Bike registry helps Boulder police make recoveries as Colorado thefts rise

Even with snow on the ground, you can expect Colorado bikers to pedal on, but rising bike theft in Boulder has hindered some riders like Tom McDonald.

McDonald lives in Golden, but most of the time, you can find him on the closest bike trail, except for a few days last spring when he saw his bike and kryptonite lock was gone. The thieves eventually took two of his bikes out of a cage.

"I saw that it was open, the door, and so my heart sunk," McDonald said. "I had a really heavy-duty kryptonite lock. I can't even believe they got through that."

McDonald reported the stolen property to Golden Police Department and eventually looked online to see if anyone had posted his bike.

But before all hope was lost, McDonald got a call from Boulder Police Department that his bikes were impounded at their department. His bike was registered with Bike Index, and the serial matched up with a bike a police officer had found.

BPD Evidence Tech (and cyclist) Christian Torres manages the now over 200 bikes in their impound. As bike theft rises in Boulder, she's working to get these bikes back to riders. Year to date, 656 bikes have been stolen in Boulder, that's more than all of 2023 and worth more than $1.4 million. But Torres says recovery is up too, recovering 64 (about 9 more than last year).

But in order to find out if they have your bike in the impound, her number one tip is to get it registered with the Bike Index.

"[Riders] should register their bike because it lets anyone that comes in contact with your bike know that it is either stolen, or we should be suspicious of it, or it could be us, or anybody on the street can run your serial number through Bike Index," Torres said.

While 64 recovered bikes this year may seem small, Bike Index reports Boulder recovers about 10% of all stolen bikes, which is about five times more than the national average. Torres credits that comparable success with high registration by bikers' serial numbers.

"The most common place you can find your serial number would be at the bottom bracket," Torres said.

And if it's a registered match, they can call you just like they were able to call McDonald.

"When I tell people that I got one bike back, they're like, that's unbelievable. When I tell them I got two bikes back and they were stolen separately? That's almost unheard of," McDonald said. "You can have a happy ending."

And if riders are able to find their bike online or by a tracking device like an AirTag, Boulder Police Department recommends calling officers before attempting to recover the bike themselves. BPD also recommends victims call the department where the bike was stolen from, and they can help work with surrounding departments to determine where your bike might be.