Last month during Interbike, we posted about the partnership between Kryptonite and Bike Revolution that provides a 2D barcode to register and identify bikes. The service, expected to be available soon, keeps getting better, especially for anyone who worries about their bicycle. Bikerevolution.com has now redesigned its site with more facts and included new pages of information on this helpful service. There are now detailed pictures and written steps that take you from going to the store to get your 2D bar code to registration and playing bike detective with your cell phone out on the street. There will always be bicycle thieves out there, but this is one way to help you get back your ride after the worst has happened.
Tag: Bike Revolution
Interbike: Kryptonite, Bike Revolution Create Groundswell Around Stolen Bikes
A bike shop owner we know in Harlem once saw one of his bikes ride by him. The bike had been stolen a year or two before the sighting. He grabbed the cyclist and learned the beat up yet high-end bike was just purchased for a suspiciously low sum of money and reclaimed his old friend. We know a few other people who have reclaimed their bikes from thieves, but it’s an action that needs to be undertaken with caution.
We advise you use caution when recovering your stolen bike, but some precaution and active social measures make finding your bike a real possibility. Kryptonite and Bike Revolution both teamed up to apply social networking to crowdsource the recovery of stolen bikes. Register your bike on U.K.-based bikerevolution.org with its make and serial number, it’s free. To take precautions a step further, purchase a Kryptonite Bike Revolution Bicycle ID Kit that includes anti-theft Pulse ID tags.
The kit includes a Pulse ID tag, a unique, tamper-resistant, weatherproof ID tag with its own QR code so anyone with a mobile phone and a downloaded program can scan and identify the tagged bicycle. The scanned tag links to the bike in Bike Revolution’s secure database, which tracks the status of the bike. If a bike is listed as stolen, Bike Revolution publishes information on the bike on its site and uses social networking tools to mobilize the community to search for the bike. Localized Stolen Bike alerts are sent to Bike Revolution’s followers on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Alerts are also sent to local authorities, bike shops, cycling clubs and other groups to be aware of the stolen bike.
That same Harlem shop owner has a bulletin board for community announcements but only posts his employee’s bikes for sale, and occasionally a trusted seller. He’s leery of helping sell a stolen bike. The Kryptonite Bike Revolution Bicycle ID Kit is somewhat like a community watch group to help find your stolen bike, but prevention is your first line of security. We still advocate locking a bike when leaving it unattended. May we suggest one of Kryptonite’s bike locks?
Bike Revolution official website and Twitter.
Kryptonite Locks official website and Twitter.