I setup FindThatBike after my own bike was stolen in a buglary, wanting it back I started looking for tools to help me keep an eye on classified websites and stumbled across a very useful website for London (bikeshd.co.uk).
Unfortunately I’m not from London, so I contacted the website developer and he didn’t appear to have any plans to expand his website to include the UK, so I started BikeFinder originally to find my own bike (which it did) but now to help other find theirs. I’ve put in a few improvements to the original design like custom alerts and emails, infinite scroll and a few more tweaks are still too come.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't I see some of the ads on Gumtree or eBay?
Both gumtree and eBay remove the ad’s so many days after they have expired if this is the case you can try using the Google Cache button (the clock icon, when hovering over an advert) on our site, that checks if Google has saved the page before it was changed/taken down.
When looking at locations, I sometimes see bikes that aren't from my county?
Sometimes we aren’t able to establish where a bike is being sold, when this happens the bike will be shown across all locations unless you use the hide option found in the cogs button on the right hand side.
What should I do if I spot my bike?
Contact the police! Whilst it is very tempting to bring in the heavies, this could land you in hot water. If the police are truely unhelpful some people have had success arranging to meet the thief in a very public place then talking to the police and asking them to attend.
I can't spot my bike, is there anything else I can do?
Yes! you can register your bike on stolen bike registers like stolen-bikes.co.uk, you can spread the word about your bike through social media or through flyers, and you can also contact local bike shops and pawn brokers to see if they have been offered your bike.