Report the theft to the police
As with any theft, the first thing on your to-do list should be to notify the police. Naturally, the more information you can give them, the better. To start, they’ll want to know when and where the bike was stolen, together with all the relevant details such as the make, frame number, bike registration details and any distinguishing features. If you have a photo of the bike, we highly recommend bringing that along too. If you have reason to believe there might be CCTV footage of the theft, it’s worth trying to contact the shop owner or facility security team to see if they’re willing to share the video with you or the police.
Notify your insurance company
Once you’ve finished speaking to the police, the next step is to get in touch with your insurance company. They’ll need the same kind of information as the police, as well as details of how the bike was locked and proof of ownership for the bicycle and any accessories that were stolen at the same time. If your bike was registered with a bicycle registration company such as BikeRegister, it’s important to let them know about the theft, as well.
Mobilise the cycling community
Once you’ve reported the theft, you may want to consider mobilising your fellow cyclists to help you find your bike. If you’re part of a local cycling group, you can ask them to keep an eye out for your bicycle around town or for sale at local markets. There are also all manner of websites dedicated to helping people recover stolen bikes, such as findthatbike.co.uk and stolen-bikes.co.uk. If you’re in London, you can also consider sending a tweet to the @StolenRide community. The group will have hundreds of strangers rallying to your cause.
Do your own investigating
Finally, there are a number of things you can do that may help reunite you with your bike. You can try putting up flyers around the neighbourhood where your bike was stolen in hopes that a kind stranger may spot it somewhere and let you know. Posting in local community groups on social media is another good idea. You should also report your bike as stolen on BikeRegister. (On that note, we strongly recommend that anyone buying a bike should check the frame number against BikeRegister and other relevant databases. A bike with no frame number is a major red flag.)
Another option is to keep an eye out for your ride on online marketplaces Gumtree’s bike listings. If you live in London, then you could use speciality sites such as Bikeshd. Here you can find all new bike listings posted on both Gumtree and eBay. It’s worth remembering, however, that if you think you’ve found your bike, you should never try to recover it yourself. Instead, contact the police for their assistance and let us know if it’s been posted on Gumtree.
Hopefully, these helpful tips will reunite you with your precious ride if it should go missing. Of course, the best way to prevent bike theft in the first place is with a great bike lock. So why not head over to Gumtree and browse our selection of gold-standard D-locks so you can keep your cycle safe, secure and in your possession?
Thinking of buying a second-hand bike? Take a look at our guide to buying a bike on Gumtree.
