[Closed] Police security markings for bikes

Used to be just stamping your postcode into the bottom bracket shell - nowadays perhaps engraving, UV pen or smar****er maybe.

They put a sticker on mine and wrote my postcode on it. It really didn't want to come off when I moved.

The Met now use some kind of UV acid etch.

If you can get it done for free I think it's worth doing, not sure I'd pay for it. I suspect it's not much of a deterrent for the scrotes that steal bikes but *might* increase the chance of it getting back to you one day

Durham police did free UV postcode marking or for £10 you cod have a a BikeRegister kit which is usually £20. At the least get the free one and check if they do the kits.

Uv pens here in Suffolk or if you pay a small fee they use smart water think that option is £20 and uv marking is free here in not so sunny anymore Lowestoft.

we have a similar thing at where i work (large university) security provide free security marking to the bike. its etched on and is a unique code which is stored on their data base along with your employee details and frame number.
i had my old hardtail done several years ago. the frame still got pinched though...from my shed!!

Strikes me as a complete waste of time. For the marking to be of any use the police have to recover the property first. That requires them to investigate the theft in the first place, and round here, there is virtually no chance of that happening, making the rest of the process even more remote

DNA, finger prints and photos from 3 angles, oh and yea, a "this belongs to ......" with a sharpie on the top tube for the bike

Job done.

Unique number stencilled onto the frame with UV paint.

Bike and contact details recorded against number.

Details on national register.

Won't stop it getting nicked but it may help me get it back. They're going to come round to my house specially to mark the other 9 bikes that we have 😳

Have you checked out the new thing called Veloeye ? I registered and just received my pack through. All free and comes with the free app.

providing people scan the barcodes to check bikes freely then looks like a pretty good setup. Specially for being free.

I'm happy with the police one. The PCSO says that they pass a UV light over all stolen recovered bikes, so it makes sense to use their system.

Some council guys in Guildford have the UV sticker kits they give away for free, as well as the transponders that go down the seat tube. Well worth a google search

Anything is surely better than nothing?
Nothing will stop a determined thief. While riding recently we found a hardened chain with padlock still locked at the side of the road. The chain had been cut with an angle grinder.
However you can increase the chances of getting your bike back by uv marking, tamper proof stickers etc.

stencilled onto the frame with UV paint.

how tough is the UV paint they use Harry? would it wash/wear off easily or is it designed to be there forever?

i presume if someone nicked a bike with such markings a respray would render the markings useless or would it still be readable?

The PSCO said it was permanent. She also said that it was a pig to get off her hands! It looked solvent based so it shouldn’t wash away and they cleaned the paintwork before applying it. A respray would render it useless, but without passing over it with a UV light you wouldn’t know it was there.

The frame number was taken and recorded as well (along with the make, model and description of the colour scheme) so if the bike was stolen and recovered they should still be able to trace it back to me.

You’re quite local to me. I’ll let you know when they are doing it again if you want to bring yours over. They said that they would arrange to come and mark my family “fleet”, but for the effort involved they may as well set up in the centre of the village and do anybody that turns up.

cool...thanks Harry!