New Research Claims 2 Million Bikes Are Stolen in North America Every Year

Aug 26, 2019
by James Smurthwaite  

New statistics from a bike registration company claim that more than 2 million bikes are stolen in North America each year.

The 529 Garage works with more than 1,400 law enforcement, city, university and bike shop partners to create a database from which they have drawn these statistics. The company has surpassed one million searchable bicycles worldwide, and describes itself as the world’s largest bike registration program. J Allard, a former Microsoft executive, founded the company five years ago in Portland, OR., with the vision to cut North America’s $500-million bike theft epidemic in half by 2025. The company aims to hit five million bikes by 2022.

Here are four key stats from their latest published research into bike thefts in North America:

CCTV picture of a man who stole 11 Orange P7 hardtails earlier this year.

More than two million bikes are stolen each year in North America.

Project 529 claims that 2 million bikes are stolen across North America every year. That works out at roughly 4 every minute or one every 15 seconds. They also claim this figure has doubled since the turn of the millennium.

Bike theft costs North American communities

Bike theft seems to be a lucrative business with limited risk for the perpetrators however with the bike thieves making big money, there's a big loss for American communities. The cost goes way beyond just the value of the bike though with a quarter of stolen bikes used to commit a secondary crime. All in all, it adds up to a reported $1 billion per year cost for American communities each year.

Bike theft reduces cycling levels

Project 529's figures indicate that a quarter of all victims of bike theft cycle less after the crime has been committed, with 7% of cyclists stopping altogether. Of those cyclists that do carry on riding, 20% buy a cheaper (or stolen) replacement.

Most stolen bikes aren't reported to the police.

The research claims that only 20% of stolen bikes are reported, meaning the crime has lower prioritization by the police. The police actually recover hundreds of thousands of bikes a year but only 5% are ever returned to owners as the bike thefts aren't reported and less than 20% of owners know their bike's serial number.

More info here.

Posted In:
Industry News


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134 Comments

  • 60 1
 There's a reason no one goes to the police with stolen bike reports - because the police don't do jack about it. They really couldn't care less. You can give them the serial number, description, etc... and you'll get a solid "yeah sure kid, we'll see what we can do" before the chuckles start as you walk out.

It feels like it's literally not worth the time it takes to do, so people skip it. I've had 2 bikes stolen, after the first report felt like a complete fools errand, I didn't even bother with the second. They just don't care, and it's almost hard to blame them with everything else they're dealing with, to be frank (but, I still do blame them for being part of the problem).
  • 26 0
 not sure about the USA but in the UK its juts a formality so you can pursue an insurance claim
  • 6 0
 @tobiusmaximum: When my bikes were stolen I didn't have home owners or renters insurance, which in the US is what bikes go under, so it didn't matter for me. Now, I do have those things, so in that case, yep, it'd be just to get the paperwork for an insurance claim.
  • 15 0
 Its not about value of stolen goods, its about the crime that police should car about. Of course you can blame them. Here in Germany police have enought time to ride around with bicycle and give you a 10 euro ticket for riding on wrong side of the road and for other small bullshit. Last year on may 2 bikes got stolen from my garage. Thats heavy bulgary and i never heard anything from police or prosecutor, not even that they closed the case.
  • 7 0
 Word. The cops don't even do anything after a car or a home gets broken into, so why would they do something when a toy is stolen? The only reason would be to file a claim as part of an insurance policy, but then you'll get dinged for making a claim and your policy will be higher when it comes up for renewal.
  • 1 0
 @tobiusmaximum: all depends if you have insurance on them. In Canada you have to get a rider for certain items. I have a "sports" claim on my policy but it is only for 5 grand anything else I need a rider and they are not cheap at all.
  • 3 0
 @downhere67: And you have to make sure to read the fine print and clauses. A buddy of mine choose to not get a rider on one of his bikes, which was stolen last summer. His insurance does have a general bike replacement coverage policy included under his home owners insurance, but the deductible is more than what the bike replacement is! Luckily with the help of PinkBike, we were able to recover the bike ourselves (also filed police reports which didn't get anywhere).
  • 5 0
 I disagree with not filing a report. True, they wont do much, unless you know someone. BUT, you will never get stolen property back unless its reported and if someone is caught with stolen property and its not reported... its not stolen in police eyes. I have had property recovered by police months after it was stolen.
  • 2 0
 @matadorCE: If you can even claim it against your policy. I checked with my previous insurance and the one I'm with now, and when I told them I wanted to insure a bike worth several thousand dollars they told me absolutely not. No go on homeowners and no go on their sporting equipment rider.

