Bike registration leads to recovered bicycle -- Have you registered your bike?

Is registering your bike
worth the effort?
Have you registered your bike?

Here's some good news we don't often hear about! Over the weekend, I read a post on Cyclelicio.us about a 10 year old girl whose bike was stolen -- and later recovered -- on the very same day she registered it.

The same day Santa Cruz Ecology Action got kids at Delaveaga Elementary School in Santa Cruz to register their bikes, a thief stole one of the bikes from a 10 year girl. When the bike was later found abandoned, police were able to return the bike to its rightful owner. 

Ecology Action in Santa Cruz are encouraging children at Santa Cruz schools to register their bikes with the city to help fight a growing problem with bike theft. After they distributed 40 registration stickers to students at Delaveaga Elementary School, a bike belonging to student Nicola Nardell was stolen out of the shed in her family’s yard. Police later recovered the bicycle — a very new looking Electra — and were able to identify the owner through the bike license.

It's great that the story has a happy ending, even if it's not so great that the bike was stolen in the first place, but it really got me thinking -- should I register my bike?

I remember as a teen, a long, long time ago, registering my bike with the Hazleton Police at a local playground. I don't remember if it cost anything, but the piece-of-mind I had that I might (might) see my ride again if the worst ever happened was worth it to me. These days, I'm not so naive. I realize the chances of recovering a stolen bicycle are very slim, but if I were to buy a bike that costs hundreds, even thousands, of dollars, isn't getting it registered a good idea?

Searching for information on bicycle registrations in Hazleton, PA didn't turn up much useful information, but I'm considering giving the police a call to see if I can dig up more information on the process. In the meantime, there's always the National Bike Registry.

The National Bike Registry offers 4 types of protection, based on lengths of time, number of bikes to be registered and whether or not your bike has already been stolen.

• $10 will cover a bike for 10 years. 

• $25 will cover a bike for 30 years. 

When you replace your current bike, contact NBR for a new label and certificate, limit one bike at a time.

• $25 Family Registration will cover up to 5 bikes at a single address. Each bike is registered for 10 years.

• 99cent Stolen Bike Registry.

You can register a bike AFTER it has been stolen. In the event that one of our participating law enforcement agencies finds it, it can be returned! (This registration is for one bike, for six months, and does not include a decal or certificate).

Then, there's MyBikeNumber.com which offers a worldwide registration for free.

Whether bicycle registration is worth the price and effort is a question I leave up to you, but if it's something you're already thinking about, why not go ahead and register?