Zero Meters Off: Recovering My Stolen Bike With BikeFinder

Kiki’s BikeFinder led her to her stolen e-bike with 0-meter deviation

When your bike is stolen, it feels like a punch in the gut, especially when it’s an expensive e-bike you rely on every day. For one BikeFinder customer in Malmö, Sweden, that nightmare became reality late on a Saturday night. But with the help of her BikeFinder tracker, a little patience, and support from the police, she managed to get her bike back.

Here is Kiki’s story:

“I live in Malmö, Sweden, and one Saturday at 1:40 a.m. my electric Haibike was stolen. It was parked indoors in an office building’s bike garage, secured with a solid U-lock. The thief must have had a key tag to get inside or slipped in behind someone else.

When I woke up around 9:00 on Saturday morning, I had 27 notifications from my BikeFinder app. I immediately went to the first location, but since it appeared to be inside a building, I decided to pause the search and wait for more movement.

Later that night, around 2:00 a.m., the bike was moved again. This time to an open courtyard, where it stayed overnight. When I saw it in my BikeFinder app on Sunday morning, I went there and found it, exactly where my tracker pointed me.

During the search, I learned a lot about how BikeFinder’s different signals work. The LPWAN signal showed the bike within about 200 meters, Wi-Fi was much more precise, and GPS always jumped back to the same very accurate spot. In the end, the bike was located at the GPS position with 0 meters deviation. All these signals helped confirm the exact bike location.

I found my Haibike hidden in the open courtyard of a nursing home, tucked behind a garbage room. My original lock had been removed and replaced with a new one, the seat and footpad had been swapped out, and a few parts were damaged. With the help of the police, I got rid of the new lock and took my bike back home. The repairs were all covered by the insurance I also got through BikeFinder.

Looking back, I noticed that both locations where the bike had been parked for longer periods were close to known theft and drug crime spots.

Thanks to BikeFinder, I got my bike back and saw for myself the precision and reliability of the tracker. I am very happy with my BikeFinder!”

A note from BikeFinder

Thanks to BikeFinder, Kiki didn’t just recover her Haibike, she also gained firsthand experience with the different tracking signals BikeFinder uses:

• LPWAN provided location accuracy within about 200 meters.
• Wi-Fi gave more precise positioning.
• GPS consistently pinpointed the bike to the exact spot, with 0-meter deviation.

By combining these signals, Kiki was able to be confident about the exact bike location, get the police to help her secure it, and take it home.