Bend police see influx of recovered stolen bikes

Central Oregon is a hot spot for cyclists, but it’s a hot spot for bike thieves as well.

The Bend Police Department has seen a huge influx of found and stolen bicycles across the city.

The department has 100 bikes in its storage unit right now. Officials are hoping bike owners who recently had their bikes stolen might find their ride among them .

“It’s an ongoing process. We’re constantly bringing in bikes, from either recovered stolen — a lot of the bikes we get are safekeeping,” Lt. Clint Burleigh said Thursday.

Police check to see if the bikes are reported stolen through their database and try to get it back to its owner.

“The point is not to figure out who owns what bike,” Burleigh said. “The point is to figure out when we have a found property like a bike, we want to give it back to the rightful owner.”

If the bicycles are not claimed within 60 days, the department will sell or give them to area nonprofits.

“We can’t keep bikes forever — we don’t have the room, we don’t have the space,” Burleigh said. “We don’t want to have bikes. If we could give every bike back to the rightful owner, we would do it in a heartbeat. That is what we want.”

Pine Mountain Sports is bustling with people renting mountain bikes during the summer months. But the business is also seeing a rise in bikes being stolen across the city.

“Probably the most stolen bike is going to be the mountain bike,” Manager Mark Campbell said.

Campbell said thieves will target bikes left on a car rack unattended and not usually locked.

“They are probably taking what they want and taking off,” Campbell said. “If somebody gets one bike and they take what they need, the wheel set, and then leave the bike, then the next person is going to come along and maybe take the handlebars or seat post, or — there is a couple of different things on the bike that are pretty valuable,” he said.

A secure lock is key, Campbell said. The bike shop is also registering new bicycle owners with Bike Index, a national database that will help them recover their bike if it’s stolen.

“Any police department in the country will be able to go there and find the serial number, if it’s correct, that’s on the bike, and then put that serial number in the database — and up pops your bike,” Campbell said.

If you think Bend police might have your bike, you can call 541-322-2993.