I took out a policy with velo which covers it at full retail, and has a lot better protections for travel and such.
  • 2 0
 @James2785: What is this velo you talk about? My home insurance laughed when I told them the value of all our family bikes. One bike was more than my car insurance for a year.
  • 4 0
 police in my city are totally worthless if you are a cyclist.. 2 $5000 bikes stolen, cops did absolutely nothing. Once hit and the driver fled the scene, I got his plates and saw his face.. the cops told me to report it to a insurance collision center 20km away, who did also nothing, and they couldn't understand why the cops had sent me there.. also a $450 "red light" ticket for going thru a crosswalk at about 5km/h after the pedestrian had finished going through, but the cross lights where still on.. I now take justice in my own hands(5lbs kryptonite fahgettaboudit lock does the trick) and I just run from the cops if they follow me for anything.
  • 1 0
 @downhere67: velosurance.com

I'm happy with the rate and very happy with the coverage. I haven't had to claim anything yet, thankfully, but I have heard they're pretty easy to work with.
  • 2 0
 @James2785: That's good to know, since I thought a homeowner's would cover the loss of a bike if it gets stolen from inside a garage or locked up in a bike rack in my truck while it's on the driveway. If they can cover electronics and jewelry inside the house, I don't know why they wouldn't want to cover sporting equipment but insurance is a racket anyway.
  • 2 1
 WTF do you expect the police to do about it? Even if they spent days trying to solve a bike theft, there is a pretty much 0.0% chance of them catching the thief.
  • 1 0
 Only around 2% of burglars are actually caught in my area. They don't have the resources to investigate all the burglaries. So, it is basically an issue that is solved by insurance and treat it like a minor car accidents.
  • 1 0
 @matadorCE: I'm sure a homeowners policy will cover a stolen bike (under certain conditions) up to a certain amount of money to replace it (which may be adjusted for depreciation) etc. etc. etc. I'm sure mine wouldn't bat an eye at my wife's Electra Townie cruiser, and they'd probably give me a few dollars for my old Gary Fisher, but they wanted no part of covering my enduro bike. They wanted even less to do with it when I asked about racing and traveling with it.
  • 7 0
 Sacramento PD have a team who work exclusively on bicycle crime. It's rad. I work at a well-known shop in town and they will frequently call us with a serial number or some identifying features to help get a bike back to its owner. Here at least police do take bike theft seriously.
  • 4 0
 I've done that. I had my bike stolen in July, reported it within half an hour of it being stolen. I did a lot of leg work to recover my bike, ultimately scared the guy who had it to the point he turned it back over to police. If I hadn't reported it to the police they would have never known it was mine. In addition my RCMP uses the data to decide what sort of prevention measures to put money into. In addition if enough are missing, it becomes a problem for the police worth looking at, if there's no data there will be no action. Data provides insight and provides direction for the police to work with. Worth doing every time even if you feel like a dumb ass at the time.
  • 1 0
 @James2785: Homeowner policies can cover stolen bikes but deductibles are generally quite high. Renter's insurance is the best for stolen bikes. Policies are quite inexpensive per year and deductibles are much lower.
  • 2 0
 Straight up. I had my house raided by thieves and they stole my entire quiver. Was heart broken. Police didn’t give no shits. Still traumatize about it. You feel violated and always nervous getting home from work expecting the worse.
  • 2 0
 @michaeldorian: I see a solution. Take 30% of your annual bike budget.. and spend it on guns. I imagine they would drop the bronson if they heard the magnum.
  • 1 0
 @dfiler: If you read the article you will notice that what you said is simply not true. They regularly find stolen bikes (and other goods), presumably catching the thief in the process. Problem is, if you don't report your bike stolen they won't know its yours when they find it. Then you have 0.0% chance of getting your bike back. And the thief won't be persecuted because the stuff they found on him was not reported stolen.
  • 1 0
 @Ttimer: The point being made is that it isn't justified to get mad at the police for simply logging your theft report and not doing anything else. Direct action against a theft is almost never possible. Sure, police find bikes at pawn shops or during a sting/raid, but it isn't in response to a particular person's stolen bike. That's just the wrong expectation to have.
  • 1 1
 @dfiler: It's true that they don't respond to individual bike thefts, but that also seems to be true for most property crimes like car theft. (and white collar crimes as well)
When there is a string of crimes, however, police are more likely to respond. Even more reason to report it, otherwise how would they know.
  • 2 0
 @matadorCE: they dont care. They just want your money and then when it time to pay out they find every excuse under the sun to avoid paying out. My insurance wanted me to fill out paper work about what was in my house that they would be covering. Well I got a lot of tools and 4 bikes they said they would cover 25% of the tools which would really only cover the roll always that the tools are and that they would cover 5% of the value of my bikes which is complete garbage. I hate insurance companies... bunch of f*cking crooks and being required to have it is even bigger scam that in the insurance companies favor. So now I have a big f*cking pit bull that's trained in protection and cameras out the ass and great relationships with my neighbors.
  • 1 0
 I think most people know that they should submit a report when a bike is stolen. I also think most people understand that nothing is likely to come of it. But like most things, it's easier to say/be black and white about on the internet than in real life

