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“The police are going to work hand-in-hand with the cycling community and we’re going to make this change, so I’m really optimistic about this,” she said.

Jay Woytowich, owner of Doug’s Spoke N’ Sport on 20th Street, said only time will tell if the registry helps get stolen bikes back to their rightful owners.

“Sometimes, people … I can only guess, that they probably don’t report their bike stolen because they’re not going to be claiming insurance on it, so they feel it’s not important to report it,” he said. “But the thing is, is if somebody gets stopped with that stolen bike — no matter where it’s at or how much it’s worth — at least someone will be stopped with a stolen bike.”

Photo by (Morgan Modjeski/The Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

While information will be distributed at bike valets, the main source of information will be at Saskatoon bike stores — big and small — as merchants will also be distributing information on how to register at the time a bike is purchased.

Alyson Edwards, Saskatoon police spokeswoman, said a buy-in from the cycling community is key, as city police want to see registering a bike become a routine part of the purchase.

“We want them to help us spread the word. When you can have involvement and buy-in from as many aspects of the community as possible, it benefits everyone,” she said. “I would say this is not about stopping people randomly on bicycles to check their serial numbers, this is about somebody getting their bike back.”

Edwards explained, in many cases, police recover stolen bikes — or pieces of stolen bikes — during searches, but don’t have a good method to connect with the bike’s owner. If the person has registered their bike with police, officers would have the information on-hand, meaning the bike may be returned even if the owner didn’t report it stolen or was aware it was missing.