Stolen Motorcycle Registry

Interesting: LoJack's 'Hottest' Stolen Vehicle Recoveries

2010-08-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

I know, it's a press release - but LoJack does good work. They've rounded up some of their best success stories over here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lojacks-hottest-stolen-vehicle-recoveries-of-the-summer-101376384.html

My fave? "LoJack System Foils Thief Using a Fraudulent Credit Card to Rent & Then Steal Lamborghinis"

'Man discovers own stolen bike at restaurant'

2010-07-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

Rare, but it happens: Man Discovers Own Stolen Bike At Restaurant

A man at an Albuquerque restaurant noticed his stolen motorcycle in the parking lot, resulting in a suspect's arrest.
According to court records, the theft victim was walking through the parking lot of Twin Peaks Restaurant when he noticed his stolen bike.
He called police, who were able to identify the driver of the motorcycle using surveillance video.

Another motorcycle recovered thanks to the SMR!

2010-07-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last week we had our third motorcycle recovery :)

The photo on the right is of the Harley Davidson Sportster the SMR helped recover in Florida - the owner was ' heartbroken when it was stolen because my insurance company was throwing (them) through hoops.'

Without getting into the details - I'll just say here that the owner totally earned this recovery and played a huge direct role in getting this one back. While I can't always post a lot about these recovered bikes because most of the time there's still an investigation going on, some day I'll post all the details on this one. It's a good story.

Thanks to everybody who helped make this one happen - you all know who you are :)

NICB data on motorcycle theft, 2009 - Hondas and Yamahas most stolen

2010-04-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

Some interesting stats from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, taken from the 2009 National Crime Information Center data:

April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co. and Yamaha Motor Co. motorcycles were the most frequently stolen last year, as thefts dropped by the most since at least 2007, an industry group said.
...

The most stolen bikes were made by Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki Motor Corp., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. and Harley-Davidson Inc., the NICB said, citing National Crime Information Center data. Honda motorcycles accounted for 24 percent of thefts.

...

Recovery rates have declined along with thefts. Only 30 percent of the stolen bikes were recovered in 2009, compared with 41 percent in 2006, NICB data show. The recovery rate in 2008 was 32 percent.

The states with the most motorcycle thefts in 2009 were California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

Here's the full NICB release: https://www.nicb.org/newsroom/press_releases/motorcycle-thefts-and-recoveries-in-the-u-s-

Everybody meet BikeAnchor.com, the newest SMR advertiser!

2010-04-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

Everybody meet bikeanchor.com, the newest advertiser on stolenmotorcycleregistry.com!

BikeAnchor is a hardened alloy steel and chrome U-bolt system that - you guessed it, anchors your bike into the concrete to help combat theft. You've probably seen any of the numerous videos on YouTube where two guys roll up in a truck and then proceed to jack someone else's bike into the back and drive away - in these situations a BikeAnchor would have come in pretty handy.

As you know I run this site out of pocket, so every little bit helps. :)

Thanks, BikeAnchor.com!

Interesting blip re: GPS jammers

2010-03-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

Most of the motorcycle theft stories I track involve simple brute force attacks - i.e. two guys in a van, manhandling a bike into the back, and maybe a third guy with a pair of cutters to take care of any locks. More often than not people are jacking bikes with sheer brute force.

With the rise in active tracking systems for motorcycles, though, I noted this story with great interest:

Car Thieves Using GPS 'Jammers'
From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/feb/22/car-thieves-using-gps-jammers

Criminal gangs have begun using GPS "jammers" imported from China to help them steal expensive cars and lorries carrying valuable loads – and there are fears that terrorists could use more powerful versions to disrupt air traffic, a conference in London will hear on Tuesday. The "jammers" put out radio signals at the same frequency at the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, overwhelming the timing signal that in-car devices use to plot their position. That means a tracker device built into a lorry with a valuable load, or a car with an anti-theft GPS device which should report its position if stolen, cannot distinguish the correct GPS signal...

Such systems have been found in the hands of criminals arrested by police over the past 18 months, said Cockshott. The jammers could be built by a competent electronics expert, though the gangs appear to prefer to import them from Chinese makers in Shenzhen.

Sure enough, a two second search over on Alibaba shows dozens of these things available - mobile versions are going for about $30-50 a pop. Product specs show options for blockage ranging from a few meters to 1000mw long range versions that can supposedly block everything up to 30 meters.

This is not good, because it won't be long before this migrates over to motorcycle theft, too.

Wired magazine covered this story as well, and is quick to note that RF-based trackers (Like LoJack) aren't affected by these GPS jammers, but one can guess that RF frequencies are next on the hitlist.

There's a couple of demos over on youtube, natch:

This is the stolenmotorcycleregistry.com blog!

2010-03-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody, this is the blog for stolenmotorcycleregistry.com - a free resource to register and track stolen motorcycles. Stolenmotorcycleregistry.com is run by tech-savvy people who love their bikes and hate the people who steal them, and we're always working towards building a better set of tools to help combat the bike theft problem.

I'm very interested in the way new technologies and products can help combat motorcycle theft - and I'm always bookmarking or emailing people about new items or methods to thwart theft and motorcycle security attacks. This blog will track these news items, along with some of my ideas and commentary on how the internet and social media technologies can help combat the problem.

Stolenmotorcycleregistry.com - if you are wondering - provides a number of free online tools to track, list, and search for stolen bikes. People who have had their motorcycles stolen can list their stolen bike info (and photos) for free, and the data is open to the public and anyone who wants to help search for and recover stolen motorcycles. I created this website as a free way to combat the ever-growing problem of motorcycle theft, and it has grown and evolved along with some other similar websites that I run.

I'm always on the lookout for other people working on the same problem, so if you're interested in this too, please drop me a line.