When a bike is stolen, there's a lot of frustration and emotion behind it. There's a lot of things you spring into action doing immediately: you may dive immediately into checking Craigslist, RideMonkey, or Pinkbike Classifieds, or local bike and pawn shops. You may even grab one of your other bikes and start combing the neighborhoods yourself.

When it comes down to it, the decision of "do I go down to the police station and fill out paper work" (especially when you have no insurance payout coming), it's easy to push it to the back burner when you know nothing is going to come of it, while you try and find your bike yourself. That, and life goes on- before you know it, it's been a month, and you just say screw it.

Right, wrong, or indifferent, that's why people don't always file police reports. That's exactly how it happened when my DJ got ripped. I guess shame on me/us for that, because it doesn't help the greater good... but it's real life, I'm just being truthful about it.

Also, there are things they can do to make it harder on criminals when it comes to bike theft. Maybe a bit higher frequency of sting operations. Maybe stiffer punishments. Maybe a few coppers walk the beat now and again, instead of cruising around in cars exclusively (at least that's how it is in my city). I think this kind of stuff would stop many types of small crimes, not just bike theft. But you just never see it, and yeah, it's discouraging- especially when they've got no problem handing out parking tickets like candy when you forget to move your car until 10 minutes after the deadline, or get pulled over for an inspection that's a few days overdue.

The long and the short of it, bike thieves are the worst. Down with them.
  • 1 0
 @Ttimer: The point was to not expect direct action in response to your specific report. Of course reporting is still good so that police know the frequency of thefts and allocate resources appropriately. The original poster seemed really worked up about the police not doing more.
  • 41 0
 I keep my bike in my bedroom.
  • 11 1
 I actually have a bedroom with a dead bolt and cameras in that room and all around my house.Only because I love all my babies.
  • 4 0
 Even have my workshop in my flat, the apartment caves look handcrafted... www.pinkbike.com/photo/17656151
  • 4 0
 Agree. I can maneuver my bike through my home like a ninja.
  • 3 5
 @nug12182: cringed pretty hard to 'my babies'
  • 4 0
 I should do that and keep my kids in the garage.
  • 1 0
 @Yetimike2019: yep. priorities!
  • 1 0
 @Yetimike2019: Ha, as a father of 2, this is comment of the year! My wife wants to build a shed for bikes. Now I know what my suggestion for shed inhabitants will be.
  • 2 0
 @stumphumper92: they don't cry, you can sell one if you don't like it anymore. They don't need a sitter. They bring me much more joy than another consumer in my house. Sorry, not a fan of kids!
  • 1 0
 Next level security is to have motion detection laser beams, weight detection floors, bio sensor activation and deactivation, etc. Mission Impossible stuff!!
  • 21 0
 How about attaching a locator a chip, like those embedded in a dog or cat. Perhaps a new idea for a company from an entrepreneurial PBer. You'd at least recover your frame. Even better, perhaps you'd catch up with your bike while it is still being stripped. Then you could introduce the bike thieves to our US past-time, baseball, specifically with a BAT..
  • 10 1
 Pet microchips don’t help you locate you your dog. Those are passive devices, meaning you can’t track them. They can only be scanned by a scanner and tell you the dogs info if the dog is found. Essentially all they are is a barcode or serial number for your dog that kinks to a database with all the info.

Main problem with any real tracking device is that to have actual active tracking it needs a power source ( battery) and that makes it much more difficult to simply attach or hide on a bike, since the owner would have to access it to change or charge batteries.
  • 1 0
 they make them for UTVs (RZRs) but yes, they need a charge. And will die out in a few days on battery
  • 2 0
 Passive RFID chips are activated by a reader - so unless someone scanned a bike that they had for the ID info that the tag carried, it wouldn't do you any good, so it's about as good as a serial number at that point. Even something like the Tile only has a 300 foot range, so it's not useful unless the thief is very close by.

If only there was an easy "flip the switch" solution out there. Definitely a big niche for a great theft prevention device.
  • 3 0
 @sino428: Some police departments will initiate sting operations doing just this. They will plant a bike in a high-theft area with tracking installed in the tubing (not the seat since that goes QUICK). I have no idea if its actually caught any stripping shops or "bike thief gangs" we always hear about, but its one example how how filing a police report can help. If you don't file a report, the police can't use you as a data point for allocating theft-deterring efforts.
  • 1 0
 It is a good idea. Hidden in the frame with a rechargeable battery that can last a long time.
  • 15 1
 Imagine stealing 11 brand new boxed bikes, only to see they're Oranges when you open the box! Poor guy...
  • 15 1
 Bike thieves are out there because people buy stolen bikes.
  • 18 0
 Or parts. It’s hard to know the origin unfortunately.
  • 7 0
 Street Justice! I had three bikes stolen from my garage in West Seattle.. A couple days later I saw a homeless guy riding one and I pulled over and took it back. He said he didnt steal it.. which I believed.. but he and I both knew it was stolen to begin with.
  • 1 0
 @Npagel the theft of bikes in the pnw is only getting worse. Little to no consequences for the thieves. Nothing will be done till some thieves end up in pine boxes as they are getting more aggressive. Glad to hear you got one back!
  • 1 0
 @Iam106racing: I've been talking about getting a big group a people and just clearing out the cop shops one at a time. If we have to smash some junkies oh well
  • 8 0
 Scum. There is a special place in hell for bike thieves.
  • 53 10
 I am pretty sure it is a much nicer estate than one for people who kidnap babies children, set up fire in Amazon, murder people for their religious beliefs, or want more Ebikes on trails.
  • 12 15
 @WAKIdesigns: you were doing so well until the ebike bit Big Grin
  • 12 9
 @Matt115lamb: if you are to rob someone from their bike, rob a dentist at the end of the riding season.

