Bicycle Thievery!

Last week we received an email from a member in Salt Lake City. His bike had been stolen -- his only means of transportation -- and he was desperate to get it back. I quickly emailed my friend Becka Roolf, the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator in Salt Lake, and she responded that she already knew of the incident through some of the social media sites, but unfortunately the gentleman in question had no record of the bike's serial number and he hadn't registered it (mandatory in Utah). So, even if he found the bike, he'd have a difficult time proving it was his.

Almost everyone who rides regularly (and a good portion of those who don't) has had at least one brush with bike thievery. Even here at Adventure Cycling, with all the people coming and going on bicycles, we've had bikes stolen. Take, for example, executive director Jim Sayer's incident just last summer, in which his bike was stolen from the rack right outside our front doors. Jim did track it down by calling the pawn shops, and an arrest was made after the down-and-out thief admitted to the crime. But really! It seems like the bike travel mecca ought to be immune to this type of criminal activity.

Sarah Raz, staff bike sleuth extraordinaire, has become very adept at getting bikes back for people. Being keenly "bicycle" observant, she noticed a man riding a Surly Long Haul Trucker that was clearly too small for his frame. She also knew a fellow staffer had a bike just like it stolen out of her garage just a few days earlier. The man offered to sell it to Sarah for $50, but Sarah didn't want to give him money so she offered to buy the man something at the nearby Safeway instead. The price ended up being a pack of cigarettes.

Awhile ago, a cyclist dropped off a poster of his missing bike and Sarah later noticed it on the street. She contacted him through the Portland-based website Stolen Bike Registry to let him know where he could find it. Sarah might have a real gift; after all, as she says, she doesn't recognize people, she recognizes bikes.

While I don't have Sarah's gift, I have been the victim of bike theft and I don't like it! Neither does Outside Magazine's Patrick Symmes, as you can read from his in-depth quest to investigate bike trafficking. Being a victim does not an expert in prevention make, but here are few quick tips to note:

• Write down the serial numbers for all your bikes! And keep them somewhere safe;
• Register your bike with the local police department and a national registry;
• Photograph your bikes and match the serial number to the photo;
• Get a good lock and lock it properly;
• Don't park in the same place every day and don't leave your bike in one spot for extended periods of time;
• Park in well lit places with lots of activity (although this isn't a foolproof solution, as Mr. Symmes points out in his article);
• Bring your bike inside whenever possible.

For more in-depth information, see BicycleLaw.com.

Photo by scampion on Flickr.

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CONNECTIONS is posted by Ginny Sullivan, Adventure Cycling's special projects director and features the cultural, historical, geographical, and human connections created through bike travel. Find out about our award-winning Underground Railroad Bicycle Route.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2012/01/bicycle-thievery.html

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