Dude where’s my bike?

According to the FBI there were 221,936 bicycle thefts in the United States for the year 2008.

A German startup, named Mybikenumber.com helps you avoid becoming one more statistic, protect your bike and track it down no matter where in the world.

Mybikenumber.com is a free service that allows you to register your bicycle world-wide. You can also register bicycle parts like frames, suspension forks, gear change and wheel hub. All you have to do is sign in and register your bike (and the components you choose) to get a unique number and a QR-Code, which you can print out and stick on your bicycle frame.

What you need to know to register your bike is the frame number, which you usually can locate under the bottom bracket. The QR-Code can be read by most mobile devices so that you can check on the spot whether a bike is stolen. You can register more than one bike and upload pictures of each bike and its parts. Once you do that you can check the status button and report it stolen, lost, or sold to a new owner. The service facilitates bike dealers by giving them a “dealer code” for all the bikes in their shop.

Through the site you can check if the bike you are planning to buy was stolen simply by entering the bike number in the search field. If it is registered on the site you can send the owner a private message to get in touch with him.

What I love about this site is the use of the QR-Code, making it so easy to check the status of a bike while on the go, just be smart about placing your ticket people, once the word about this get out, the aspiring thieves will be a lot more careful.

Keep being green and safe!