DONT LET IT GET STOLEN IN THE FIRST PLACE
Of course, if you can prevent a thief from taking your bike in the first place you have succeeded in your efforts relating to stolen bikes. Locking your bike is a good step to prevent theft, and a good selection of various hardware and techniques is available for viewing during any walk through a downtown area where there are a lot of bikes locked up. Cables are convenient but the braided steel cable is easy to cut and therefore presents the lowest level of available protection. A chain is quite strong and harder to cut than a cable; plus, the absence of a fixed point deprives the thief of a leverage point to pry against – yet smaller links can still be cut with a long-handled bolt cutter. The downside of chains is their weight and difficulty in transport.
Most quality locks come with an anti-theft guarantee which is usually proportional to the cost of the lock. Many locks require a registration with the manufacturer, which may include the benefit of receiving replacement keys.
Even if you have the best luck but do not lock your bike it is subject to being stolen by an opportunistic thief if you leave it unlocked for even a moment in the wrong place. Some riders remove the front wheel or leave the front quick release skewer open or out of the front fork drop outs. While this has some appeal, it only takes a motivated and bike- savvy thief a few seconds to reattach the front wheel and ride off with the bike at a speed faster than you can run behind. Consider also locking your bike up in its storage place because a bike that must be carried is awkward; locking your bike hardens the target and makes the thief more likely to focus efforts on some other less protected object.
MAKE YOUR BIKE IDENTIFIABLE IN CASE IT IS STOLEN
If your bike has a serial number write it down at home in a safe place. Use the serial number to register the bike with the manufacturer, your bike shop, local government or any other organization that maintains a list of bicycle serial numbers.
You can register your bike with the National Bike Registry for approximately $10.00 for ten years (group discounts are also available) at www.nationalbikeregistry.com. The
registry will send you a sticker to install on your frame which is impossible to peel off but can still be ground off or scraped off with a razor blade. The sticker should be placed somewhere on a flat non-greasy surface that is not immediately noticeable.
Old school remedies include engraving your name or driver’s license number/phone number on the bottom bracket shell. Of course, these engravings are somewhat like tattoos and may be viewed as unsightly at a later time by you or a different owner. You can also tape a piece of paper with your contact information inside the frame head tube or seat tube. It is also a good idea to take a picture of your bike for later identification purposes and store it with your serial number at home.
INSURE YOUR BIKE
It is a good idea to insure a high-end bicycle by making certain that your home owner’s or renter’s insurance includes coverage for replacement in the event of theft. If an asset listing for possessions worth more than a particular amount is necessary make sure your bicycle appears on that list.
It is also possible to purchase insurance for your bicycle that will cover repair or replacement if it is damaged for some reason besides what is covered on your home owner’s or renter’s policy, such as damage in a crash that is your fault. Be aware that if the bicycle is attached to your car by a bike rack the property damage coverage on your automobile insurance may provide coverage in the event of an accident involving use of a car.
MAKE YOUR BIKE UGLY
Bike messengers trying to prevent theft have perfected the art of making quality bikes look ugly, and this is a skill that you can perfect if you want to take the chance that a bike thief will pass your ugly bike up for another one. However, most people do not have the stomach to cover their nice bike with camouflage and some bike thieves are discerning enough to be able to identify that your bike is a shark in sheep’s clothing.
IF YOUR BIKE IS STOLEN
If in spite of your best efforts if your bicycle is stolen then there are a number of moves you can make to raise the likelihood of recovery. Every community police department or sheriff’s office will have a theft/fraud detail with responsibility for investigating property thefts. Some law enforcement agencies have few budget dollars for property recovery, but usually a pleasant demeanor will assist you in making contact with someone who can give you suggestions on what you can do. It is important for insurance and recovery purposes (as well as for the greater social good) to make a police report about the loss of your bike so you might as well use the opportunity to find out about how best to find your bike in your community from a knowledgeable source. Since budgetary constraints reduce personnel hours available for these projects; if you have any political connections it may be a wise idea to use any influence you may have to give a boost to your request for assistance. While it is possible that your bike was stolen by a traveling band of bicycle thieves for resale in a different community, the chances are that your bike was stolen by a local thief and that it will be sold or used close to home. Pawn and resale shops are frequent recipients of stolen property and their staff are accustomed to dealing with unhappy theft victims.
Community bulletin boards, internet sale listings like Craig’s List, investigation of listings on Ebay, etc., all provide points of identification for the stolen bike.
A good start in your search is to have knowledge about the requirements of the Oregon criminal law which contains a crime called ATheft By Receiving. ORS 164.095 makes it illegal to Areceive, retain, conceal or dispose of property Aknowing or having good reason to know that the property was the subject of theft. The effect of this law is that once you provide notice to resellers of the circumstances behind your theft and provide a good basis for identification of the stolen bike (usually in the form of a flyer) and make a police report, you have placed resellers on notice that is sufficient to trigger the theft statute that your bike has been stolen.
RECOVERY OF STOLEN BIKES FROM RESELLERS
While the great majority of stolen bicycles are probably sold from person to person in a drug-related transaction which is then extremely difficult to trace, sometimes the involved bicycle will end up being offered for resale at a pawn shop, used bicycle store, or second hand market. It is always worth it to try to find the stolen bike at one of these outlets; and it is important to understand the basics about resale of stolen property.
The least regulated resale facility is a used bike shop or a second hand store. Since most thieves are not willing to take the risk of selling on consignment, sometimes stolen bicycles end up on the floor for sale after the store has purchased the bike for what is usually too tempting of a discount for the owner to resist. Of course the reseller needs to figure out what a retail price would be for such a bicycle and therefore, if local bike dealers know about the theft or have a posting about it on their community bulletin board then this is a good source of assistance at recovery. Since bike shop employees are Abike people and bike people uniformly despise bicycle thieves, there is a good group of motivated sympathizers to help any time a bicycle is stolen.
If the thief takes the bike to a pawn shop then the entire transaction is likely to be recorded on video tape, the pledger is required to be both finger printed and photographed, and the serial number of the bicycle is transmitted electronically to the local police department for comparison with their stolen item property list. While ideally this system should be 100% effective, it is common for clerical errors, staffing backlog, or other tripping hazards to derail a recovery effort. Direct contact with the resale community is an important step so as to ensure that there has not been some clerical mistake.
If the bicycle has the serial number ground off of it then pawn shops will not take it. Of course, alteration of the serial number or some other creative modification may circumvent this protection.
If the bicycle serves as collateral for a loan at a pawn shop it will be held 90 days and if it is the subject of a buy/sell agreement at a pawn shop it will be held 30 days while the serial number and the identity of the pledger is reviewed by the applicable police agency.
If a victim approaches the pawn shop owner with identification of an item in inventory as stolen the store will direct the store to the police department so as to have the law enforcement handle the paperwork surrounding recovery. Pawn shops will sometimes advise theft victims to check their home owner or renter coverage to see if it will allow payment by the victim to the pawn shop for the amount of the loan or purchase price of the item, and then reimburse the home owner for the paid amount out of the insurance coverage.
If the recovery effort occurs after the victims insurance has already paid on the loss, then the insurance company is the owner of the bicycle and the victim will likely want to deal directly with the insurance company in arranging some type of an adjustment if the victim has a special fondness for the bicycle. In the absence of such an arrangement the insurance company will take possession of the stolen item and simply reimburse the pawn shop for the money it has into the sale or loan.