I’ve been thinking about working with my local police department and setting up a system of bike registration to keep track of stolen bikes in my area. Unfortunately, the logistics of doing something like this seemed overwhelming. I decided to search around the internet for a solution that was already established.
Before I could get too far into my research, I saw this link over at BikeTexas.org and jumped right on it. A company called My Asset Tag is offering up FREE registration with their Bike Guard service. This free registration includes FREE Bike Guard Tags to stick on your bikes.
From their site: BikeGuard™: The Free Bike Registry is a service hosted by MyAssetTag, an online retailer which makes asset tags to identify your bike in case of theft or accident. We catalog bicycles and their owners via individual numbers stamped on the frame of registered bikes. And we offer asset tags and registration for up to three bikes to bike owners across North America for free.
Of course, these will not protect your bike from being stolen. However, if there is a chance of it getting recovered by the police, these tags will make it much easier to get it back to the rightful owner.
While you are at it, you may want to take the time and record your bike’s serial number and take a few current pics of it. The number is usually on the frame, just below the bottom bracket.
Here is what the Bike Guard Tags look like on your bike:
