Bicycle Theft!
How many of us have had a bike stolen? Most of us have a hand up in the air. I've lost several over the years, some at schools even while locked outside. Most of us have better bikes and would rather not lose them again. We don't generally carry heavy locks on our rides, so what can we do?
Here are a few suggestions:
1. Register your bike. There is a FREE online bike registration site called Bikeindex.org that you can use to register your bicycle, serial number, and even pictures of your bicycle. If a bike in your stable gets stolen you can mark it "stolen" in the registry and sometimes this can help you get the bike back. If nothing else, this functions as online documentation of your bike including photos and serial numbers, which can help when you try to claim an insurance loss.
2. Check your homeowner's insurance policy. To maximize your benefit, get a "floater" policy on your homeowner’s insurance that lists your bike specifically by model, year, and serial number and will help you get the most return dollars if it gets stolen. Take good photos of your bike, including the bottom bracket where the serial number usually is printed. If you don't have a floater policy, it is likely that your insurance company will act surprised that your bike was so valuable and will not want to give you actual value!
3. We have all started using our helmets as a cheap "bike lock" to keep thieves from just jumping on the bike and riding away. Even a few seconds of delay can help. Clip it on through your spokes and the frame.
4. Get an Apple AirTag tracking chip and a way to attach it to your bicycle. AirTag: https://www.apple.com/airtag/
There are several options to attach the Apple AirTag to your bike including:
a. Woo Cycle: Find my Bike. This device mounts between your bottle cage and the bike frame and hides the AirTag inside it with a proprietary bolt. https://woocycle.com/en/
b. Lezyne Matrix Air Cage: This bottle cage has a built-in waterproof AirTag compartment that is very stealthy. It also bolts to your bottle cage location and has a proprietary bolt that cannot be removed with a simple allen wrench. https://ride.lezyne.com/products/matrix-air-cage See photo below.
5. You can also get a "Tile" brand tracker that can be attached to your bike so you can find it if stolen. One of the Tile Trackers can be attached to your bike crank arm and looks like an RPM sensor, very stealthy: https://www.tile.com/product/tile-for-bikes
6. If you are by yourself on a ride and have to go inside a building, consider "dropping your chain" off the front sprocket so someone just can't ride off on it. The best is to keep it in sight or even bring it inside the coffee shop if you are by yourself.
