Statistics suggest that cyclists own their bikes for, on average, 23 months before the lusting eyes and nimble hands of thieves get the better of bike owners. An alarming one in five bike owners have their new bikes stolen within six months; a far cry from the ten years that most bike owners expect to own their two-wheeled vehicle.
Furthermore at the time of writing, bike recovery website Stolen Bikes suggests around £105,000,000 worth of bikes have been stolen this year, with the majority of cases going unresolved. From my postcode, there were 68 incidents of bike theft in August alone with only one positive outcome from the theft.
Overall, a bicycle is stolen every minute in the UK and less than five per cent of those are returned to their owners.
As a result if you have an expensive bike, live in a high crime area or don’t have an appropriate area to store a bike, it is time for bike owners to start investing in reliable, strong bike security measures to prevent thieves from stealing your bike.
Bike storage
It is unfortunate that no lock on the market can put off a determined thief but entry level thieves can be put off by cyclists using the right lock on their bike. A D-lock is next to impossible to break with bare hands and simply won’t come apart without the use of power tools – tools which, when used, could alert bike owners thievery is afoot – so locks can be an effective, preventative measure.
In addition, locking your bike to a dedicated bike rack in a busy area covered by CCTV will also put off thieves.
One of the best ways to keep your bike safe is via a special bike storage unit installed at home. The Trimetals Bike Storage unit is a storage area bolted down on concrete that has room to store up to three adult bikes. The unit’s spring-assisted door can be locked down with a maximum of four padlocks to ensure maximum security while the fire-resistant structure ensures bikes will be protected even against the worst conditions.
Bike details
Furthermore, bike owners would do well to note down a few essential details of their bike as this can ‘drastically improve the odds’ of a bike being returned should the worst happen. Bike owners should take a note of the make and model of their bike, the frame number, any unique marks (scratches, certain parts) and photographic evidence of the bike in order to help police in their quest to retrieve a bike.
There are certain websites that can help with registering bike details – Immobilise, BikeRegister and BikeShepherd to name but three – so bike owners have a number of channels to keep their bike safe.
There are devices and websites which can help with bike theft but the most important measure is education; by ensuring all bike owners know their options when it comes to securing their two-wheeled vehicle, we can help reduce bike crime in Britain and increase the number of happy bike owners!
