Do yourself a favour

And write down your damn serial #!

My good friend is an RCMP officer in surrey and is also an avid mountain biker. He always spots clearly stolen bikes underneath cracked out homeless people. When he stops them he always run the serial number and more often then not it's not reported stolen so he has to let the guy go. Now as a bike lover you can see his frustration. A few days back him and his partner were walking through a squatters village just keeping an eye on stuff and lo and behold he sees his old dj bike that he sold a few years back. He ran the serial number and of course not reported so he had to let it go.

All in all he has managed to return 15-20 bikes to their rightful owners as they DID report them stolen, and oh how sweet it was for him to be able to make an arrest and return a bike. Posting a pic of your bike on here describing it solves nothing, even if you find your bike and decide to go vigilante you're still putting yourself in danger. There's eye out there looking out for your bikes people, help them help you, its not hard. Record your damn #'s and report the bikes if the unthinkable should happen.

If writing it down seems like too big of a job, just take your phone out and snap a photo of the serial. Then you can email it to yourself with a subject 2015 V10 Serial. Bam, always have an easy to find serial number if your bike goes missing.

Engraved into the top of my work bench in the shop.

Here is a question for you tmack. If i report it to the RCMP in Surrey will VPD be able to see the report?

Engraved into the top of my work bench in the shop.

Here is a question for you tmack. If i report it to the RCMP in Surrey will VPD be able to see the report?

I'll ask but I'm pretty sure it all goes into a main database for everyone to see in law enforcement. Don't quote me though. Even so report it with the rcmp and vpd anyway just to be sure.

Is there a website to check the serial # on a used bike to confirm it hasn't been stolen?

Is there a website to check the serial # on a used bike to confirm it hasn't been stolen?

I looked into starting a website for this a couple years ago, huge pita. I guess it's still a buyer beware situation.

Is there a website to check the serial # on a used bike to confirm it hasn't been stolen?

No idea how this is updated but there is this:
http://app.cpic-cipc.ca/English/searchformbikes.cfm

No idea how this is updated but there is this:
http://app.cpic-cipc.ca/English/searchformbikes.cfm

Boom there it is. My friend just text me that but you beat me to it. Still this is irrelevant if you don't report your bikes # as stolen, can't stress it enough.

Is there a website to check the serial # on a used bike to confirm it hasn't been stolen?

you can search on the cpic website simply by entering the S/N of the item in question. if something has been stolen and the S/N reported to police it will show up on that list.

http://app.cpic-cipc.ca/English/searchformproperty.cfm

Do you guys bother with serial numbers for any components (do they even have them, I haven't checked) or just frame? I take the Kram approach, pic on cell phone of frame serial and then pikes of bike/components from various angles for insurance purposes. Store a set on the computer, email and Dropbox.

After Toronto Police busted that guy Igor with thousands of bikes in a warehouse. They started using people's photos of their bikes to match bikes to people. Apparently one bike was stolen over 4 years prior to the bust and the owner got it back.

Ever since I keep a pic of my bikes in hand and update them every few months just in case.

When your bike is stolen, it often gets parts swapped from other bikes or just parted out. A little unique sticker or mark on key parts can mean getting your stuff back.

My neighbor (Specialized sponsored rider) and I (gear whore) both had all our bikes stolen a few years back.

I spotted my wheels on Craigslist, I had unique little reflective stickers from a fishing store on them and they were visible in the photos. From that one find I ended up meeting with 3 different crackheads eventually and got everything back. The last bike was exactly the scenario above, homeless camp, cop checked the serial nimber, reported stolen, bam.

I had my serial number handy because luckily I always flip my bike over and take a cell pic of the bottom of the bb whenever I get a new bike.

I'm always surprised how many people just roll over and let things go. "Got all my stuff stolen, I'm pissed!!!" "Did you call the cops?" "Nah". WTF.

If you bought your bike at a shop, the serial number used to be recorded at purchase and kept on record. I don't know if that occurs any more or not.

If you bought your bike at a shop, the serial number used to be recorded at purchase and kept on record. I don't know if that occurs any more or not.

It did when I bought mine this year. Shop took my email / cell so they can look it up later.