Recovery stories

My bike has been recovered after 3 months gone! A huge Thank You!!! to Mark at Pine Mountain Sports in Bend, who spotted it on craigslist, and for the amazing work of Officer Tim Williams of the Bend Police Department for his diligence and perseverance in locating it and seizing it from the perpetrators!! It takes a village and I am forever grateful!!!! translated from English

Annie Bike recovered 2016.10.28

A Bike Index member spotted it across the city - where I never would have found it - and when I went to the location he saw it at, it was still there and I was able to recover it from the thief. translated from English

Adam Bike recovered 2016.10.25

Some guy found it in the bushes, looked all over online. Was unaware of Bike Index and contacted local PD who got a hold of me while I was touring route 66. Came home reunited. translated from English

Anthony Bike recovered 2016.10.25

A police officer found my bike behind an abandoned hose a few miles from where it was stolen. He found the bike on bike index immediately after he had recovered it! I had filed a police report at the same time as reporting it as stolen on bike index, but the poliece report for whatever reason, bid not show up yet on his serce, he did not even know I had filed one yet! He gave me a call using the bike index info, and my bike was back with me within a few hours of being found, Amazingly fast! It was not unscathed however.... They decided it needed an upgrade, so spray painted it grey! I've got to give the guy credit, he tried really hard to do a good job, removing the wheels, taping off certain parts to attempt a cleaner look and preserve the RALEIGH logos! He scratched off the part of the saddle that said "lady", swapped my pedals out with some sweet retro platforms, and added a sturdy water bottle cage and headlight. All in less than 24 hours! I feel so fortunate to have it back. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! translated from English

Cari Bike recovered 2016.10.25

Thank you to those who are in the bike community and KNOW when they see something that doesn't add up and take the time out of their busy day to take action!!! I am amazed and impressed. We couldn't have recovered all THREE bikes without your help. translated from English

Michele Bike recovered 2016.10.25

Someone "found" it and brought it to a local bike shop for service. Shop owner recognized it from a facebook forum on local stolen bikes. translated from English

Mike Bike recovered 2016.10.22

A city bus driver who rides a Surly noticed it laying in the front yard of a house in a part of the city where peeps generally do not own road bikes. He went to our local bike shop and with their assistance and the police recovered the bike. translated from English

Mike Bike recovered 2016.10.22

Bay area bikes called me, saying that someone had brought in the bike for work, and saw it listed stolen in the Bike Index. I confirmed the bike stolen, and forwarded receipt information. An Oakland PD officer later called me to confirm receipt, and theft details, and returned my bike! translated from English

Jeff Bike recovered 2016.10.21

Thank you Bike Index and thank you PSU Bike Hub! A watchful eye of fine people brought this bike home! My bike was stolen out of a secure parking lot downtown. Surveillance video shows three people entering the parking garage in the middle of the day, two people hide under a staircase and shoot up, while the third cuts my lock and walks away with my bike. I get a call from Clint at the Bike Hub at PSU telling me that they found my bike and campus security have detained the perp and police were on their way. I called the officer who I just left to alert him to the situation and walked to PSU. There it was. There was my bike and the poor addict who stole it. The same kid who was seen in the parking garage the day before. It was covered with a bit of electrical tape and missing the bike bag, but it was back! Thank you Bike Index. If it wasn't for you, Clint at the Bike Hub would have no resource to use when he saw something that looked odd to him. He was able to pull up the index, see my report, alert security, stop a thief, and call me for the recovery! I recommend everyone register your bike with the Bike Index and get a proper lock!! translated from English

John Bike recovered 2016.10.21

Police called after checking registration on Bike Index, found at a home with multiple other stolen bikes. translated from English

Eric & Christine Bike recovered 2016.10.17

Bike was found with Bike Index assistance translated from English

Phillip Bike recovered 2016.10.16

I was at CicLAvia, Los Angeles’ quarterly bike festival, and I saw the thief riding my bike. I followed him and flagged down police and they arrested him. translated from English

Geoffrey Bike recovered 2016.10.16

Bike shop checked the Bike Index registry while doing repairs and called. translated from English

Terry Bike recovered 2016.10.14

Portland Transit Police spotted at Gateway Transit Center and checked serial number on the Bike Index. translated from English

Dan Bike recovered 2016.10.13

An off duty cop found it in a homeless camp in the city and used Bike Index to contact me. translated from English

Capri Bike recovered 2016.10.10

A good samaritan found the serial on Bike Index and contacted me, as well as the RCMP. In the end, I got it back! translated from English

Matthew Bike recovered 2016.10.9

Police found it and matched it on the Bike Index! translated from English

Raffaela Bike recovered 2016.10.8

Someone said they found it, kept it for 6 months, then saw it on the Bike Index and returned it. Thanks Bike Index! translated from English

Nick Bike recovered 2016.10.6

San Francisco Police Department found bike in a park with thieves and searched the serial number online and found that I had listed it on Bike Index as stolen. translated from English

