One of the main purposes of registration is for recovery of stolen bikes (Arlington offers free bicycle registration and nationally there are many free bike registries). Ohio State has a pretty interesting take on it though.
Use the latest technology to "Bug Your Bike" with a free RFID (radio frequency identification device) as part of Student Affairs Risk Assessment efforts to prevent theft.
RFID could make recovery much easier
To date, Ohio State University's scheme has been successful in the sense that 547 cyclists have registered their cycles, recovered bicycles have been returned to their owners, and students seem to like it
Similarly there is the Bike Shepherd which uses a tag which anyone with a smartphone can scan to see if a bike is stolen or not.
Embed a few scanners at stop lights and, voila, all you non-foot-droppers are SOL. ;^)
Posted by: I forgot | September 29, 2011 at 10:28 AM
I would object to this on privacy grounds, since it enables wholesale surveillance.
Interesting also that it doesn't mention how many bicycles have been recovered.
Posted by: antibozo | September 29, 2011 at 03:10 PM
So if I register my bike, and later sell it, and the new owner sells it six months later, how will they track the owner? Will the bike come back to me because I registered it first or is there some way of tracking to the current owner?
Posted by: Peter Nuar | September 29, 2011 at 03:54 PM
@I forgot: we could also just track phones' GPS signals to see who was talking while driving and rack up a ton of $100 tickets.
@Peter: it would be just like transferring a vehicle registration or a warranty;the original owner contacts whoever issued the chip and gives them the new owner's info.
Posted by: dynaryder | September 29, 2011 at 07:30 PM