Bicycle registration

[billkilpatrick]

What's the consensus on registering your beloved retro classic road bike? Does a prominently displayed warning notification with registration number on your frame deter the casual thief but attract those more discerning?

 

[Nevilleblaze]

bikes get stolen even if they have some security/reg markings . The only benefit is if the bike is found you have a chance of getting it back .

 

[frkl]

bikes get stolen even if they have some security/reg markings . The only benefit is if the bike is found you have a chance of getting it back .

These stickers are easy to remove. I purchased a used bike with one, from the original owner with proof it was his, and reregistered it under my name as was required to cancel his registration. When i moved, a utility knife, acetone and 30 seconds of my time removed the sticker with no trace left.

For identifying a bike as yours if it's stolen and you find it (let's be honest, the police won't go actively looking) take a lot of pictures of it at your home or with you in the shot. In the past, I also used to shove a laminated card with a hole punched into it into the seat tube. The hole is so you can hook it out. On the card, either put your name, or if you are worried about that, some random number.

To prove the bike is yours, tell the police the card is there, how to get it out, and the random number on it. The cop was rather impressed by this system if I recall

Now, if it's a question of insurance coverage, that's something different. May need to register it.

 

[frkl]

In my experience the only things that discourage theft are a b-a lock and/or parking it next to a nicer bike without a lock

 

[billkilpatrick]

Wondering if a prominently displayed ID marker would be an attraction for thieves. Both my bikes are possibly worth hundreds, not thousands, so it's unlikely they'll get nicked by more discerning bandits. Nothing I can do about the low-life opportunists amongst us - except curse them, of course. I have a hefty chain and a Kryptonite lock and we live in a small town where thievery of this sort usually happens on market days or festivals - if at all. Que sera, sera ...

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

After 3 decades of dealing with sheet bags I can give a little insight here - and that is you should trust me, because thieves take little notice of signs, warnings, stickers, markings or CCTV. They steal first, think second. All they care about is getting their next bag of H, and anything else just doesn't register.

These things can be an aid to recovery, or can give you some - largely false - reassurance, but they do nowt to stop Johnny Lightfingers from having your steed away.

A good lock, and leave it in an area with good natural surveillance is the most effective, albeit not infallible, method.

 

[frkl]

Another thing is that the police think if these stickers as a deterrent, even if they aren't, and so will make you put it in a super visible place, thereby ruining your expensive bespoke repro decals. I think most of us see them as, at best, a way to positively identify a recovered bike. In this sense, I want to put it in the least noticeable place possible, maybe somewhere where the thief won't even find it.

It also depends on what "casual theft" means. One of the most common types of theft in the uni town where I live is people "borrowing" a bike after Friday night partying, riding part way home, then ditching it in a park. A sticker will do nothing here.

For me, casual theft means anything that doesn't involve actually breaking through something, since this usually involves some kind of tool or skill/effort. Anything, even a dinky cable lock, that keeps someone from just jumping on and riding off is likely enough to stop truly casual, spur of the moment theft. Such thieves will choose the easiest target, or the most obviously valuable one, which probably means that 3000 Euro pedalec (esp. when the owner forgot to remove the controller!) and not that "10 Speed" with those weird shifty things.

 

[greencat]

Put this way, I was once attacked by three people for my bike while cycling home along a canal and they threatened to drown me in said canal. In my experience if a thief wants your bike they are going to get it. It wasn't anything particularly special either - a fairly bog standard old cannondale.

Such stuff may help get your bike back, but that's it.

 

[Nevilleblaze]

Put this way, I was once attacked by three people for my bike while cycling home along a canal and they threatened to drown me in said canal. In my experience if a thief wants your bike they are going to get it. It wasn't anything particularly special either - a fairly bog standard old cannondale.

Such stuff may help get your bike back, but that's it.

Did you let them have the bike

 

[Betsy]

They cut through my Kryptonite locks like t'was butter..

There had been a spate of bike/motorbike thefts ever since the local fire station closed and relocated to new premises, during this transition, the fire service were running the day shift from the old (residential) premises and night shift from the new.. so as not to disturb the locals with the blue flashing lights and such.. anywho, when the old fire station was vacant peeps broke in but all they nicked was the cutting equipment and it's been passed between criminal gangs ever since so my locks never stood a chance.