Backpedal Bike Recovery

Backpedal are a new company looking to recover stolen bikes using a combination of tech and boots on the ground.

Bike theft is something that we all need to be aware of. Owning the latest bit of carbon bling can make you a tempting target for theft. Most bikes aren’t registered and are easy to sell on as a complete bike, or stripped for parts. While insurance can help, losing a favourite old bike can be heart-breaking. Backpedal are a new company that are offering a novel recovery service for your bike.

Trackers

Backpedal combines a number of features that make it unique. First off you have a tracker that is installed on your bike. This needs to be hidden on the bike, like Bikefinder’s tracker that we’re reviewing. If fitted to an ebike – which are prime targets for theft – the tracker can be wired to the battery. This will mean that the tracker keep working for longer, allowing Backpedal agents to find it. If the tracker’s battery isn’t charged, then they won’t be able to find it. That’s a reminder if you have a tracker fitted to your bike; check it’s battery level regularly!

Backpedal have their own range of trackers that offer different levels of protection. The Beacon is a BLE device and is used when they need to pinpoint a bike’s location. Using the Beacon Backpedal’s scanners are accurate to within 1 metre!

Meanwhile the Sleeper GPS can be used to find your bike bike once it’s been stolen. It’s a sealed unit with a three year battery, that you can ‘wake up’ remotely. This can then be tracked by Backpedal.

The Live GPS is for ebikes and has a back-up battery that can be wired to the bike’s battery. This gives it a longer life and allows extra features like motion alerts and live-tracking. The last is useful for tracking a bike if it’s actually being ridden around. If you look at some of the videos on their site, you can see how they are able to follow the culprits who are riding bikes fitted with Live GPS.

Recovery Agents

Next they have a team of Recovery Agents, these are the people who will actually go out and seek your bike. The Recovery Agents, who have a background in police and the military, are used to working with the public and criminals. They need to be able to not only find your bike, but deal with what could become a fractious situation. If you watch some of the videos on the Backpedal site you can see how they operate. However if necessary, they will call in the police to help with the recovery.

Insurance

The last part of the service is insurance. If the worst happens and your bike can’t be found or is damaged, Backpedal have a deal with Sundays. They will cover loss or damage and even cover you for 90 days abroad, handy for riding abroad.

This is an interesting new service that could help reunite bike and owner. The stats on Backpedal’s webpage are impressive with an 87% recovery rate. The average recovery time for Backpedal to reclaim a stolen bike is seventeen hours, which is fast. Backpedal do say that it is important that you contact them as soon as your bike goes missing. This will aid them in finding the bike and hopefully mean it won’t have been stripped down for parts.

With the UK reporting 77,201 bike thefts in 2022 and only 10% being found, some form of protection seems a good idea. While just fitting a tracker will help, I’m not sure that I’d be happy confronting the criminal. You could call the police but, we all know they are stretched thin. So having a company that will deal with that confrontation makes a lot of sense. Head over to the Backpedal site to get more information and a quote.