Double Olympic gold medallist Alistair Brownlee MBE has today announced a partnership with BikeRegister, the national Police-preferred, bicycle marking and registration scheme.

Winner of the gold medals in both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic triathlon events, Alistair is passionate about driving down bike theft in the UK and believes that the marking and registration of bikes is the best way to do this.

BikeRegister is owned by Selectamark, the UK’s leading security marking provider. It is used by all UK police forces to assist in the fight against bike crime. There are over a million bikes currently registered on the database, and those which are security marked are 83% less likely to be stolen than un-marked bikes.

Alistair has spoken about the benefits of BikeRegister, and about how having a scheme that deters theft and increases the chance of getting your bike back is a great way to keep people cycling and to travel more actively.

“I think BikeRegister is an absolutely fantastic scheme,” says Alistair. “Luckily, I’ve never had a bike stolen but many people I know haven’t been so lucky – including my brother (fellow triathlete and three-time Olympic medallist Jonny Brownlee) who had his bike stolen whilst travelling.”

He continues: “Whether it’s someone’s beloved racing machine stolen from their garage or their trusted workhorse disappearing from outside a shop - it’s annoying, expensive, and inconvenient. So, having a scheme that helps you protect your bike is of huge importance.”

We train Police Officers to actively use the BikeRegister app so they can quickly check bikes they suspect may be stolen. Every year, hundreds of stolen bikes are reunited with their true owners thanks to this process. They can also use the app when registering cycles on the database at bike marking events. Through the website and mobile app, over 1,000 searches are made on BikeRegister each day by police, retailers, and members of the public.

Visible and covert marking kits are available from BikeRegister, and they will help protect your bike from theft. The kits are available to purchase at http://www.bikeregister.com and from retailers including Halfords and Decathlon.

“I think we should all be doing what we can to register our bikes and check the status of bikes we see for sale,” says Alistair. “It’s free and takes seconds to register a bike on the BikeRegister website. Secondly, it costs between £13 and £30 to mark your bike. It’s not a high price for deterring thieves, and it makes your bike easier to identify.”

Alistair originally heard about BikeRegister when he worked with Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire Police to promote active travel. In July 2021, he launched a BikeRegister scheme to deter bike theft in Leeds.

He says: “Through my experience working as the Leeds Active Travel Ambassador I’ve learnt how important it is to understand and remove the challenges faced by people considering replacing car journeys with active ones. Clearly cycle theft is one of the major challenges – I think BikeRegister will be one of the major solutions.”

The new partnership involves a series of retail opportunities and events to promote bike marking and registration. BikeRegister will be making a donation to the Brownlee Foundation for every BikeRegister kit sold, The Brownlee Foundation is a charity set up by Alistair and his brother Jonny which hosts events across the UK which aim to encourage participation of young people in sport. https://www.thebrownleefoundation.org/

Managing Director of BikeRegister, James Brown, says: “It is a huge honour to be teaming up with Alistair to push the importance of marking and registering your bike. Alistair really shares our belief that thieves will only give up once they know that the majority of bikes are registered and checked by the police, the public, and retailers. We are also delighted to be supporting The Brownlee Foundation, which is an amazing initiative to get children active and healthy.”

Alistair concludes: “We all have our part to play to defeat bike theft. Bike retailers, the Police, and local authorities are already helping and will continue to help the effort. Maybe a world where all new bikes sold are marked and registered, where only marked and registered bikes can be resold, and where bikes being spot checked by crime enforcement isn’t too far away.”

For further information and images contact: Jodie Fisher, Marketing Executive for Selectamark.

Phone: +44 (0)1689 487829
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @bikeregister