[Closed] Why no serial numbers? (nicked bike content)

Because no one thinks theirs will be the one that get's nicked and bothers to write it down.

Either that to avoid alerting the thief to the fact that if they sand it off they'll get away with it.

People don't know them.

Sometimes it can also be very difficult to read on the frame. I take photo when I buy a bike.

Because no one thinks theirs will be the one that get’s nicked and bothers to write it down.

I can sort of get that for individuals but then surely a bike shop will have all the serial numbers on a manifest even if they didn't take the time to write them down?
Plenty of £5k bikes getting nicked as well and unless they do their own full service surely whoever does their service would have the serial #?

Either that to avoid alerting the thief to the fact that if they sand it off they’ll get away with it.

Dunno more probably perhaps? I don't check actual serials when I buy a frame/fork/shock (to tell if they are stolen anyway) but if they were filed off that would be a huge clue to alert "someone"???? but I do check to make sure the MY etc.

Just wondering really, I see "hundreds" of nicked bike posts on FB for example but yet to see one with the serial (as far as I remember) ???

Plenty of £5k bikes getting nicked as well and unless they do their own full service surely whoever does their service would have the serial #?

Admittedly it was back in the day where FS was rare, HT and rigid were common, but I never read a single serial number in my time working in a shop, putting together many many new bikes, servicing bikes the rest of the time.

I can see your argument re. model year though for things like bearings, but if I were to be ordering bearings I'd put the SN in, order bearings, and forget the SN. It wouldn't go in a list of serial no's. Plus if you did a few sets of bearings, you'd want to keep the kits in stock, and then you just look to see you have all the right parts, never bothering to check the serial no.

I have photos of the serial no's of most of my bikes, but I'm not sure it would help to locate the bike if I shared it on social media.

i cant imagine someone buying a bike with a filled off frame number. Unless you were a lowlife and then you already know its nicked.

I thought there was a central database for this sort of thing. ?

Like HPI checks for bikes. If you start to tell people they will loose all their money if its found then people will be more aware.

Spot checks at trail centres?

although interestingly my serial number was a sticker thats now come off!

According to BikeRegister serial numbers aren't necessarily unique, which I can believe, maybe they are across a bike brand or maybe a particular bike but not overall.
There is no national database onto which numbers just get logged, that's why after having our old bikes nicked I stumped up for the marking kits from BikeRegister for the new ones. So, now they all are logged and their numbers are unique.
It'd be pretty obvious if the markings were filed off somehow because they're both quite long and in our case on very noticeable parts of the frame.

Admittedly it was back in the day where FS was rare, HT and rigid were common, but I never read a single serial number in my time working in a shop, putting together many many new bikes, servicing bikes the rest of the time.

I can see your argument re. model year though for things like bearings, but if I were to be ordering bearings I’d put the SN in, order bearings, and forget the SN. It wouldn’t go in a list of serial no’s. Plus if you did a few sets of bearings, you’d want to keep the kits in stock, and then you just look to see you have all the right parts, never bothering to check the serial no.

I have photos of the serial no’s of most of my bikes, but I’m not sure it would help to locate the bike if I shared it on social media.

I'm thinking forks and shocks as well. At least with RS the serial is needed to check any service kits etc. (Fox you just use the model 'number') and I presume when I send for a full service the company keeps the serial for warranty reasons.
I'm not thinking a mechanic would specifically write down a serial number in a LBS but a filed down absence would be more obvious ???

Spot checks at trail centres?

By who? Boris' 20,000 new police officers?

my serial number was a sticker thats now come off!

Surely that was in addition to the stamped in serial number?

I've seen a few new bikes with sticks for a) ease of reading, and b) so you can peel it off and stick it somewhere. I've never seen a bike without a permanent stamped number.

We had a customer in one day asking for the serial number of his bike. Told him where it would be.
No, no, I want YOU to tell me the number - my bike has been nicked and the police won't do anything without the serial number.

Ah.
Yeah we had no record of any serial number of any bike. He went mental. In the end Evans gave him a free bike to make him go away and also changed their sales policy so that all staff had to write the serial number of the bike onto the sales receipt and the special Evans "how to look after your bike" guide that came with each one.

my serial number was a sticker thats now come off!

