We are partnering with the online service Bike Index to offer bicycle registrations for free.
Help reduce bike theft in the Bay Area by taking a few minutes to register your bikes with Bike Index using the form below, or directly on the Bike Index website.
Then visit BikeEastBay.org/theft for more tips on locking up your bike, secure parking options in the East Bay, and resources for recovering a stolen bike.
Where is my bike’s serial number?
Usually underneath the bike, etched into the frame between the pedals. Photos of where to look on your bike are posted at BikeIndex.org/serials.
Why should I register my bike?
Stolen bikes are recovered frequently around the Bay Area, but the bike shop, advocacy organization, or other group that finds it won’t be able to find you and return it without your registration on file.
Cities will also take bike theft more seriously when they are aware of the scope of the problem, but it is very hard to make a stolen bike report if you don’t have the serial number, description, and/or a photograph of the bike.
Are bike registrations required?
Yes in some California cities, no in others. Click here to find a list of bike registration requirements for every East Bay city, as well as an explanation of why Bike East Bay advocates for free, optional registrations, but against requirements.
If your city does have a registration requirement, we recommend using that as well as the free, online Bike Index registry. If you are interested in petitioning to remove the registration requirement in your East Bay city please let us know.
Why Bike Index?
Bike Index is a non-profit, free service with over 346,000 registered bikes and nearly 1,000 community partners. Their bike data is open source, so if you register your bike with Bike Index the info can populate other online registries as well, increasing the reach and the likelihood of your stolen bike getting back to you.
It takes just a minute, so register your bike today. If it is ever stolen you can then mark it as such in the Bike Index database which will raise a red flag in any system that ties into this database. Your personal info is kept separate from the bike info you provide, so individuals can still look up your bike’s info without any security issue for you in case, for instance, they are searching to see if a bike they see for sale online is listed as stolen or not.
Want to learn more? Sign up for a free class at BikeEastBay.org/education.