Won't Rattle as You Ride

As noted back in October 2013, my TiGr® lock is a real conversation starter. Motorists and fellow cyclists alike often ask me what it is, whether I like it, how much it cost. (Answers: a titanium bike lock, yes, $200)

Well, now the folks behind the elegant bike security often velcroed around my top tube have turned to Kickstarter to raise the funds necessary to launch a new product, the TiGr mini. They're calling it "the U-lock re-imagined." Here's the pitch:

Pledge by May 31 to get in on the ground floor.

Tackle Him!

Maybe you've come across the video while killing time online. A man in a pink shirt tears out of a house and tackles a guy on a bike. Both hit the pavement.

Here, courtesy of KEYE TV, is the story behind the viral vid:

The bike recovery's worth the "road rash," I'd say...

How NOT to Buy a Stolen Bike

What I tried to do in "Don't Supply the Demand: Vet Your Seller" back in December 2013, the folks at Bike Index (i.e. they of the serial number search widget at right) have now done more thoroughly, simply, and systematically.

Bike Index's Bryan Hance unveiled a "field guide" on Monday: How Not To Buy a Stolen Bike in Four Easy Steps. The guide presents in one aesthetically pleasing place the advice Bike Index regularly offers those looking to buy a used bike without receiving stolen property.

Check it out and pass it on. (What appears below is just the (hyperlinked) header.)

EndBikeTheft.org

That bike theft task force Portland almost launched back in February but then didn't for nebulous reasons? Well, now it's official. The City of Roses has declared its commitment to reducing bicycle thefts by 50% in five years.

The announcement of the initiative even included a demonstration of proper locking technique performed on the steps of City Hall...

Check out EndBikeTheft.org for more information.

Fortified's Got Your Back

Fortified Bicycle hasn't debuted the promised anti-theft bike yet, but, in a Kickstarter campaign launched yesterday, the Boston-based company announced its latest product: Payback. It's a "bike seat security system with a Lifetime Anti-Theft Guarantee." Yours for $25: 

Got a Mnemonic for You

This reminder courtesy of the Annapolis, Maryland, police department, which recently announced an initiative to prevent bicycle thefts: P.E.D.A.L.

That's
Photograph your bike, taking care to capture any unique features;
Engrave identifying information onto your bike frame;
Document your bike's particulars—from make, model, and color, down to frame size and serial number;
And [conjunctions get included only when it's convenient to do so...]
Lock your bike (we've been over this one).

Anti-theft Dots: "Like DNA for your property"

Marking your bike as your own in an indelible way is a challenge—serial numbers can be filed off, after all—and it's hard to keep track of bike parts, which can be stripped off a stolen frame and sold separately. Enter anti-theft dots, an effectively invisible adhesive that contains thousands of microscopic dots etched with a you-specific number. Take a look/listen:

Law enforcement in Portland has embraced the anti-theft dot technology. What about in your 'hood?

Get Thee a Warrant

A bill currently in Oregon's Senate Judiciary Committee would, BikePortland.org reports, require judges to consider "electronic location information" probable cause for a search warrant.

What's electronic location information, you ask? Imagine your beloved bike, outfitted with a tracking device, gets stolen and you're able, via an app on your phone, say, to see that the thief has stowed your ride in a garage at precisely [insert address here].

That's electronic location information.

Eugene area State Senator Chris Edwards, who has heard of cases in which bike owners tracked their stolen bikes but were told by police that the information was not actionable, introduced Senate Bill 861 to "start a conversation between law enforcement personnel and the bike community about what common practice is in situations like this."

Read more.

"Piles almost to the point of mountains"

In a mass reclamation operation this month, University of Wisconsin–Madison police confiscated 600 bicycles from a bike shop, an apartment, a storage unit, and a farm in Madison and the neighboring towns of Muscoda and Windsor.

Authorities suspect that many of the bikes are stolen, though their serial numbers may not show up in police databases because the thefts were never reported or occurred long enough ago that the relevant records have been purged. Charges of possession of stolen property are pending against two men, but, so far, the accused maintain their innocence.

Get the story from WKOW:

Launch of Bike Theft Task Force Delayed

My "bike theft" Google news alert was chock full last week of stories about a bike theft task force the Portland, Oregon, police force was, so reported the Associated Press, set to launch.

A news conference about the initiative was set for 1:30 pm on Thursday, February 26, but was postponed, The Oregonian reported, due to "unforeseen circumstances." There remain, said Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sergeant Pete Simpson, "logistical issues that need to be worked through."

Meanwhile... Here's one issue area cyclists are hoping the task force will be able to tackle once assembled: