Bike Index Combats E-Bike Theft & Assists Stolen Bike Recoveries With Its Free Registry
With the free registry system at the non-profit Bike Index, bicycle and e-bike owners can get access to a potent tool for the potential recovery of their stolen bike.
Conventional bicycles have long been a target of thieves, and as anyone who’s had their bike stolen before can testify, it flat-out sucks, even if it’s a clunker from a big box store, but especially so if it’s a higher end bike that will cost a pretty penny to replace. Catching a thief and/or getting your bike back can be difficult, if not near impossible in many cases, even if the theft is reported to the police, as stolen bikes can easily end up in a ‘chop shop’ and then the parts quickly sold for cash, or they can be transported out of town and sold elsewhere, out of the jurisdiction of your local law enforcement agency. And now, as e-bikes gain more traction with every passing day, thieves are increasingly looking at electric bikes as another quick way to make a buck from their work. But thanks to the work of Bike Index, bicycle and e-bike owners have another weapon in their anti-theft arsenal, and a free one, to-boot.
Bike Index, which was founded in 2013, has built an impressive grassroots bike recovery community over the last 11 years, with even more impressive results — over 1.2 million bikes have been registered, and more than 14,000 stolen bicycles, valued at over $25 million, have been recovered thanks to the Bike Index registry. With “hundreds of thousands of users and 1,000+ partnerships with law enforcement, bike shops, cities, and organizations,” Bike Index helps cyclists to alert not only their local community, but also national and international communities, to be on the watch for their stolen bike for a better chance at recovering it.
“Bike Index gets bike-theft sympathetic eyes onto your bike. If someone sees it or finds it, they can message you via your Bike Index listing. And our network of Bike Index ambassadors, bike shops, and law enforcement partners is growing every day. Bike theft is a hot issue, and people are plugging in to monitor online sales platforms, report chop shops, and return bikes to their rightful owners.”
Registering your bicycle at Bike Index is fast and easy, assuming you have at least the brand and model and serial number of the bike, so there’s no downside to it, and bikes can even be registered after they’re stolen. By adding other info, such as photos of the bike, a listing of the specs and components, and any other relevant details, bike theft victims help the larger cycling community better identify the stolen bike and make it easier to recover. Additionally, a bike can be looked up in the registry before purchasing it in order to make sure it’s not stolen, which is another helpful path to bike recovery.
Right now people with good intentions buy stolen bikes because there isn’t a single searchable, simple resource to check before buying a bike.
Bike Index is that resource. The next time you buy a used bike, check the Index first.
We offer bike shops and law enforcement an easy to use interface to look up any suspicious bikes they encounter, and a way to quickly contact the proper owner.
We successfully recover stolen bikes every week through this process.
Just recently, Bike Index has released a free iOS app as well, which allows for cyclists to register their bikes and/or report them stolen right from their iPhone. The app also makes it easier for Bike Index partners and other organizations to search for stolen bikes or check the status on a bike they see in person or for sale. Get the scoop on how to get your stolen bike back, and register your bikes and e-bikes at Bike Index today.
Photo by Aleksandr Kadykov on Unsplash
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