Recovery stories
Every one of these bikes found its way home.
Behind each photo is a rider who thought it was gone for good, and someone who cared enough to check. A shop mechanic. A police officer. A stranger who remembered an alert. This is what a free, open registry makes possible, and it's kept free by people like you.
- bikes registered, free
- 1.8M+
- stolen bikes recovered
- 18,587
- value returned to owners
- $39M+
- partner shops, police departments, and cities
- 1,800+
In their own words
Every story here is shared by the person who got their bike back.
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Thief brought it to my local bike shop and they recognized it and took it back for me!
Zoe Recovered 2026-11-02T20:50:38-0600 translated from English
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My bike has an included tracker, so I was able to get an approximate location of where it was. From there, it was just dealing with the unhoused individual who had it. After 40 bucks and some Mcdonalds he gave it back.
Genesis Recovered 2026-11-02T18:12:04-0600 translated from English
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Thanks to BTVrecovery it was found and returned to North Star Sports, who called us
Robert Recovered 2026-11-02T15:58:04-0600 translated from English
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UAPD Investigators were able to locate and arrest the thief. My bike was (luckily) dumped back on campus and I was able to recover it, and justice was served!!
Charles Recovered 2026-11-01T10:17:53-0600 translated from English
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Someone bought my stolen bike in what seemed to him like a sketchy scenario, so he looked up the serial number when he got home to discover that it had indeed been stolen. We met up at a mutually convenient location to hand over the bike.
SAMUEL Recovered 2026-10-30T19:01:46-0500 translated from English
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I made lots of posts about it (Facebook, Nextdoor, & Reddit). I included my Bike Index report in some of the posts. People from Reddit spotted it and that lead to me getting a picture of the thief. I made more posts with that picture. Then someone from the Madison Bike Community page saw my post and got my bike back from the thief.
James Recovered 2026-10-30T16:26:31-0500 translated from English
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A friend called me and said that she recovered my bike that someone left it thrown in the parking lot of the lodge. Thank God
Javier Recovered 2026-10-29T22:10:35-0500 translated from English
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Someone saw my bike hanging in the same stall over the course of a couple of weeks/months in a bike storage room at a business complex. They got curious, checked the serial number on Bike Index, found my information, and gave me a call. It was missing for 13 months, I had given up on getting it back. I'm so grateful for the person for looking out, being curious, and calling.
Marc Recovered 2026-10-29T09:36:22-0500 translated from English
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Thank you Bike Index and the BVT bike recovery group!
Ryan Recovered 2026-10-29T04:09:31-0500 translated from English
Somewhere tonight, a bike is being stolen. Help it come home.
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Every story here started with a registration.
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