- Darling, I need new bikes...
- how many knobs and how much slacker is the new one Finley?
- I said bikes, plural...
- i see you are picking up momentum each year. The answer is no. We need a new boat.
- but they, I mean...
- speak up Finley, you are a grown man. I just want to say we have no more room in the garage and you promised me a new XC90 which will take more room than Corsa cabrio we bought before you opened the second clinic.
- someone stole them Sandy, so there is no problem with the room in the garage.
- you don’t seem unhappy
- I miss my roadie...
- but you talked about LSC clicks to Robert yesterd... Someone broke into our garage?!!!!! Oh my God! Did you call the Police?
- that is not a problem, but if I decide today I can preorder some of these bikes so it will be cheaper
- you are mad Finley! I wish you had more interest in the sport cars! What else did they take?!
- erm, I don’t know
(Pling)
- can you hand me my phone?
- No! ignore that SMS! I want you to... it is Robert
- hand me the phone!
- Finley! You piece of crap! he writes: the idiot we hired to “steal” your bikes, I think he fkd us. Can’t reach him! We’ll have to take it on insurance then...
  • 40 0
 @WAKIdesigns: you have way too much free time dude
  • 1 0
 The dude stealing the bike in the photo looks like he already walked back out of hell...
  • 1 0
 @grundletroll: Hahaha!
  • 1 0
 @grundletroll: lol...
  • 8 1
 Homer: Oh people can come up with statistics to prove anything Kent. Forfty percent of all people know that.
  • 9 13
flag Matt115lamb (Aug 26, 2019 at 2:54) (Below Threshold)
 But there’re blind to the gun stats ! Oops
  • 5 3
 @Matt115lamb: A drop in the ocean in comparison to medical negligence stats Wink
  • 1 0
 @ta4645: Don't forget motor vehicles. Or the flu.
  • 5 0
 Figures don't lie, but liars figure.
  • 1 0
 Not 'Industry News', but an ad. A shitty ad at that. A bunch of claims and impossible stats and some nice little business growth projection and everything...from a company in the business of stolen bikes.
"60% of the time, it works every time"
  • 1 0
 @Matt115lamb: Gun stats include shooting in self defence or in defence of property, this is not usually mentioned in msm.
  • 1 1
 @djm35: that’s because the numbers are so low !
  • 4 0
 Just my twopence, but more could be done to educate people about bicycle security and generally taking some responsibility for bikes and property.
No one "deserves" to get their stuff nicked, but leaving bikes in sheds and garages that have close to zero security is not acceptable and I do believe that some of the blame should be with people who's are making these thefts far too easy
  • 1 0
 Its a fair point ...don't leave your pride and joy on show for all and sundry to see.
  • 8 1
 I’m lucky enough to have only one bike stolen
#deathtobikethieves
  • 1 1
 Can't hang 'em anymore even they deserve it. I propose 1000 hours community service of riding a Walmart Huffy bike. No seat only a seatpost. Climbing only. Never get the joy of a descent.
  • 2 0
 @GOrtho: they can only descent pro lines with broken brakes and Walmart everything else
  • 2 0
 My bikes have their own room in the house.... My insurance won't cover my bikes unless I can produce a shop receipt. Which, for anyone building their own, or buying used is a major issue.
I bought a gently used 2018 Trek remedy, and the insurance won't touch it because I don't have the shop receipt for it. So if it gets stolen, max I can claim is $2k, not even close to the purchase price. Maybe if there were some decent insurance options.....
  • 2 0
 For the Canadian's - check this company out -

pedalpowerinsurance.ca/ca/index.html

typically, if you build your own bike you just need a bike shop to appraise the value of it and then you can get coverage.
  • 1 0
 @barrytheblade: Thanks man, I'll check it out.
  • 4 0
 I worked as a shop manager for a few years and on a few occasions I appraised bike for insurance purposes. It can be rather subjective, so a 6 pack when you drop it off might not hurt Wink
  • 3 0
 @InsaNeil024: this, had a kid with an older big hit with a shiver on it get stolen. The insurance company had us appraise it to build the same bike as of it were new, and then they’d sort out the depreciation. He got a much nicer newer bike, when said and done. Renters and homeowners insurance goes a pretty long way in the states. A $100k policy really isn’t that much, and if you can prove no fault of your own, you shouldn’t see an increase in your premium.
  • 2 0
 @mountainyj: Never had a shop appraise a bike, but I also had the same experience with insurance. I am meticulous with receipts and placed a claim that included all the upgraded parts I added over the years. I started joking that my new bike was "sponsored by insurance" because there is no way I could afford to enter the full-carbon game without a surprisingly generous insurance check.

Do check how the policy handles depreciation though. Mine gave me the option of a check for the depreciated value (no strings attached) OR, if no adequate used bike could be found, they would pay up to the full original market value of the stolen property if I produced a shop receipt to prove the replacement I purchased was a bicycle of equal value to the claim. Original bike MSRP $2999, accumulated parts over 2 years $1600, new bike $4500. Never mind I got the original bike used for $1200.

All in, if you replace a stolen bike with another bike and don't just want a cash payout, you may come out ahead in the end. Suddenly its obvious why insurance fraud is so rampant...
  • 1 0
 for you fellow Canadian homeowners. I have Traveler's insurance. It covers my bikes value as of the day it was stolen. It's included and doesn't need to be scheduled. Worth getting, and very reasonable.
  • 3 1
 I've had 4 bikes stolen on 3 separate occasions. Once instance could have been avoided (bike was left overnight locked to a car rack in a nice neighborhood with minimal traffic), but the other two thefts could have happened to anyone. Leaving bikes for a few hours in high-traffic areas, even with good locks (u-bolt or large gauge chain), isn't safe anymore. Even a closed and locked garage is not safe.

