Indelibly ID Your Bike

BTB brought you news of anti-theft dots back in March. Apparently the trend of slathering one's possessions with microscopic identifiers is catching on across the pond as well. German startup Bike-ID is a bike registry that encourages registrants to (1) mark their rides as registered with a security sticker and (2) apply micro-tags liberally.

A Bike-ID "marking kit" includes 300 titanium micro-tags, each the size of a sand grain and all bearing a serial number unique to the registrant. The micro-tags are suspended in a glue that cannot be removed from the bike—such is the claim, anyway—without seriously damaging it.

Marking kits are available for pre-order now.

"The bike to conquer them all"

Had I not already maxed out my apartment's bike storage capacity, I'd be sorely tempted to back Boston-based Fortified Bicycle's latest Kickstarter campaign. I like that they've designed a bike specifically for riding around pothole-ridden, inclement-weather-plagued cities teeming with would-be thieves. Available in single- or eight-speed (the latter model with disc brakes). Check it out: