Bike Index is here to do something simple: give cyclists the power to recover their own stolen bicycles. This need is more prevalent than ever. Despite this summer's bike boom and law enforcement's increased prioritization of bike theft, theft will continue to be a rampant problem with little devoted manpower and budget cuts in many departments.
Bike Index will always be a community tool at its root. Users can leverage Bike Index's ever-growing reach to find their own bicycles. But with this resource comes a warning: recovering your bike has the potential to get messy. We've put together a brief guide of tips on how to stay safe when recovering a bike on your own.
They boil down to this: we always recommend engaging law enforcement or others for help. But if that is not possible, be very very careful and give plenty of thought to your own risk comfort level.
Hopefully, these nudges won't be necessary. We've seen success story after recovery success story. A rider finds their bike listed online, meets the seller, and has no problem proving the bike belongs to them or getting it back. Maybe they see the bike out and about and recover it from someone who didn't know they were riding someone else's lifeline to school or work.
But meeting someone you do not know, in any context, can be tricky. And if you're meeting a seller about a stolen bike on Craigslist, OfferUp, Kijiji, or Facebook Marketplace, you can assume the seller will be disappointed to learn that they are not going to be able to make money on a sale. They might potentially have lost money purchasing a bike they didn't know was stolen in the first place. While some people give back bikes graciously, others do not.
For those who can't or don't want to involve law enforcement in a bike theft recovery, we have compiled a list of tips to help you recover a stolen bike. These tips aim to keep you safe while also allowing you to empower yourself with Bike Index.
1) Even though there's a bike that looks like yours, it may not be yours
Unless there is some distinct configuration, marking, or sticker - something you can use to 100 percent say "this is my bike," law enforcement often won't help you recover a bike you see online or out on the road. You're then at it alone, or with a friend - neither of you professionals - and you want to be relatively certain that a bike belongs to you before confronting someone about their possession of a stolen bike. See if the seller will send you more pictures of the bike so that you can ID it as best as possible. Ask to "see how clean the bike is." Or if it's a specialty bike, ask something like "can I see the front of the stem so I can see if my rack will fit?" - Rad serial numbers are on the front of the stem. Sometimes you might have to beat around the bush to get the information you need.
If you can't ID a detail about your bike that makes you POSITIVE it is yours, it's probably not worth pursuing, unless you can match the bike with another on Bike Index and you're into recovering bikes as a hobby. If you can positively ID the bike, call your local law enforcement and see if they will help you. If not, you have to make the decision whether to go at the recovery alone or not.
2) Check Facebook
You most likely have a stolen bikes Facebook group in your area. It's most likely run by an admin and is most likely populated with users who have experience with bike theft recovery specifically in your area. There may even be some passionate recovery pros who would be willing to go with you to help you recover your bike. They often have tabs on people who repeatedly try to sell stolen bikes online and can give you ideas about what to expect when dealing with someone who might be trying to sell your stolen bike.
At the very least, report your stolen bike to the group and share your Bike Index listing so that they can get in touch with you if they see your bike in the wild.
Also, check out our blog to see what we recommend when your bike has been stolen. We have a number of regional articles that detail what happens when your bike is stolen in a national bike theft hotspot.
3) Keep your identity obscured if communicating with an online seller
Create a new email address using Gmail and do not include identifying details in that email address. Use a Google voice number if you are communicating with a seller via phone. You can also use Burner for iPhone to keep you anonymous.
4) If you set up a sting, bring others
Someone who knows they are selling a stolen bike might make this difficult for you. They might move your meeting location. They might show up late. They might try to shake you. They might also just not care.
If you can, set up a meeting location close to a police station. Two hours before the meeting, walk into the police station. Even if the police did not agree to help you before, if they know there is a tangible event taking place in close range, they may be able to spare someone. Tell them where you will be meeting the seller and at what time.
Perhaps they can at least be ready for a call or have a car nearby. Once again, if this is not successful, you'll have to make the choice as to whether you want to pursue the sale.
5) Whoever has your bike might not know it's stolen
Bikes tend to change hands frequently once they leave your possession. If someone has or lists your bike and you want to confront them, remember that they could truly think they got a screaming good deal on a sale. Your bike could have also been stolen, abandoned, picked up, abandoned again… it goes on and on.
Your bike's journey once it leaves your possession might not make much sense, but it's not on you to accuse someone of bike theft. Even if you have concrete evidence that your bike's thief is a serial offender and will strike again if you don't do something, your local law enforcement might not be able to help. They'll be even less inclined to assist if you haven't filed a police report on the theft to begin with.
This is all to say that accusing someone of something that you don't know for sure might not work out well for you getting your bike back.
At the end of the day, it is your decision whether or not you want to recover a bike. We always recommend being aware of the risks and calling for formal backup, but sometimes that just doesn't work out. Being able to identify your bike is absolutely key. And just because you see someone and make assumptions about why they are selling a bike, it doesn't mean those assumptions are correct.
Hopefully, these tips help you make the decision about whether or not to take the plunge. Good luck.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://bikeindex.org/news/bike-safety-tips-for-recovering-your-own-bicycle?locale=en