GraysonPeddie

Has anyone registered their bikes at bikeregistry.com? It's an important factor to help get your bike recovered.

Also, check out this product: The BikeRegistry Security Chain

I've been thinking about getting this right after I register a trike (when I get one).

Seamless

My bike is registered, but fortunately no need for it (so far).

lahargis

I am registered. Hopefully, I wont need it.

jon-w9

I just found out about it. I missed out on the free stickers with registration last week.

Now I may wait and check back for the free offer again.

xenologer

I'm not seeing how this registration service is useful.
There's no guarantee that anyone buying your stolen bike will know what the sticker means, or even care.
Since its a private registration system, I doubt law enforcement will pay it any mind either if your bike somehow reaches them.

The entire system is dependant on the assumption that the person in possesion of the bike is honest, and inclined to lookup the numbers on the stickers; considering the bike was stolen, how likely do you think that is?.

Seamless

I don't recall seeing anything about there being a guarantee. Even city registration programs with local police don't provide a "guarantee."
Wider registration might help to recover a stolen bike, perhaps valuable enough for the owner to want to recover it rather than have to buy a new one. A resale shop, police impound or bike repair shop might notice a sticker (or obvious destruction if removed) and make an inquiry (cf. Apple repair shops routinely check a database for reported stolen notebook serial numbers), or since there's always a possibility that a stolen bike will be used near where it was stolen, if you or alerted friends see the bike you could quickly prove the rider is not the owner after summoning police.
Or do you have some reason to believe registration actually would make recovery more difficult?

xenologer

Nope, it just seem to me like there'd be no effectiveness, thus not worth the money.

The example of Apple repair shops checking serial# is nice, but sadly bike repair shops and pawn shops don't do this... bikes being too common and not-proprietary tech to have an equivalent to 'Apple certification'.
I suppose thats what this particular program is hoping to achieve, but sucess depends entirely on shops adopting the policy, which I'm having trouble seeing considering how many shops and flea markets and craigslist...

I don't do city registration either for much the same reason...