Stolen Bike Registry - do this when your bike gets stolen

"With all the stolen bike posts lately (and no one thinking "I wonder if there's something under Useful Links for this."), I think it's well past time to make a sticky about the Stolen Bike Registry"

- Tank-Ridin' Ryan

Well said Ryan.

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/

Done and done.

And sticky too.

Cheers - Lee Diamond

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on July 16, 2012 at 10:30am

Daniel-

sorry to inadvertently pile on. Your lock is fine and there's really not much point in making people feel inadequate when they've made one of the better lock choices.

Daniel G said:

It's retail/LBS price of $110 is probably not worth it, but it's been on Amazon for $70 for a while now. Yes, I am an economic scourge. The weight is the real cost, but I ride with panniers all the time anyway and I've got ten lbs of gear pretty much permanently written into my accounting. Twenty extra seconds of grand theft in a public square is a long twenty seconds. More cyclists=more bystanders who won't tolerate daylight robbery. I don't need to outrun the bear, etc. Different tests produce different numbers, the numbers that sold me on the NY:F Mini were 3 minutes compared to 20 seconds for a $40 Kryptonite. The value/credibility of these numbers is highly debatable, obviously, but I think it suffices to say that laboratory test conditions are not something a bike thief frequently encounters.

A good lock, worth seventy bucks, do not care about the weight if it delays the theft of my bike by a year. Not really sure how else to respond to the increasing threat of theft besides playing the arms race and vandalizing my own bike to reduce its desirability. Not riding a Huffy.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lamar on July 16, 2012 at 12:01pm

already contacted.
its invaluable.
shame is news there hasnt been updated since 2009.

cheers

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Katie Smith on July 26, 2012 at 11:20pm

I've scrolled several pages looking for the next step to after you've registered your bike, so feel free to just point me in that direction if my question is already answered. But, what do you do if you find your bike? On E-Bay, craigslist, backpage, swap meet or just driving around town? Do you call the cops--will they come? Self-recovery?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on July 26, 2012 at 11:36pm

Katie,

It depends greatly on the situation. I have a document I send victims if they plan to search at a specific flea market, but I'm not aware of any prepared general info on what to do if you spot your bike. There may actually be downsides to putting it out there publicly (i.e. handing thieves a manual to help them work smarter.)

Did you have a bike stolen?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Katie Smith on July 27, 2012 at 7:58am

h': yes, I did and I think I've located it, but I'm not sure how to proceed. I'll try to PM you with other details.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sean Struble on July 27, 2012 at 12:18pm

The best idea I've heard is to carry around an extra lock and lock it up if you spot it. Then call the cops. That way they can't flee on it.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on July 27, 2012 at 12:25pm

That would require that the theft had already been reported to police; we don't know if Katie's has; we don't even know if "I think I've located it" means sitting on the street, or in a pawn shop, or on craigslist. Also, once locked, I wouldn't let it out of my sight otherwise you're likely to be out a lock in addition to the original theft.

Sean Struble said:

The best idea I've heard is to carry around an extra lock and lock it up if you spot it. Then call the cops. That way they can't flee on it.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lamar on July 27, 2012 at 5:52pm

regarding my recent theft and recovery...
A) we were sure to file theft report with the police. serial # always helps.
B) reported the theft to stolenbikeregistery, providing pictures, details. I also included a reward as insurance deductible/ replacement costs were high.
C) post on FACEBOOK. let's face it, people now seem to think it doesn't exist unless it's on facebook.
Post pic/detail/stolenbikeregistry link on your wall, and in bike groups/pages such as critical mass etc
D) when fielding emails from tipsters, i suggested if they found the bike locked up to remove wheel skewers and/or use their lock if they had one and call me... I never insisted they confront "owner."
E) keep pictures, details, police reports, and any printouts of correspondence/ online posts in a file/folder.
F) if found, contact 911 with location, info and provide that file/folder of items on site.

Again I would not suggest confronting "owner" if you do not have to.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on July 28, 2012 at 3:42am

Congrats to Katie and husband on the recovery of the bike in question. Will let her provide the details if she so chooses.

Regarding rewards- I know I can't expect every bike theft victim to consider themselves part of a greater community, or to think of themselves as bicycle advocates, but I believe that ultimately by offering a reward you support bike theft and hurt everyone. Of all the bicycle recovery stories that have come my way (here's a sampling), I can't recall a single one in which a reward was a significant motivation in getting the bike back to its owner, or one case in which it was necessary to pay reward money (rather than get police help) to get a bike back.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lamar on July 28, 2012 at 1:21pm

sorry, really wasnt asking for a critique.
just providing the information in which i recovered my bike after 7 long wks.

it can happen to you

good luck to all

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Katie Smith on July 30, 2012 at 3:40pm

We did recover the bike (it was my husband's). We had done all the appropriate things: filed a police report, did a listing on stolen bike registry, and started monitoring Craigslist and ebay, etc. A listing for the bike style appeared on Craigslist. It was a stock picture and a generic description of the bike, which was what tipped us off. We used a newly-created email account to arrange to meet the seller the next day at a busy train station.

My husband walked by the seller, could verify by sight that it was his bike and turned around the corner and called the cops. The seller was obviously not the original thief, but he had purchased the bike off a street corner. In email, he had tried to pass the bike off as one he had had awhile, He did seem rather scared by the process, so hopefully that's one less person willing to try buy stolen bikes off of street corners.

Husband had the police report, his original sales receipt (with serial number) and any other paperwork the cops could want, so they processed the bike and released it to him.

I'm not sure that exact situation can be replicated, but perhaps some of it can be useful to someone in recovering their bike.