At 10:30 AM this morning the Bike Index sent an alert that a stolen Mission Bicycle appeared on Craigslist last night.

Less than 2 hours later, thanks to a total stranger and the SFPD, justice was served.

We posed as a potential buyer and asked the seller to meet us in a public spot. Thanks to the SFPD Twitter account @SFPDBikeTheft the police were just around the corner, texting “we see you” (usually creepy, this time helpful). As soon as the seller arrived the police stepped in and took over, confiscating the stolen bike.

This is how it’s supposed to work: citizens using social media for good, technology working for us, the SFPD helping reunite people with their bikes.

Here’s the blow by blow of how it went down.

To register your bike on Bike Index, click here. It’s takes about 5 minutes, it’s free, and it’s worth it.

As everyone who has had a bike stolen knows, there’s really no way to make a bicycle 100% secure – you’re basically balancing an equation where the amount that you spend weighing down your bike with locks only increases the difficulty of the heist. (And according to bicycle law, all bikes should weigh 50 pounds.)

Gizmodo put 4 standard locks through the paces to see just how hard it is to steal a bike secured with a u-lock. Although a few of them fended off a beating from bolt cutters and a hacksaw, not a single one could stand up to a 5-second assault with a $40 angle grinder. Check out the video here – how does your lock fare?

Photo by dpwk