Here's a new stolen bike registry for six U.S. cities: stolen-bikes.org. Currently, this stolen bike registry covers the cities of Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle.
Justin, creator of stolen-bikes.org, told me a little about himself and the site.
Being an avid cyclist frequently riding in Philadelphia, I know that stolen bikes are pretty much a fact of life. I toyed with the idea for a site to tackle this issue for a while and just recently decided to act on it. I wanted to make sure I had a user-friendly and community-like atmosphere to the site. Instead of just adding your listing to a database and forgetting about it, people can follow up to your listing with comments and leads or start a whole thread on your listing in the forums.Justin is a fixed-gear and singlespeed guy. "I've owned several fixed gears and looking to build my first singlespeed. There's just something about the simplicity of these machines that keeps me wanting more and more of them."
We have a comprehensive bike theft handout being created as we speak. This handout will address the best locks and locking techniques available on the market.
Stolen-bikes.org is as much our site as it is yours. Although we are stolen bike specific with our blog posts we encourage people from every city to take advantage of the forums to network a stronger cycling community. We also gladly accept relevant articles, events, and notices exclusive to your city all accredited to the author of course.
Photo info: saddest bike in world no. 2 by only alice.
3 comments:
I'm not sure I understand the point of stolen-bikes.org.
Are pawn shops supposed to check it when they buy a bike from someone? (If you report your bike stolen to the police, they add the serial number to an existing system.) Is is supposed to enable law enforcement officers to locate the owner of a bike if it's recovered? (Isn't that what the National Bike Registry is for? How does a post on a Web site prove ownership?)
Don't get me wrong; I'm all for anything that helps lost bikes and owners reuinte. It just seems like the only thing this site does is allow someone to whine about a lost bike.
Thanks for the inquiry. We are in no way associated with any law enforcement or recovery programs. The sites main effort is to promote theft awareness in the given area. People see the where, when, and how someones bike was stolen and then can make a more informed decision about locking up. The more people from a given area that visit the site, the more eyes are available in case the bike is spotted somewhere. Bike theft WILL happen, but an informed cyclist can highly reduce their risk of being a victim.
Things have progressed with the Internet since 2006. Now there are several PROACTIVE (and free) Global public Bike Registry services available on the net.
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