Thoughts on police marking/registering your bike?

[Thursday guy]

Has anyone here had their bikes marked and registered by the police for extra security?

Next week I have the opportunity to get my bike marked with some special label/ink and then logged onto a register with my name by the local police. This probably helps with identification if stolen. But I'm not sure if it's worth bothering. Is the marking they put on the bike quite easy to be spotted and removed by would-be thieves?

The other thing is, what if I sell my bike to someone else in the future? I don't want this to present a hassle.

 

[vickster]

Do it. Costs nothing. I don't know why you wouldnt. Not that my marked bike was ever recovered after being nicked. No hassle if sell on, just inform bike register of legitimate change of ownership

The marking is normally done by the bottom bracket and is invisible without a uv light. The sticker is a deterrent but not obligatory. Neither are removable, notably the marking

Not a substitute for good locks however

 

[Deleted member 23692]

My bike was registered on https://www.bikeregister.com/ along with a full spec listing and photos. When it was stolen the copper who was dealing with the theft couldn't find out who in the force had access to the database, and having registered himself found that the site was blocked on their network. It didn't offer much hope.

Marking/registering offers no extra security as it will still stolen it the opportunity to do so presents itself to a thief . The benefit comes in that it will be easier for the coppers to reunite you with it should it ever get recovered.. the operative word being 'should'. It's still free so worth a punt, but don't rely on it

You're better spending money on physical security (locks etc) and being very canny where you leave it.

With bikeregister.com you can transfer ownership quite easily

 

[ianrauk]

Take a picture of your bikes serial number (usually under the bottom bracket).

 

[Drago]

Register it yourself on www.immobilise.com which is the one ACPO approve nationally. You can also buy marking kits from the site quite cheaply.

All these forces using their own local approach is well and good until your bike it nicked and turns up in the next county.

 

[sidevalve]

Don't cost nothing so why not ? Might help get it back might not but it don't do no harm. What's there to lose ?

 

[_aD]

Register it yourself on www.immobilise.com which is the one ACPO approve nationally. You can also buy marking kits from the site quite cheaply.

And download a PDF of the entry. I put a load of detail, pics and the likes on my last bike. After it got nicked I logged in and found the entire entry was gone. (Can only assume it was nicked by immobilise staff </SARCASM>)

 

[mjr]

Don't cost nothing so why not ? Might help get it back might not but it don't do no harm. What's there to lose ?

Your personal data, which will be used by the private operators and whoever buys them.

Record your bike yourself. If it gets nicked, give all the current details to the police.

Concentrate on preventing it getting nicked, as far as you feel is reasonable.

 

[brand]

Lincolnshire they will post the marking kits to you. They are invisible to the naked eye, so not sure if the post code will be legible. I put it all over the bike. Note down the serial number and the Rohloff but I keep failing to register them. You have to send a picture of the rohloff serial numbers to rohloff. Must must remember yo do it.

 

[John the Monkey]

Register it yourself on www.immobilise.com which is the one ACPO approve nationally. You can also buy marking kits from the site quite cheaply.

All these forces using their own local approach is well and good until your bike it nicked and turns up in the next county.

Exactly. I know that in the City Centre, Greater Manchester Police (hereafter, GMP) will check bikes they suspect may be nicked, or recovered bikes against Immobilise. Cheshire register with Bike Register, although I don't know how they're fixed for checking bikes with their serial numbers on.

Last time we had a talk from GMP, the only thing they thought was no good where the RFID tags - they said that the readers were expensive, and so tended to be left in the station. At the time, all city centre officers had portable UV lights and the ability to check immobilise during routine stops, so they strongly preferred UV marking and registration on Immobilise.

Immobilise allows the recording of any distinguishing markings, so there's no reason not to record the Bike Register serial number/marking on there as well.