I am now experienced enough that I have all the documentation for each of my bikes filed away in an "insurance" document folder because its not a matter of "if" but a question of "when" I will be targeted next. It sucks that I have to think this way, mostly because the psychological response to being victimized by bike thieves is incredibly taxing. Not only do you have the 5 stages of grief, but you also have the permanent feeling of insecurity, especially if the theft took place at or near your home. Its a violation that is not remedied by an insurance check. This, in addition to the loss of primary means of transport or income for many, makes bike theft a serious threat to quality of life.

I understand why police de-prioritize non-violent crime, but I really wish more could be done to protect citizens in their jurisdictions. Theft deterrent programs, including sting operations and criminal investigations, could go a long way to make bike theft "not worth it" for organized crime. In the US, theft of personal property valued over $2000 is a felony and most bike theft falls under this category. All the police have to do is catch and convict. Easier said than done, but a permanent felony charge is still a serious deterrent for would-be thieves.
  • 1 0
 I also recently had bikes stolen in 2 separate occasions. I can attest that mental state of being victimized still is the most taxing. I can barely enjoy the place I’m staying at because of the constant feeling of insecurity.
  • 2 0
 For anyone else commenting, the App / Company providing the info simply gives you all of the things you need to save for an insurance claim, as well as tamper-resistant stickers to go on the bike itself. For those asking for an NFC chip, this is pretty much the same thing (because any chip is useless when in the hands of someone malicious.)

They have had some pretty awesome success in the Northwest. Register your bike! If the PD finds the thing, this is the only way they will be able to track YOU down.

More and more departments are realizing how expensive these bikes are, especially in places where the cops themselves are likely to be riders.

When you call them, don't say "my bike was stolen", say "my $4000 mountain bike was stolen", that dollar figure MATTERS.

The long term is that we as bikers need proper serial numbers, standardized across manufacturers and registered centrally like a VIN. Until we have that the best you can do is join the biggest registries you can find and push your local police to check with them for every recovered bike.
  • 2 0
 I had my 2008 Enduro (my profile picture actually) stolen out of my backyard once in northern Idaho, I think it was years later that my friend saw it for sale on Craigslist. After getting a *real* picture of the bike from the guy, I called the police which really wasnt much help, but after a lot of pointing out that I was robbed of a several thousand dollar thing, broken through a locked gate, they eventually said “set up a meeting point to buy the bike and we’ll show up”. After driving hours to Oregon and having the guy set up 3 new sketchy spots to meet him at, the police apparently saw him riding around on the bike and confiscated it. With no receipt (just a police report in a different state over a year ago when it was first stolen) I had to write up a new report detailing my bike without seeing it so they could hand it to me, luckily I built it up from scratch so I wrote down every single god damn bolt on that bike, which brand, what color, and how scratched each part was. Unique parts and a wrong-colored chainstay made it very obvious that was my bike, him removing the rim stickers didn’t fool me.
I never once saw the guy who stole my bike and I really don’t care. While getting the first bike picture from him, he brought up, unprovoked and out of nowhere, that “This isn’t a stolen bike from a college in northern Idaho btw” but thats not incriminating, because when the police show up, “I bought it from craigslist” is literally a get-out-of-jail-free card
Moral of the story is bone-stock stolen bikes are easy to sell
  • 6 1
 *2 million bikes are reported stolen and claimed on insurance
  • 3 0
 how does that work without a police report number?
  • 1 0
 Been hooking my friends up with grade 120 chain and high security locks that hide the hasp in the lock frame. Even if you lock your bike in your house this will make it a total bitch for any would be thieves. Even with a grinder, a good blade and a bench vise it’s a total bear.
  • 1 0
 Just remember, if a thief REALLY wants your bike, they will get it. You just have to make the job hard/high-risk enough that they want someone else's bike more.
  • 1 0
 @BsampSy: Or that they simply won't bother with bikes at all and steal other stuff instead.
  • 1 0
 I would like to know how the theft numbers relate to the growing number of homeless camp bike chop shops that have popped up over the last few years. Also, it would be great to see companies like Offerup become a little more proactive in screening for sale ads for bikes that have obviously been stolen.
  • 2 0
 Wow. This is like reading my life story. 1 stolen. 2 cheaper. 3 cheaper. Quit altogether for 10yrs. Moved to a better hood. Got homeowners ins. Enjoys MTB again. Never got any back.
  • 1 0
 I got carjacked in northern Cali, camped by the side of the road. Tried to pull my bike out of the back seat before they drove off. Used the car insurance money to buy a new bike first! #priorities
Also had my first beater stolen off the vehicle in Denver. Turned me off to riding bikes for about 10 years. Every year a rash of thefts happen in Moab, usually in the fall. Take precautions!
  • 1 1
 Registration means shit, the bike companies have the tech to build something into the bike, such as an NFC Chip we have on a credit card, into any bike, they choose not to as they're too interested in selling us another bike, no point registering a bike if the tech can't back it up and if this guy is ex Mucrosoft then his idea is pointless and worthless, tech to track is what's needed.
  • 1 1
 And what effort have you taken to help prevent theft and assist people in recovering bikes other than commenting on the internet?
  • 1 0
 I live in Santa Ana, i'd have to believe its the stolen bike capitol of america, I see homeless goons riding down my street with spare bike on their shoulder that they probably just jacked-all the time.
  • 5 0
 Those guys aren't homeless, they're privateers.
  • 1 0
 I think Santa Cruz and SF are both competing for stolen bike capital of US. SC probably edges out SF due to the higher end bikes stolen there.
  • 1 0
 Bikes keep getting more expensive, and people still make it easy for a lot of them to be taken. This article doesn't surprise me. Pretty sure there is more bike theft than we know about.
  • 1 0
 I want to know who is buying the high end bikes that are selling. I hear more and more about bike cartels, etc. Are these bikes being stolen in one country and sold in another?
  • 1 0
 The head line sucks but this is a positive story if you register your bike with 529 garage. In the least take a pic with your phone of the bikes serial number and a pic of the bike. It's easy and it can't hurt.
  • 4 1
 Half of them are insurance jobs
  • 2 0
 Does anyone use bikeregister.com?

