Utah State, Salt Lake City, and Salt Lake County all have ordinances requiring bicycles to be licensed. Anybody have any experience with actually doing this? Thirty years ago, you could get the license sticker at any fire station. County now directs you to a Sheriffs office. Has anybody ever heard of this law being enforced?

I really doubt most people follow through with this... but the nice thing about doing it is that your bicycle would be registered with the county/city in the event that it was ever stolen.

Do you know if anyone ever checks when a bike is found abandoned? I'm thinking the paperwork is stuck away in a file cabinet somewhere, and is never checked, or even made available to law enforcement.

I don't have any experience with this personally... but if the bike makes it back to Police hands I would hope the would follow through with their own system of being able to contact the rightful owner by means of the registration... if it's on the bike.

I really doubt most people follow through with this... but the nice thing about doing it is that your bicycle would be registered with the county/city in the event that it was ever stolen.

So they say. I registered my last road bike with SLC, and paid the fee, and was told it would make it easier to find if it was stolen. The bike was stolen, and the police could have cared less. That little number/sticker you paid extra for does no more good than the serial number already on the bike.

I'm sure some crackhead stole it (out of a pinch lock in the back of my pickup)and e-bayed it.

Do you know if anyone ever checks when a bike is found abandoned? I'm thinking the paperwork is stuck away in a file cabinet somewhere, and is never checked, or even made available to law enforcement.

Mine was registered through Guthries. They told me if it was stolen, contact them, and they would help with any information I needed about the bike. After it was stolen, I contacted Guthries, and they told me I could come in and look through their registration files by date. Um...Thanks?

I found my information, and gave put it into the police report. Cops seemed uninterested at best. I contacted them every couple months for over a year to see if anything had turned up, and they just kept telling me to keep checking.

Three years later, nothing. Like the sticker is more difficult to remove than the serial#badge?

I don't know. I was completely unimpressed.

As bike-friendly as SLC is trying to be, I could understand if the money they collected for bike licenses was used for marking bike lanes, or making bike paths, or even oiling the gates on the airport bike path. But that's not what's happening. I have never heard of the police (city or county) enforcing the "license required" rule, and I don't see how they could even if they wanted to. Would they give you a ticket if they stopped you for something and your bike didn't have a license? Or impound your bike? Would meter maids cruise bike racks and drape your bike if it didn't have a sticker? I've never had a bike stolen here, but if I did I think I could just kiss it goodbye, license or not. The whole idea seems silly to me.

How about using the money to run a sweeper down the Jordan River Parkway once a year, to pick up the goathead thorns that are all over the Salt Lake City portion?:)
My experience with calling police about an abandoned bike has convinced me that bicyclists are not a concern at all. I gave the dispatcher detailed instructions as to the bikes location, four hours later, as it was growing dark, a cop called to ask where it was. I never heard if he found it, or if somebody else picked it up. If I ever find one again, I'll hide it and come back for it later, then tell the cops about it after it's safely in my garage.
Any body have any first hand experience with the National Bike Registry? I just wonder if local law enforcement uses it.

How about using the money to run a sweeper down the Jordan River Parkway once a year, to pick up the goathead thorns that are all over the Salt Lake City portion?:)
My experience with calling police about an abandoned bike has convinced me that bicyclists are not a concern at all. I gave the dispatcher detailed instructions as to the bikes location, four hours later, as it was growing dark, a cop called to ask where it was. I never heard if he found it, or if somebody else picked it up. If I ever find one again, I'll hide it and come back for it later, then tell the cops about it after it's safely in my garage.
Any body have any first hand experience with the National Bike Registry? I just wonder if local law enforcement uses it.

+1. Also, oil the gates on the Airport Bike Path. Come to think of it, I could just do this myself with some chain lube - I'll take some with me next time I go. Something tells me the SL police wouldn't "have time" to look on the National Bike Registry if they found a bike. I like your idea of recycling a found bike by taking it home (you could advertise you found it on Craig's List or KSL, just to clear your conscious...).

I bought a bike from Gorilla (when it was on State Street between 1st and 2nd South) and it was stolen 7 or 8 years ago. They put a license on it when I bought it and I don't remember if it was because of the license or serial number, but the bike was recovered from a pawn shop and returned to me. It did still have the sticker-license on it when I got it back. So it does happen.

I can't imagine anyone would make a fuss if you rode an unlicensed bike around.

The two mountain bikes we bought last year came pre-registered from Guthries. I have never cared to register my other bicycles.

Registration good or bad may have one advantage, or ......disadvantage, we as cyclists would be counted, should we ever be recognized as tax payers it may entice gov't to spend more on our needs.

Just a thought.................