"The Bicycle Thief" received positive reviews from critics mostly towards Ty Burrell's performance as Phil Dunphy.

The second plot line begins at the Delgado-Pritchett residence where Jay helps Manny (Rico Rodriguez) to set up a fan they bought.

In third plot line of the episode, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) go to the playschool with Lily (Ella Hiller/Jaden Hiller).

Jay presents the final moments of the episode, answering the opening question by saying that the biggest part of being a good dad, is simply being there.

In its original American broadcast, "The Bicycle Thief" was viewed by an estimated by 9.993 million households and got a 3.8 rating/10% share in the 18-49 demographic tying for first in its timeslot with Criminal Minds going down 4 tenths from the pilot episode according to the Nielsen Media Research.

"[3] Jason Hughes of TV Squad gave the episode a positive review saying "Its brilliance in its simplicity, brilliantly executed.

"[6] Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly said "The good news about Modern Family‘s hilarious second episode is that it proved the show isn’t going to just be a one-hit wonder.

Michael Slezak said "MVP for this episode, which might as well have been titled “The Sins of the Father,” was definitely Ty Burrell’s Phil, who got himself into all kinds of bizarre trouble by going against his wife’s wishes and buying a bike for his irresponsible son.

"[7] Robert Canning said "Ty Burrell as Phil has some great nervous comedic timing and the scene where his wife introduces the new neighbor was the highlight of this plotline.".