Same on my carbon CX. Sticker so faded from mud, cleaning etc and there's certainly no printed/stamped marking on it anywhere. I did take a photo of it when it was new.

see the odd ad' that includes the comment "original invoice available" which makes some sense to me
not sure what getting at...is this a suggestion that all ad's should contain serial numbers so owners can search for their stolen bikes ?

I thought there was a central database for this sort of thing. ?

Nope, nothing.
Firstly, who's going to pay for it all? The bike companies aren't interested in collaborating across dozens of different sales regions to record and register serial numbers. There's no bike version of DVLA to coordinate and manage it all. It's not a political priority to try and force that.

Bikes can be mixed and matched in half a day with little more than a set of Allen keys so even a set of serial numbers isn't that much use if the bike has been given new forks, wheels etc and changed its appearance enough to pass casual exam.

not sure what getting at…is this a suggestion that all ad’s should contain serial numbers so owners can search for their stolen bikes ?

Not a bad idea ... but I was more wondering why when someone has had a bike nicked they post "Stolen bike" and don't post the serial numbers, especially rare bikes where its likely to be seen if anyone tried to use it in the UK.

One of my kids insta followers had a Propain Yuma nicked. There can't be more than a few handfuls of them in the UK and even less in that colour.

In the end Evans gave him a free bike to make him go away and also changed their sales policy so that all staff had to write the serial number of the bike onto the sales receipt and the special Evans “how to look after your bike” guide that came with each one.

Again seems pretty sensible.

Bikes can be mixed and matched in half a day with little more than a set of Allen keys so even a set of serial numbers isn’t that much use if the bike has been given new forks, wheels etc and changed its appearance enough to pass casual exam.

Yes but then how to sell the forks and shock? I'm not going to buy either without the serial #

I can speak for experience and say the some shops do record them - I used to work at Edinburgh Bicycle a long time ago - scruffy urchin came in trying to sell us a bike that was clearly nicked. Persuaded him to hang around for a bit on the pre-tense we were checking the bike out to buy it.

Checked frame number, rang customer name it matched with, the said yes its just been stolen. Rang police. Got scruffy urchin downstairs into workshop. Police turned up shortly after, nicked him.

That wasnt the only time it came in useful in similar ways either.

Customer chuffed to bits and had their bike back the same day.

Scott bikes come in boxes with 3 handy peel off barcodes on the bike mode label.
The barcode is also a sticker on the BB shell but can be peeled off. Fortunately they also use a 4square type code that's under the clearcoat on the carbon bikes and there's another serial number hidden inside the frame.

When we get our bikes, we pull and file the peel off stickers from the boxes.
It would be down to the shops if they do the same because obviously the box doesn't get passed to the customer. I'm pretty sure walleaters shop do as their prebuild process is surely one of the best and most detailed I've ever heard of.
Whilst the scott Canadian distributor know 'what bikes' have been sent where, they don't know 'which bikes' so they aren't recording serial numbers.. but they could easily by scanning the unique barcode at the point of shipping. But, that's not really their responsibility.
Shop, owner and subsequent owner(s) should know really.

Project 529 obviously prioritises serial numbers.

[Goes to garage to record the other bike serial numbers :/]

Because the Serial No is only any use to confirm that the bike that has been located is indeed the bike you're looking for?

WRT serial numbers, I take photos of a new bike, including forks, maybe I should put in in a document on the cloud just in case.

Also, BeeLine bikes in Oxford (think they've closed now) definitely did take note of the serial number when I bought a complete bike there - they wrote it on the receipt and handed it over to me.

Because the Serial No is only any use to confirm that the bike that has been located is indeed the bike you’re looking for?

Maybe though say you saw a bike with an obviously filed off serial # that matched one you knew was nicked it would IMHO make you more likely to check with the owner/call police?

WRT serial numbers, I take photos of a new bike, including forks, maybe I should put in in a document on the cloud just in case.

I stick everything in a big digital post-it on the cloud/phone.... from shock settings to serials, bearing sizes etc. It's not organised very well but I can find anything pretty quickly when I need it.

YellowJersey who insure my bike, when I enquired why they didn't want the serial number their response was "unlikely to get it back so don't worry about them, just as long I have the original receipt that all that matters"