Sadly, for most cyclists bike theft has become an inevitable part of life. Most bike owners recognise that even if they fit an expensive, hundred dollar-plus gold-standard lock to their bike, there’s a high probability that at some point their bike will end up being stolen. Globally over 6 million bikes are stolen every year. That’s one every 5 seconds.
The rise of criminal gangs, battery powered angle grinders and heavy-duty bolt cutters coupled with online sales channels like Facebook Marketplace have all driven this growth.
For the thief stealing a bike is a classic low-risk, high reward crime. A bike left unattended can be stolen in under a minute, thrown in the back on a van and sold online the next day, and whilst burglaries reported to police across Europe and US result in charges being brought in around 6% of cases, with bike theft the corresponding figure is a rather disappointing 1.2%. Police forces are just too stretched to investigate bike crimes and a general apathy across society appears to have developed in connection to bike crime.
Bike theft isn’t a victimless crime
Sadly, as in most cases of theft, bike theft tends to impact the young and disadvantaged the most, often those who rely on their bike as their sole mode of transport.
As an example, consider the impact on a fast-food delivery rider who has their e-bike stolen. In all likelihood it’s her sole mode of transport, and something she is totally reliant on for her livelihood. Despite having been the most expensive purchase she’s ever made, due to the high premiums it will probably not be insured and yet it will quite possibly be left either outdoors or in a communal area on an evening. Imagine the devastating effect the theft of such a bike has on its owner and her livelihood.
Or perhaps consider how an estimated 25% of bikes stolen belong to children or young adults. For a teenager a bike is a much-loved lifeline to independence and exploration. But these bikes are very rarely bought by pocket money. They’re a much-treasured Christmas or birthday present from loving parents or grandparents. And so imagine the hurt caused to a child when they discover their much-loved present has been stolen.
Both these cases, and countless others, just support the business case for developing a simple, affordable solution that makes bikes inherently thief proof.
The impact on society
But just as we can quite rightly focus on and consider the effect on the individual victim it would also be right to consider the impact bike theft has on society as a whole.
Firstly of course organised bike theft by gangs is often an entry point for wider crime. Profits are commonly re-invested into further criminal activities such as drug dealing.
There’s clearly a huge environmental impact when victims of theft abandon cycling in favour of driving. It is estimated that across the US and Europe 34% of the victims of bike theft stop cycling altogether following the theft of their bike.
And there’s also the lost benefits from the huge cost of investment in infrastructure. Governments across the US and Europe have invested significantly over the past two decades in building bike lanes and cycle tracks and cycling has grown from a mainstream pastime to the number one leisure outdoor leisure activity to keep fit.
But how are people supposed to embrace this new golden age of cycling when bike theft continues unchecked?
Our goal is to eliminate bike theft
We are proud to say that our number one goal has always been to find a way of eliminating bike theft and we believe that the Vélo Unique Smart Seat™ provides this. We believe that for the small inconvenience of taking the seat and seat post off when locking a bike, the bike can be made secure and bike theft can become a thing of the past.
After all, who would steal a bike you can never fit a seat on?