I have just signed up and am curious to know if it works.
  • 2 0
 write those serial numbers down... also can strip the paint in an area, engrave it and repaint over it
  • 1 0
 GPS tracker? We put chips in dogs.
I’d pay $150 for something like that. Within 15 minutes they couldn’t disable or remove it.
  • 4 0
 Chips in dogs and gps tracking devices are two completely different things.
  • 5 0
 where is ezra? i bet he loves chips..
  • 3 0
 We still hang bike thieves in Wyoming?
  • 3 0
 Note to self: document bike serial numbers tonight.
  • 3 0
 Take a photo of the bike AND the serial number, upload them to whichever social media platform you use in a message to your mates. Get them to do the same, makes it easy to access if you ever need it and doesn't rely on you to keep a copy
  • 1 0
 SNs, proof of purchase, and photos of yourself WITH the bike. I also document major upgrades (new wheelsets, carbon parts, dropper post, etc). There is also a lot of insurance fraud involving bikes and some insurance companies ask for a LOT of proof of ownership.
  • 1 0
 Project 529 is free and designed to help you document exactly what you need to do the best you can to find the bike, and if you can't, make sure you document exactly what you need for the insurance claim.
  • 2 0
 well, my three make me just another statistic: 0.0000015.
  • 2 0
 I have a photo of my bike, serial number, and receipt on my phone.
  • 2 0
 What is the market for stolen bikes? Who is buying them?
  • 3 0
 BIKE THIEF SCUM!!!
  • 1 0
 Five hundred dollar million......
  • 1 0
 I wonder what the stats are for South Africa...
  • 2 0
 The thieves there don't bother with bikes... they're too busy stealing cars all day.
  • 2 0
 2 million really Eek
  • 1 0
 So that's just all the bikes right?
  • 1 0
 1 million of those are in Vancouver..
  • 1 0
 This is shocking to me how common this is it seems.
  • 1 0
 2 million a year? That's called a weekday in London.
  • 1 0
 That photo- Pulling your strings Justice is done
  • 1 0
 1 million of those have got to be in Santa Cruz County.
  • 1 1
 a bite more than 20 million are sold each year in the US....
  • 1 1
 pretty sure about half of those were stolen in New Mexico
  • 1 1
 Well if people didn’t buy them...........
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