BIKEBAZE in practice

Recovered bikes by region
Story	Region	Country	Mechanism	Period	Outcome
The SafeTag was still in the photo	London region	United Kingdom	SafeTag scan	summer 2025	Back with the owner
The thief looked up the frame number	Northern Friesland	Netherlands	Frame number check	spring 2026	Back with the owner
The police scanned the sticker	North Holland	Netherlands	SafeTag scan	winter 2025	Back with the owner
The bike that stood waiting in the woods	Veluwe	Netherlands	SafeTag scan	autumn 2025	Back with the owner
Scanned just before the tow	South Holland	Netherlands	Police & enforcement	spring 2026	Back with the owner
Caught out at the counter	Antwerp region	Belgium	Frame number check	spring 2025	Back with the owner
The buyer scanned and shared his location	Berlin region	Germany	SafeTag scan	autumn 2025	Back, with damage

SafeTag scan

The SafeTag was still in the photo

London region, United Kingdom

Stolen
summer 2025
Signal
SafeTag scan
Back
Back with the owner

The bike was reported stolen after it disappeared near a station. Weeks later someone was scrolling through listings on a second-hand site and spotted a SafeTag on the frame in one of the photos. The ID was still readable: the seller had not removed the sticker. That person looked the SafeTag ID up in our bike register and saw the theft report. That report made it possible to contact the owner, who passed everything on to the police. At an appointment with the seller the bike was seized.

A SafeTag visible in a listing photo is enough to make a match.

Frame number check

The thief looked up the frame number

Northern Friesland, Netherlands

Stolen
spring 2026
Signal
Frame number check
Back
Back with the owner

After the theft the owner looked into what he could still do. That is how he found our bike register: he registered his bike and set the status to stolen. Less than a day later that exact frame number was looked up, by someone who wanted to know whether the bike was known as stolen. Such a check records the location of the search, and that one led to a farm in the north of Friesland. The rightful owner went to that location, and standing there was not only his own bike but more than twenty other stolen bikes. Bike back, and a bike thief who gave himself away by sharing his location during a frame number check.

Register your frame number even after your bike is stolen: every check on it is a chance of a match.

SafeTag scan

The police scanned the sticker

North Holland, Netherlands

Stolen
winter 2025
Signal
SafeTag scan
Back
Back with the owner

The bike had been stolen weeks earlier and was listed as stolen in the register. A SafeTag was still on the frame. During a check at a suspicious location in North Holland, the police scanned that sticker. The stolen status showed up right away, together with a way to reach the owner. That let them identify the bike on the spot and contact the rightful owner.

A SafeTag works even when you are not there: whoever scans it sees the status instantly and can reach you.

SafeTag scan

The bike that stood waiting in the woods

Veluwe, Netherlands

Stolen
autumn 2025
Signal
SafeTag scan
Back
Back with the owner

Right after the theft the owner set the status to stolen. A day later the SafeTag was scanned, on a bike standing in the middle of a wood, close to the place where it had disappeared. It had been parked cold there. The person who scanned it saw the status and let the owner know where the bike was. One message, nothing more was needed. The owner drove over and had his bike back, without any police involvement. That is exactly why parking cold has become risky for the thief: the bike stands for days in a spot where anyone can scan it.

See a bike in a strange spot? Scanning takes ten seconds and can be exactly on time.

Police & enforcement

Scanned just before the tow

South Holland, Netherlands

Stolen
spring 2026
Signal
Police & enforcement
Back
Back with the owner

Enforcement was at work around a station, labelling badly parked bikes and taking them away. Part of the batch went straight to the bike depot. One of those bikes carried a SafeTag, and it was scanned briefly before being removed. The status was set to stolen, so there was immediate contact with the owner. He was able to collect his bike right there. Without that scan it would have ended up among all the other bikes at the bike depot, and the owner would have had to look for it there, assuming he had thought of going to check at all.

A scan just before the tow saves the owner a search at the bike depot.

Frame number check

Caught out at the counter

Antwerp region, Belgium

Stolen
spring 2025
Signal
Frame number check
Back
Back with the owner

Someone offered a fairly new city bike to a bike shop, to be resold as a second-hand bike. The shop inspects every bike that comes in and, on top of the usual checks, looks it up in the BIKEBAZE bike register. There the bike was reported as stolen. The shop owner told the seller so straight away. He denied it at first, but fell apart within a few questions. The shop kept the bike, contacted the owner through the register and could make that person happy with a bike that would otherwise have gone into the shop window.

Bike shops that check every bike offered to them take stolen bikes out of circulation.

SafeTag scan

The buyer scanned and shared his location

Berlin region, Germany

Stolen
autumn 2025
Signal
SafeTag scan
Back
Back, with damage

The locked bike storage of an apartment building was broken into. Several bikes disappeared and the batteries were stripped out of others. Weeks later the SafeTag of one of those bikes was scanned by the new buyers. They had bought it for a sixth of the price of a new one and wanted to know what that sticker was. With that scan they shared their location without realising it. The owner came by with his registration and proof of ownership and got the bike back. It had a different lock on it, the battery lock had been forced open and the frame was badly damaged. That explained the low price.

A price that is too good to be true usually is: check before you buy, and you will not buy someone else's bike.

The SafeTag was still in the photo

The thief looked up the frame number

The police scanned the sticker

The bike that stood waiting in the woods

Scanned just before the tow

Caught out at the counter

The buyer scanned and shared his location

Bike recovered thanks to BIKEBAZE?

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