We recently covered the shocking number of bicycle thefts recorded in England and Wales last year – an incredible 57,153 bikes, which equates to more than six bikes every hour.
But how do these numbers compare to over the Atlantic in the USA?
We take a look at the numbers reported by Bike Index – bicycle registration specialists in North America – at the turn of the year, and it was equally eye-watering.
In total, 118,942 bikes were reported last year in the Bike Index bike registry alone, that’s just those within the companies network. For context, Bike Index now has over 1.3 million bikes registered. Outside of this, the number is estimated to be around 2.4 million adult bikes per year across America and Canada.
The figures are even more shocking when you look at the combined estimated cost of the stolen bikes … $1.4 billion!
Most notably, this number is 15% up on the previous year. And the estimates are that 40% of bike thefts are NOT reported!
What does that total number look like broken down?
- 200,000 bikes every month
- 46,154 bikes each week
- 6,575 bikes every day
- 274 bikes every hour of the day
That is nearly five bikes a minute!
Beat The Thieves
With numbers that high still, as a cyclist you will likely end up knowing someone, or worse still experiencing a bicycle theft at some point. But you can get ahead and protect your bike with a smart device like AlterLock. Fitting an AlterLock to your bike will help you twice – firstly as a deterrent upon movement thanks to the motion sensor alarm. Then, secondly, if they get away with your bike you can track the bike and device via your smartphone using the AlterLock app.