Why bike identification is key to combatting bike theft!

Bike theft is a problematic high-volume crime, with upwards of 25,000 bikes stolen each year in Australia and less than 10% recovered by police and returned to their rightful owners.

Whilst some bikes are taken by opportunist thieves who steal bikes that are left unlocked or poorly locked, there is a growing trend of recidivist bike thieves who target bikes for financial gain, prowling streets and stealing high-value bikes from commercial and residential storage areas.

Whilst quality locks like the VAULT premium range - ‘D’, Folding and Chain lock when secured to a solid object, will defeat most opportunists, unfortunately, on their own, they are less effective when it comes to the recidivist bike thieves who are known to carry tools, including in some cases battery operated angle grinders that can cut through any lock.

To combat recidivist bike theft requires addressing why bikes are targeted

Targeted bike theft is fuelled by the ease that thieves and black-market traders (knowing handlers of stolen bikes) can profit from selling stolen bikes to unsuspecting purchasers, with little to no fear of the stolen bike being identified and them being caught and prosecuted by the police.

Rapid advancements in bike technology and the growth of the ‘E’ bike segment has led to ever-increasing bike values. This means greater profits for thieves and black-market traders and fuels an even stronger motivation for theft.

The cure to stopping the recidivist bike thieves and black-market traders is to make bikes too hot to handle.

Identification is the key and BikeVAULT in partnership with DataDot Technology has the ultimate solution.

Protect your bike ID and ownership with FREE registration on BikeVAULT!

Much more than just a simple database to store your bike details, BikeVAULT (part of PropertyVAULT) provides a secure free portal to comprehensively register your bikes details and ownership history, benefitting from:

• Full lifecycle digital bike identification with provenance tracking and block-chain encryption.
• When selling your registered bike, utilise BikeVAULT’s registered bike sale report that can be linked to online selling platforms.  Like a VIN check for a car, the sale report enables a buyer to conduct due diligence, and can potentially lead to higher sale price, when competing against bikes with no discernible history in the crowded second-hand market, littered with stolen bikes.
• When a registered bike is sold, the registration and logbook can be transferred to the new owner, providing peace of mind to the new owner and ensuring the bike's provenance remains intact.

In the unfortunate event of theft, BikeVAULT comes to the fore providing:

• A tailored public and police accessible stolen report designed to maximise the odds of recovery;
• Proven to work - tips, tools, and resources, to aid recovery;
• A custom stolen bike search portal for the public and police, enabling anyone in Australia to search and identify a stolen bike, regardless of where and when it was stolen and is later found;
• Social media connectivity and support from BikeVAULT’s large online community, who actively search for and report stolen bikes that are advertised for sale;
• Support from BikeVAULT's police trained admins, who are experts in bike identification and skilled in asset tracing techniques.

Advanced bike ID to combat cunning thieves

The manufacturer's bike identification frame number, whilst adequate for warranty purposes is not designed to defeat thieves and with many bikes being only a label is susceptible to manipulation. 

The photo below shows a bike seized by police that had the original frame number label removed from underneath the clearcoat and replaced with a crude fake label.  

The thieves were more brazen with this bike below, recently sold at a police auction in Victoria.  In this case, the label was painted over and the stamped in frame number was ground down, which makes it very obvious that the bike is stolen but doesn’t help to identify the bike and trace it back to the owner.

To address lacking bike identification, BikeVAULT has partnered with DataDot Technology, the world leader in advanced anti-theft asset identification solutions to develop the VAULT range of BIKE ID KIT's.

The premium BIKE ID KIT+ (RRP $34.95) sold separately and supplied complimentary with every VAULT premium lock, includes DataDotDNA micro identification, which is used globally by major car manufacturers, including Subaru in Australia and Toyota in Europe as an effective means to combat theft.

The BIKE ID KIT+ when applied and locked to a bike registered on BikeVAULT, provides OVERT, COVERT, STEALTH, INVISIBLE and DIGITAL identification to the whole bike, making it near impossible to be de-identified and easily traced by police if stolen and later found.

Take action - start protecting your bike and ownership today!

Join BikeVAULT and Register your bike for free now and consider protecting your bike further by purchasing a VAULT lock and BIKE ID KIT from one of our growing number of bike shop dealers, or from our online store.