It was a Tuesday night in Portland. I was visiting for a few days, had been out with friends, and grabbed a last-minute ice cream cone before the shop closed. My husband and I walked the block back to our bicycles, and I did what I always do when I walk back to a parked bike: start looking for it as soon as I am within even the remotest distance. It’s a habit that comes with separation anxiety, checking to see that it’s still there.

This time, my Bianchi D2 Cross Axis wasn’t.

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Non-cyclists may roll their eyes at the close connection that can happen between cyclist and two-wheeled steed, an inanimate object. I remember when I got the Bianchi, the first new bike I had ever bought. It was the bike that did everything; the one I chose to ride when I knew there were a few more hills involved, and I wanted to go a little faster. It was the bike that made me feel like I could do anything. It was shiny, the iconic Celeste-colored handlebar tape giving just the right amount of pop. I used to joke that she (yes, she) would get hit on when I took her out, the new set of wheels eliciting many a “nice bike!” from people I rode past.

But when I stood on that street, she wasn’t there. It was as if she had vanished, her only remnant a cut Kryptonite cable still attached to my husband’s bike (subsequently locked to a secure spot with a U-lock—making this a rookie mistake that someone like myself should have been able to avoid). I tried to take a bunch of deep breaths, but eventually the tears came.

“I know it’s just a thing. No one got hurt. But it’s my f*cking bike.”

It’s never just a thing.

The author with her bike, returned safe and sound thanks to Portland police. Anna Brones

Bike theft happens, and as any bike owner will tell you, it’s awful—and frequent. According to the FBI, 184,575 bicycles were reported stolen in 2014, and bike theft accounts for about $350 million dollars every year. However, data from the 2000 International Crime Victim Survey shows that only 53 percent of thefts are likely even reported—meaning the true cost of bike theft is much greater.

Even worse, according to Bicycling contributor Bob Mionske, only five percent of bikes ever make it back to their owners. It’s a relatively risk-free crime, which the blog Priceonomics explains is due to benefit-cost ratios that favor the thief: You stand to gain enough from stealing a bike, and lose little by getting caught, that it's worth the risk. So it’s no wonder the problem has escalated in many cities.

I wasn’t about to let my Bianchi become a statistic. Thanks to recommendations from friends, I registered my bike on Bike Index, an online database of stolen bicycles, the morning after it was stolen. The gist of the website is simple: Register your bike and enter as much information as possible, including photos. If it’s stolen, someone will know: All that information is open and accessible to police and everyday citizens alike.

This makes for an easily searchable database that’s full of information, particularly visual information. It has become an everyday resource for police departments to organizations to community members. “We make a list of the top five bikes stolen this week and we try to memorize them,” says Deputy Robert Nix, of the King County Sheriff's office, whose team peruses Bike Index regularly. “When we’re riding around and we see one we stop and talk to that person.”

Nix is part of a unit that patrols the downtown Seattle area on bicycles, making him extra sensitive to the pains of bike theft. “We kind of take it personal when bikes get stolen,” says Nix.

When I looked at Bike Index's map of bike thefts in the Portland area that was generated, the inner-southeast part of town was practically one big red blotch.

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When I got a call from Detective Fields at the Portland Police Department a week later to tell me that they had my bicycle, I asked where they found it. “In a drug house,” was the response. Fields had searched the database for a Bianchi, found mine and called me immediately. He was still at the drug house and asked me if I wanted to swing by to pick it up. He even texted me a photo of it. File under: That Time I Got a Text From a Cop.

It’s not just police officers who compare bikes against those in the Bike Index database. “I cannot tell you how many people get in touch with us who say ‘I bought this bike on Craigslist and I think it’s sketchy,’ ” says Hance. Surprisingly, even though they have already paid for the bicycle in question, “ninety percent of the people don’t want compensation,” says Hance. “Most people themselves have been victims and know how amazing it is to get one back... The whole thing works because there’s good people out there.”

If you haven’t had your bike stolen yet, chances are you probably will. “Give me twenty people and I will give you nineteen who have had their bike stolen,” says Hance. “It’s such a ubiquitous crime.” (Bicycle owners are four times more likely to have their bicycle stolen than vehicle owners are to have their car stolen.

But that doesn’t mean you have to accept theft as a fact. As anyone will tell you about bike theft, the best way to deal with it is to deal with it before it happens. Here are our top tips.

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How to Chop-Shop-Proof Your Bicycle

1. Prevent the theft entirely.

This means parking your bike in a way that deters theft: things like locking to a fixed object and always locking with an adequate lock, remembering that even cables and U-locks can be cut and sawed. You can also replace quick-release systems with locknuts to ensure that they can’t be easily removed. Remember that bike thieves are considering how much time it will take to steal your bicycle, so anything that you can do to increase the amount of time that would take will help. For example, if your bicycle is locked with a U-lock through the frame and the wheel, along with a cable attached to the other wheel, it presents a thief with a time-consuming task—which may encourage them to move on to an easier target.

2. Make your bike known.

Registering your bicycle on sites like Bike Index (or other local alternatives) with the serial number and as many photos as possible—and filing a police report when the bike is stolen—might help someone identify it and get it back to you. In fact, stop what you are doing and go do that now. Most serial numbers on bicycles can be found under the bottom bracket.

3. Personalize your bike.

Here’s one more helpful tip from Deputy Nix for when he comes across a potentially stolen bicycle: “What triggers us is the unusual things on the bike,” says Nix. That could be a strip of yellow paint, or funky handlebar tape, or a unicorn sticker. Anything that you can do to set your bicycle apart from the rest visually will help it to be matched to you.

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