This was a guy on a college campus riding a red or pink bicycle, which is going to make a person stand out.
Also, the guy made it worse for himself by staying in the area and committing another crime:
A crucial tip came from Austin firefighters who on Monday put out a trash fire near the scene of the crime. They told police the man in the video looked like the person who started the fire, Acevedo said. They also took the man's bike which looked like the one in the video.
The chief said police jotted down the firebug's name and took him to a homeless shelter.
Acevedo said another tipster was a woman who reported the fire. She also contacted police after she saw a resemblance to the video.
If he would have immediately left the area or simply discarded the bicycle, the likelihood of catching him would have been much lower.