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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The police found it abandoned, called my wife (the owner) and said "we really should take this to evidence, but you live so close - how about you just come and pick it up?" She went over there and they helped her load it into the car.
Charles Recovered 2025-08-08T02:00:00-0500 translated from English
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A patrolman saw a man riding my trike in the West Sac area, and stopped him. The man said he'd bought the trike from someone else. The police then returned the trike to me thanks to my Bike Index registration.
Barbara Recovered 2025-08-07T23:00:00-0500 translated from English
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Recovered by Calgary Police Services in the early hours of Aug 7. Police were able to bring the bike back to the owners shortly after apprehending the rider. The bike is in rough shape but we are glad that it has been recovered. Thanks CPS!
Ray Recovered 2025-08-07T10:00:00-0500 translated from English
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I was contacted by the Seattle Police Department, my bike was recovered. The SPD Evidence Unit got it back to me.
Chris Recovered 2025-08-06T04:00:00-0500 translated from English
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I was riding another bike home from work. I was able to identify my bike, confronted the person the had the bike verbally. I told them I had the bike listed on bikeindex.org and had the serial number. They said they didn't want any trouble and allowed me to take the bike home.
Dave Recovered 2025-08-06T01:00:00-0500 translated from English
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I got a call from the Minneapolis Police Department 30 minutes after finishing my police report and Bike Index registry. They found my bike under a bridge, looked up the serial number and found it on Bike Index. I went from heartbroken to ecstactic in the course of an hour.
Chris Recovered 2025-08-05T23:00:00-0500 translated from English
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The Vancouver police found someone riding the bike, checked the serial number and confiscated it.
Sandy Recovered 2025-08-04T07:00:00-0500 translated from English
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Calgary police called me to pick up from their warehouse since they found it.
Ana Recovered 2025-08-02T01:00:00-0500 translated from English
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The police found it and returned it! Amazing!!!
Chris Recovered 2025-08-01T21:00:00-0500 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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