Monthly issue
UK Bike Theft Report, May 2026
Published 2026-09-04, from records held at the time; issued retrospectively when the monthly series began.
In May 2026, 1 in 37 used bikes checked by frame number on Cyclesite came back flagged against a stolen-bike registry or a rider-filed theft report, across 442 distinct bikes.
The month in figures
- Distinct bikes checked
- 442
- 522 checks in total; a bike checked twice counts once
- Distinct bikes flagged
- 12
- Matched a stolen-bike registry or a rider-filed report
- Flag rate
- 1 in 37
- Bikes flagged over bikes checked
- People checking
- at least 0
- Only visitors who consented to analytics or signed in are counted
- Frames registered by owners
- 2
- Thefts reported by riders
- 2
Distinct bikes checked changed +675.4% against the previous month.
Cite this issue
Source: Cyclesite UK Bike Theft Report, May 2026. https://www.cyclesite.co.uk/uk-bike-theft-report/2026-05
Figures on this page are fixed. The live report at /uk-bike-theft-report updates continuously; cite an issue when the number must not move.
Methodology
- A check is one frame number submitted to the free Cyclesite stolen-bike checker during the calendar month, excluding cached re-reads and inputs that were not frame numbers.
- Bikes are counted by distinct frame number. The flag rate divides distinct flagged bikes by distinct checked bikes; it is never computed from check events.
- A flagged bike matched a stolen-bike registry or a theft report filed on Cyclesite. A clear result means no match was found in the sources consulted, which is not proof a bike was never stolen.
- The flag rate is published only when the month has at least 100 distinct bikes and at least 5 flagged; otherwise it is withheld.
- Makes come from the registry record for the frame, most often inferred from the serial number's manufacturer format, and are listed only with at least 10 bikes.
- Issues are written once and never recomputed. Corrections, if any, are published as a note, not as a changed number.
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