "Suddenly Suzy"; Perry lands nearby a truck belonging to a banana shipping company after a fight against Doofenshmirtz atop the latter's blimp, so he applies for a job at the company so that he can use the truck and chase Doofenshmirtz.
  • Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: In "Decoy For A Dognapper," Shaggy borrows a friend's motor scooter so he can chase down the thugs that dognapped Scooby (who was the bait in a plan to solve the mystery of who is stealing prize-winning dogs). He crashes the scooter out on a rock.
  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series: Spidey and Black Cat grab a random guy's bike (complete with two helmets) to get away from some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. After escaping the agents, Spider-Man insists they return the bike before making their next move.
    Guy: You miserable thieves!
    Spidey: We're not thieves! Well, I'm not, but — her, I'm not so sure about.
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars: In "Pursuit of Peace", Padmé steals a speeder bike while being chased by two bounty hunters who are trying to kill her. She ends up getting stopped by the police because the bike was reported stolen, while angrily demanding that the police chase after the bounty hunters, who bailed when they saw the cops.
  • In Storm Hawks, the gang was once attacked from the air while outside a diner. They split up, Junko taking a kid's bike for his getaway. He barely fits on it, but it serves its purpose for a while.
  • The Zeta Project: Being a very moral android, Zeta offers to buy a hovering motorcycle with his unlimited credit card when he needs one for a pursuit. Subverted when the man Zeta paid turned out not to be the actual owner of the motorbike by mistake.

 
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Lewis Steals Rooster's Truck

While still a Villain Protagonist at this point, Lewis hijacks Rooster's delivery truck and drives off into the night in search for Arthur.

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Main / HeroStoleMyBike

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