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Fight Bicycle Theft With the Open Source Bike Registry
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "No one wants to buy a stolen bike, but if you see a bike you're interested in on Craigslist or at a flea market, there isn't a good way to know if it's stolen. Now Kickstarter has an interesting project that is looking for funding to expand a searchable database that will help users protect their bikes by permanently saving the bike's serial number. 'We regularly saw people trying to sell stolen bikes, and would search for the bikes online — but it was too difficult to find definitive information about them because too few people save their serial numbers,' says Seth Herr, founder of the Bike Index and lead developer of the project. Herr envisions Bike Index as a way to solve the 'awareness problem' — awareness of existing registries and of a bike's identifying information. 'A common problem when people get their bikes stolen is that it's like the first time the owner thinks about "What was my serial number?" and other details that are important in recovering a stolen bike,' says Marcus Moore. If every bike shop integrated Bike Index registration at the point of sale, that would make it easy for victims of bike theft to accurately report a stolen bike, and for bike purchasers to verify that they aren't buying stolen goods. The Project plans to collaborate with Bryan Hance, the founder of stolenbikeregistry.com, one of the Internet's first-ever registries to track stolen bikes, which already has almost 20,000 bicycles in its registry."
I was saying the same about IMSIs earlier ... we can't agree on what's the decimal separator, if today is 12/10 or 10/12, user1@gmail.com can't chat to user2@yahoo.com but somehow we'll get a reasonable percentage of the owners AND buyers to register in some specific database. Good luck with that.
Not only that but it also assumes you can't tamper with the serial and doesn't address what happens if somebody starts to spam the DB.
Bike registries make the incorrect assumption that people buying stolen bikes don't want to buy a stolen bike. They want a cheap bike and know that stolen ones are the cheapest.
If your bike is stolen by someone dumb enough to sell it as-is, this would work great. But most bike thieves dismantle it, shuffle the parts, repaint everything, and file those numbers off. How will a registry help you then?
please grab hotbikes.com as well
it's obviously stolen. Agreed, this won't help the parting-out, but if it makes the frame unsellable, that's a hit to the thief.
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
I somehow suspect that the kinds of people who may accidentally buy stolen goods aren't the sort who would think to check a registry first to see if the goods they wanted to buy were actually stolen... and those who would do it deliberately wouldn't care.
For what it's worth, most stolen bikes have their serial number filed right off anyways... so it's not possible to check them in the registry. Of course, one can just refuse outright to buy a bike that they can't read the serial number of, but I suspect that people who neglect to do this may fit into the above category of person anyways.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
that every bike ad include a serial number, and have a link to the database at the top of the Bikes for Sale page. Tampering would not be easy,SNs are stamped into the frame. Spamming the DB could be a problem
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
It's a good start, but it's far short of optimal.
:(
It sounds kind of like a VIN that cars have, but more accessible to the average person to check on and not as extensive.
Hate to say it, but where I live is the bike theft capital of the world.
It wouldn't do much good, unless it was on each part of the bike.
They steal everything they can, even if it's only a seat or a tire, or even the handlebars. When they have enough parts, they assemble a bike.
The chains careful people use can often outweigh the bike.
Seeing people carrying their seats or occasionally a wheel is not uncommon, and those aren't the thieves either.
So it's a good start, but there needs to be more to really make an impact, and it's going to have to include the industry as well.
Good luck.
Instead of a state-of-the-art bike with hydraulics and side-winder missiles, get yourself a rusted old beater that nobody would want to steal in the first place.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
"What are you talking about?"
"My bike was stolen, and it looked jut like the one you're riding. Let me see the serial number!"
"F off."
The UK police have regular bike registering events where you can take your bike and register it for free, otherwise the service is commercial and costs money ( http://www.bikeregister.com/ ).
Wiggle.co.uk simply put the serial number on the new bike check list which came with the bike, so all the customer has do do is keep that list, Can't say if other bike merchants do the same.
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
Just embed your iphone in the frame and use find my phone feature in iCloud.
Yeah, because the serial numbers and mandatory registrations have done so well to stop automotive theft.
I fear, we'll surrender yet another bit of privacy without tangible gain...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
A nice idea, but carbon frames don't have a stamp, or engraved serial number. It's usually a sticker, or similar, which is easily removed or painted over.
My UID is prime!
So where's the source code for the site?
Another tracking database....scumbags.
... to waste maintaining a useless database.
Some people have no clue of how real life works.
The problems and inadequacies with the system described are stated in many other posts, so I won't repeat. But I've been working on a bike theft deterrent system myself. Unfortunately, I don't feel comfortable describing my work in a public forum because my words may be used against me in court when my device executes properly. I've noticed, however, that if the case goes to a jury trial, the jury always acquits the property owner who made the booby trap. If you leave a bike poorly locked publicly in my city, someone inevitably will try to steal it. If you setup the situation, you will catch a thief in the act. If you are concerned about getting the wrong target, you can watch from a distance with a control.
