--- title: "BIKEBAZE in practice | How stolen bikes come back" description: "Every week bikes are recovered through the frame number check, SafeTag scans and scans by police and enforcement. Read anonymised cases from across Europe and beyond." canonical: "https://www.bikebaze.nl/en/in-practice" --- # BIKEBAZE in practice Every week bikes are recovered through the frame number check, SafeTag scans and scans by police, enforcement and alert passers-by. These are a few stories from the past few years: Behind every story on this page is a real report from the BIKEBAZE bike register. The stories come from users who involved us in recovering their bike and who gave permission to share their story. Because some cases touch police investigations, we publish them anonymised., but they show what the system is capable of. 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 | All countries Pick a country to see where bikes were recovered there. SafeTag scan ### The SafeTag was still in the photo London region, United Kingdom 1. Stolen summer 2025 2. Signal SafeTag scan 3. 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 1. Stolen spring 2026 2. Signal Frame number check 3. 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 1. Stolen winter 2025 2. Signal SafeTag scan 3. 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 1. Stolen autumn 2025 2. Signal SafeTag scan 3. 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. What is cold parking? Thieves often park a stolen bike in an inconspicuous spot for a few days. If it stays untouched, there is apparently no tracker on it and they come back for it. Exactly those days are the window in which a scan can bring the bike home. 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 1. Stolen spring 2026 2. Signal Police & enforcement 3. 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 1. Stolen spring 2025 2. Signal Frame number check 3. 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 1. Stolen autumn 2025 2. Signal SafeTag scan 3. 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. ## Bike recovered thanks to BIKEBAZE? Did you find your own bike or someone else’s with help from BIKEBAZE? Get in touch and share your story. [Share your story](https://www.bikebaze.nl/en/contact) ## Run into a suspicious bike yourself? Feel free to scan or check, but do not play the hero. Communicate respectfully, avoid dangerous situations and contact the local authorities to coordinate your next steps. Always follow local law. ## Want to increase your own chances of recovery? Register your bike for free, attach a SafeTag and, when in doubt, always check the frame number first. [Register your bike for free](https://www.bikebaze.nl/en/bikevault/free-bike-registration) [Check a bike](https://www.bikebaze.nl/en/scan) [View SafeTags](https://www.bikebaze.nl/en/shop)