thdave

I'm looking for some advice.

Our facility recently purchased a dozen utility bikes for employees to ride from building to building, to reduce parking and traffic problems. These were to replace some old bikes that were no longer useable. Now we've got the bikes in but don't have any ID for them. We have them tagged, but that is just a small metal bar code.

I think we need to make up some plates with the company name and building code on them. I want to permanently afix the plate to the bike.

Any suggestions?

tsl

I saw on another forum and guy who found custom license plates on eBay of all places. You might try searching there.

wahoonc

Permanently affix...we sprayed numbers on rear fenders with stencils, riveted plates on the head tube in lieu of head badges, wired small metal plates on the rear seat stays above the brake bridge, and kept locks on all of them to prevent "borrowing" FWIW all of the plant bikes I have been involved with are inside a secured fenced area where the only access is thru the guarded gate(s) Depending on your industry and equipment RIFD's are an option too.

Aaron

thdave

That's our situation. The bikes are tagged as company property. The facility, which has about 100 buildings, is secured at the perimeter gates.

wahoonc

Another thing I have seen done at the facillity that I am currently at is they purchase bikes in different colors. Certain colors belong to certain divisions, if you spot a gray bike in the back of the plant chances are it has been "borrowed" If you find a blue one up near the front gate? Ditto. I am an onsite contractor so my bike is different from everyone else's, however that doesn't mean it won't get borrowed if I forget to lock it. FWIW the plant has primarily Worksman bikes and Trikes, I ride a POS new Huffy Cruiser from WM... but it looks good!

Aaron

istomtom

Use something that bolts onto the headtube? It's not easily removed unless you've got the right wrenches. Assuming the headset is threaded and not threadless.

You could also rivet something on, would only involve drilling small holes which wouldn't be a detriment to structural integrity of the frame. Could even do this on the handlebars if you don't want to drill the frame.

The RFID tag is an interesting idea but in practice only useful if you've got RFID readers everywhere.

Nightshade

Yep, there is but one indisputable way to affix ownership and department assignment.

WELD a steel plate to the cross bar with the info either written in weld or drilled holes.

My company did that and lost not a single bike after they did. It may be crude but it is 100%
effective.

Zeppole

Hi ute all(sorry...couldn't resist). Zeppole here, new to posting. Have a swiss army bike myself. You know ThDave, if you're not overly concerned with loss and just want to tag the bikes you could do numbered leather mud guards on the fenders. An identifying code could be burned into the hide. Just a thought. Salud!! -- Z.

wahoonc

They are well in use in several industries. We just spent a sizable sum to RFID our safety equipment. It costs over $250 average per employee to provide the necessary fall protection equipment, it was costing us a lot in manhours to track and keep the stuff straight by reading the analog tags. One of our suppliers suggested the RFID and so far it has worked very well for making sure that everyone is using their equipment and not someone else's. Also had a recall on one specific piece of equipment last month, with the RFID we programmed the series into it, hit the job sites and found all but one piece in less than 2 days. Pretty decent when you consider we are strung out over 5 states and about 12 job sites. The missing piece is assumed missing and the person that it was issued to will be receiving a bill and a pay check deduction.

Aaron

istomtom

The point is it's not worth the cost for bicycles.

Plus it provides no visual identification system so they'd likely have to still do something visual as well.

kevbo

Most any trophy shop could engrave you some nice brass plates

wahoonc

Depends on the situation. The RFID tags run under $5 a piece in bulk the reader(s) we use are in the $300 range, but they are also used for other items besides the safety equipment. So for the price of a basic bike you can track the entire fleet, if you choose. If the system is set up and maintained correctly you can tie all types of information to a single RFID tag, things like who it was issued to, when it was purchased, when it was last serviced, recalls become easier, etc, etc. BTW the tags we use are rated for extreme conditions ie; outside job sites, with temperature extremes as well as being completely submersible. There are a lot of different readers available too.

Aaron

cman

Not my bike, but this bike came from a factory. It has the extra plate and weld name on it. Somebody on another board redid it.