Jared Bike recovered 2016.10.4

Sumner Police Department found it Sept. 29 being ridden in the Fred Meyer parking lot on Sumner. Couple questions later and a check of the serial # on Bike Index and I get a call that they've got my bike for me! translated from English

Preston Bike recovered 2016.10.3

The bike showed up at a flea market. Another cyclist bought it, looked it up on the Bike Index, and contacted me! translated from English

Andy Bike recovered 2016.10.3

Police found bike in an abandoned house and looked it up on Bike Index translated from English

Frank Bike recovered 2016.10.3

Someone found it at a local pawn shop 2 years after it was stolen and id'ed the serial thanks to the Bike Index :)! Police are investigating! translated from English

Hugues Bike recovered 2016.10.3

ID'd on the Bike Index and recovered. translated from English

Conrad Bike recovered 2016.10.2

Bike Index user spotted it for sale in PPB auction, recovered. translated from English

Bryan Bike recovered 2016.10.2

My bike was stolen and came up for sale on Facebook on the 5th. I noticed it yesterday and was able to bait them into taking to a bike shop to get checked out. They confirmed it was my bike, we called the cops, the bad guys ran away, and I have my bike back. Hopefully, that's the end to it and there are no repercussions. translated from English

Bryan Bike recovered 2016.10.2

Someone contacted me through this site to let me know they found it in their complex. If it wasn't for your site I don't know if I would have ever gotten it back. translated from English

Karen Bike recovered 2016.10.1

Someone tipped me off that it was at a certain address. I found it there, called the cops, and they searched the yard, gave my bike back to me, and seized other stolen bikes from the yard. Thank you Bike Index and good samaritan tip person! translated from English

Paul Recumbent recovered 2016.9.30

Twitter users noticed bike in possession of a shady looking guy in the Bayview neighborhood of SF, identified it from the Bike Index and posted it. SFPD Bayview station were notified and made the recovery. translated from English

Beaudry Bike recovered 2016.9.29

Bike mechanic at SF Caltrain thought it looked suspicious. Looked it up on Bike Index and called me! translated from English

Sean Bike recovered 2016.9.29

A really rad member of the Portland community saw my bike and contacted me through Bike Index. I had my bike back an hour later--I've had this bike for 14 years, so I'm really happy to have it back! Bryan w/ the Bike Index team was super helpful with keeping me up to date throughout the 4 days it was missing. Thanks to the entire team, and all of the people of Portland who helped return my bike to me! translated from English

Sam Bike recovered 2016.9.28

A neighbor told the family who found my bike about Bike Index and they looked me up! My bike had made it all the way across town. It was such a good surprise and a good story. translated from English

Katie Bike recovered 2016.9.25

One of the Bike Index users found it, restored it, and returned it to me. translated from English

Elisha Bike recovered 2016.9.24

The detective matched my bike on the Bike Index. translated from English

Chris Bike recovered 2016.9.23

George at Bike Nuts in Lynnwood, WA bought from some thieves and found it listed on Bike Index. translated from English

Tom Bike recovered 2016.9.21

Someone from Bike Index notified me of a posting on Offer Up. I then coordinated with local police and setup a sting and got my bike back. Thank you Bike Index for your thankless work! translated from English

Erik Bike recovered 2016.9.20

A woman contacted me after discovering that bike someone was trying to sell her was my stolen Bianchi. She looked up the serial number on the bike index and found me! translated from English

Shelby Bike recovered 2016.9.19

Returned by someone who ran the serial number on Bike Index translated from English

Timothy Bike recovered 2016.9.18

Park police found my bike abandoned in a park and looked it up in the Bike Index database and reached out to me via email. translated from English

Casey Bike recovered 2016.9.16

Found it on the French equivalent of Craigslist and contacted the police. translated from English

Matt Bike recovered 2016.9.14

Someone came into Kozy's Cyclery to get the spokes fixed after they were cut (being stolen). The mechanic thought it looked fishy and looked up on the Bike Index and saw my posting. They called the police, the police called me and shared with me the news they found my bike! translated from English

Tessa Bike recovered 2016.9.14

The person who stole it tried to sell it on the street; the buyer, a good guy, guessed that the bike was stolen so he bought it; he looked on-line and learned that it was my bike. I presume the good guy learned traced me through Bike Index because this was the only place I posted about it. translated from English

Samina Bike recovered 2016.9.14

Found by Charlie and Cari at the Berkeley Bart Bike Station, in cooperation with Berkeley Police. Contacted me as a result of registering serial number in Bike Index. translated from English

Rob Bike recovered 2016.9.7

Web sleuthing and partnership with the Portland Bike Theft Task Force. translated from English

Paul Bike recovered 2016.9.7

Was purchased from the thief by a guy that tunes and flips bikes. Upon seeing the serial number listed on The Bike Index, the purchaser contacted me and returned the bike! translated from English