Have you Registered your Bike?

If you haven't already, check out Bike Index, a free, non-profit, online bike registration service, that can help aid in returning stolen bikes back to their rightful owners.

Registering your bike online takes about 2 minutes and is completely free. Include photos, a serial number, and as much detail as you can - if your bike goes missing, you mark it as lost or stolen and the Bike Index community and its partners will be notified.

You can also browse a listing of bikes that have been reported missing in your city. (This is a great resource when buying a bike second-hand – a quick search of the database before you commit can help confirm if the bike has been reported missing at any point.)

Bike theft is a serious problem all over the world. It discourages people from riding, fuels crime, and undermines our sense of community. There is no quick-fix solution, but registering your bike is a helpful first step.

This video by Tom Babin at Shifter shares how one Canadian city is addressing bike theft and the direct impact bike registry has had on reducing the number of stolen bikes they are seeing.

Lastly, a HUGE shoutout to all the awesome local bike shops and bike organizations that have worked really hard to auto-register every bike they sell. The number of registered bikes in YYC has increased dramatically over the last 3 years all because of you!