(||) Nehmo (||)
Many bike companies just put them on a sticker which is usually applied to a greased frame.... After all the metal work, frame design, and painting is all done in china for 99% of the bikes from $100 huffys to $10,000 magic metal frame bikes. You are lucky if anyone in America even counts the parts in the box.
The problem stated is that bike owners never look at the serial numbers of their bike, even when they buy it. The solution involves prospective bike owners looking at the serial number of the bike when they buy it, then looking it up in an online database.
If no one cares, they're not going to start caring because it involves more steps.
The majority of people who find a $600 bike for sale for $100 won't turn it down when they notice the serial numbers are filed off, they'll offer $50 instead. And most likely get it for that.
Having some personal experience with bike theft, this is pointless. This plan relies on the premises that the stolen bikes are sold, the potential buyers give a darn that its stolen, and that the identifying marks are on the bike when it changes hands. Police don't even care no matter how expensive the bike.
We used to register bikes at the fire station in my neighborhood. A registry already exists. National Bicycle Registry Program: www.nationalbikeregistry.com/ or 1.800.848.BIKE (2453)
From time to time bicycle thieves get caught. And we really can't lock them all up for long periods due to cost restraints. A very long probation sentence with community service thrown in and the probation fees could discourage that kind of thief. For example ten years of probation with 12 hours a week of approved community service and a $100. per month probation fee might cut the mustard. Also a life time denial of a driver's license might help.
If I remember correctly, you can also get your postal code (which in the UK has a detailed granularity) painted "indelibly" on your bike.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
That no one records their serial number to begin with. I got my stolen bike back because I reported it with the serial number to the police. I keep my bike serial number with my passwords. People too lazy to do this claim that the numbers just get ground off anyway. They forget that the thieves are likely even lazier. My thief was caught on my bike while fleeing a burglary. I bought my bike from the Junk King. I checked the serial numbers with the state and universal registries. Some registries charge money that I could not justify. I am all for a free registry. My privacy concerns would limit registering a bike to only after it was stolen. That's when the serial number record matters.
No doubt, even after this is in effect, all the numerous cities will still try and suck people's blood by demanding registration fees for bikes. Even when they do nothing to recover them. ;)
After all, a bike is nothing more than a modern horse.
I'd suggest the breaking wheel for execution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_wheel.
You mean the open source shopping list?
What is to stop someone from harvesting the serial numbers of high-end bicycles at any number of public venues where cyclists congregate and registering them as their own? While it is improbable that such a person could ever claim ownership they could most certainly blackmail the legitimate owner facing having the resale value of their hi-end bike cratered by the specter of theft.
My bike has no serial. How can it get into that scheme?
Thought you were going to get all those bicycle serial numbers for free, eh?
So long as your bike looks like shit it should not get stolen. I once had a $300 bike I rolled out of Target and it was gone in less than a week. I got a beater to replace it that looked like shit, hard forks and tail, frame scratched and covered in dirt, mismatched tires and rims, etc. Little do they know the "beater", even with it's mismatched wheels and paint ground off an "aluminum" frame is worth $1,200. I've had it for years now, and I don't even lock it at this point.
Make everyone think it;s a worthless old huffy at first glance
The shop wrote the serial number of my bicycle on the paperwork. I wasn't interested until a wheel was stolen. I got a cable long enough for both wheels and started engraving the serial number into the wheels. Of course, sometimes it took too long to lock it. So I didn't and it was stolen twice. Burglars and thieves tend to be locals so a neighbourhood search for a few days, allowed me to find my bicycle again. Thankfully the white/red gradient on the frame was unique enough to be recognizable beneath a coat of cheap paint but I didn't get the wheels back that time.
1) Find target.
2) Note serial
3) Register Bike online
4) Wait
5) Steal Bike, claim its yours
6) ???
7) PROFIT!
We have a system that does that in the UK, I think the police fund it, it may even be possible for overseas people to use. You enter as much info as you have on the bike including a full component list, photos, and distinguishing features etc. not all bikes over here have a serial number so you need other info to keep a record.
if not lamest argument for open source I've seen for a while.
What next? My bathtub overflowed so here's an OSS solution?
A solution preferred for an imaginary problem. Real problem? Lock your bike away more securely.
there isn't a good way to know if it's stolen
Calling the police dept and asking isn't good enough anymore? Pawn shops have used systems like this for many, many years to avoid buying stolen stuff. I had a laptop stolen from my garage about 10 years ago and the police found it when the guy that stole it tried to pawn it and the serial number popped up on the "this is stolen, don't buy this" list.
What happens when you sell your bike but don't change the registration?