Dirt Treaders :: View topic - Adding ID info to your bike

There have been a bunch of bike thefts reported lately. I love my bike and would be crushed if my one-of-a-kind bike was stolen.

I've talked with a cop who told me that any description of the bike is pointless. They will never bother even taking down the brand of cranks or bars or whatever you have done that makes your bike unique. They only go by make and serial number on the frame.

One thing that he told me was that you can add your own ID to help them out. The only part of your ID that cops can access in the field is your drivers license number in their car database. Adding your CA drivers license number to your bike allows them immediate lookup in their car computer for stolen property. They cannot access other numbers such as social security or other forms of ID.

I bought a set of 3mm number and letter punches, and stamped the following onto the underside of the bottom bracket:
Line 1: CA
Line 2: N833**** < my actual drivers license number>

I have no idea if this will help recover stolen property, but the expense was minimal and it can only help. Of course this only works on metal frames, and I would never try this with carbon.

Author:	OhNooo [ Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:03 pm ]
Post subject:	Adding ID info to your bike
There have been a bunch of bike thefts reported lately. I love my bike and would be crushed if my one-of-a-kind bike was stolen. I've talked with a cop who told me that any description of the bike is pointless. They will never bother even taking down the brand of cranks or bars or whatever you have done that makes your bike unique. They only go by make and serial number on the frame. One thing that he told me was that you can add your own ID to help them out. The only part of your ID that cops can access in the field is your drivers license number in their car database. Adding your CA drivers license number to your bike allows them immediate lookup in their car computer for stolen property. They cannot access other numbers such as social security or other forms of ID. I bought a set of 3mm number and letter punches, and stamped the following onto the underside of the bottom bracket: Line 1: CA Line 2: N833**** < my actual drivers license number> I have no idea if this will help recover stolen property, but the expense was minimal and it can only help. Of course this only works on metal frames, and I would never try this with carbon.

Author:	couchracer [ Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:36 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adding ID info to your bike
I used to hide a laminated card in the bottom of the seatpost, and a smaller one folded up under the top cap of the headset. Easy to access if you get a chance to find the bike. Most shops I would hope would be honest enough to call you if they encountered the info. One of my friends even used to put a card around the BB.

Author:	OhNooo [ Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:29 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adding ID info to your bike
Hi couchracer, That is also a great idea. That helps recover the bike if it never gets into police hands and winds up at a local bike shop sometime later. That won't help at all for the police to find you if the bike gets into their hands during a theft ring bust, because the cops will never dissasemble a bike looking for hidden info. It also won't help if the thief wrenches on his bikes himself. The ID stamped into the bottom bracket will help only if the police get involved.

Author:	Mudd [ Mon Mar 30, 2015 10:40 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adding ID info to your bike
So, what do you do to the CDL stamped on the frame when you sell your bike?

Author:	evdog [ Tue Mar 31, 2015 7:48 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Adding ID info to your bike
Wait a few days, call the cops and double your profit!

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Author:	OhNooo [ Tue Mar 31, 2015 8:45 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Adding ID info to your bike
My bike is never getting sold. I'll ride it until it breaks.

Author:	k2rider [ Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:40 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adding ID info to your bike
All valid info and like you said, it's can't hurt in the long run. As a now retired officer, I can tell you the only real info that gets loaded is the database is the make, color, mens or women's and serial # if you have it. On the report, we can add whatever info we want but there's no place for it in the standard computer database. So in reality, if you don't know your serial #, you're not getting your bike back 99% of the time....even if the police do find it. To make matters worse (and better for the thieves). The courts got real picky in the 90's when somebody figured out that multiple companies were using the same serial numbers so defense attorneys were using that to get their clients off. It got so bad that the D.A. refused to prosecute most bike theft cases that were "made" on serial number info only. The amazing part is that the number of people who know their serial number is amazingly low. Easily less than 1%. We had one case down in Pacific Beach in the mid 90's where we recovered over 1000 (yes, thousand) bakes in this guys back yard. A detective, thankfully not me, had to go thru every bike and run the serial numbers that could be located. I was told that they found less than 10 owners. To be honest, they weren't high end type bikes and most owners wouldn't want a lot of the stuff back that we found. This guy was stealing bikes then changing the parts from one bike to another to change the appearance. I would "guess" that anybody stealing these high end bikes will at least go to a different area to try and sell them. I know I took 2-3 cases from MTB Warehouse in PB where they had multiple high end bikes stolen. They knew the serial numbers and I don't think a single bike was recovered. OhNooo wrote: There have been a bunch of bike thefts reported lately. I love my bike and would be crushed if my one-of-a-kind bike was stolen. I've talked with a cop who told me that any description of the bike is pointless. They will never bother even taking down the brand of cranks or bars or whatever you have done that makes your bike unique. They only go by make and serial number on the frame. One thing that he told me was that you can add your own ID to help them out. The only part of your ID that cops can access in the field is your drivers license number in their car database. Adding your CA drivers license number to your bike allows them immediate lookup in their car computer for stolen property. They cannot access other numbers such as social security or other forms of ID. I bought a set of 3mm number and letter punches, and stamped the following onto the underside of the bottom bracket: Line 1: CA Line 2: N833**** < my actual drivers license number> I have no idea if this will help recover stolen property, but the expense was minimal and it can only help. Of course this only works on metal frames, and I would never try this with carbon.

Author:	racerbill [ Wed Apr 01, 2015 2:12 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adding ID info to your bike
This is a great idea. I have a carbon bike I think I will stamp my license number on the inside of my crank arm. The dimwits who steal bikes won't think to look there.

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