Register Your Bicycle
There are several ways you can register your bicycle, and each of them has its own benefits. You might want to consider using a couple or all of the registration methods listed below to cover all of your bases.
In any case, you will need to know the serial number of your bicycle.
Finding your bike's serial number
Register with the bicycle manufacturer
It is not necessary to register your bike with the manufacturer to receive warranty support if needed at a later date. However, registering with the manufacturer can make it easier for you to stay in the loop in case there are any warranty and/or recall issues that arise, and the manufacturer needs to notify you.
The owner's manual that came with your bicycle may have instructions for how to register the bike with the manufacturer. If not, or if you don't have the owner's manual, check the manufacturer's website to see if they have registration instructions or an online registration form. Here are some of our bike manufacturers' registration pages (links subject to change; please let us know if you find that any are out of date):
Register with your local government
These days, most cities and states in the US do not require bicycle registration. Some cities and police departments do provide an optional bike registration service. This can help them recover your bike in the event that it is stolen. Check with your local government and police to find out what registration they require for bikes and what registration services they provide, if any.
If you regularly ride to a city or town outside of where you live (such as commuting to work or school), you should also check with the police in that area if they provide any bike registration services. That way, if your bike is stolen while you're on one of those trips away from your home city, there's a better chance of the local police getting it back to you if it's recovered.
Register with a public bicycle database
There are a few online services that offer bicycle registration; some of are free, while some of them may charge for the service. The benefit of these services is that they are available nationally (or even internationally) to help track down the owners of stolen bikes that are recovered. You can choose some or all of them to register your bike. To help you decide which one(s) to use, you might check with your local police department to see which of them they reference, if any. Here are just a few that we are aware of: