Bike Index Stolen Bike Registry Scraper

Scrape stolen-bike records from the Bike Index public API — the largest open stolen-bike registry in the world with over 250,000 reported stolen bikes on file.

What It Scrapes

Every record includes:

Field	Description
bike_id	Unique Bike Index identifier
title	Bike title (manufacturer + model)
description	Owner-provided description
manufacturer_name	Bicycle manufacturer
frame_model	Frame model name
frame_colors	Frame colors (comma-separated)
serial	Frame serial number (may be "Unknown")
date_stolen	Unix timestamp of reported theft
status	Record status: stolen / impounded / for_sale
stolen_location	Human-readable theft location
stolen_coordinates	GPS coordinates as "lat,lng" string
thumb / large_img	Photo URLs
is_stock_img	True if photo is a generic stock image
registry_name / registry_url	Cross-listed external registry
url	Direct Bike Index listing URL
year	Frame manufacture year
propulsion_type_slug	e.g. foot-pedal, electric-assist
cycle_type_slug	e.g. bike, cargo, e-bike

Filters

Input	Description	Example
maxItems	Maximum records to return	500
stolenness	Record status filter: stolen, non, proximity, all	stolen
location	City or region for proximity filtering	Seattle, WA
manufacturer	Filter by manufacturer name substring	Trek
query	Free-text keyword search	specialized allez

Leave location, manufacturer, and query blank to scrape all records matching the stolenness filter.

Use Cases

• Bike shop fraud screening — cross-check serial numbers and descriptions against known stolen bikes before purchasing second-hand inventory
• Insurance underwriting — enrich claims data with theft registry records and GPS theft hotspot analysis
• Marketplace integrity — bulk-check listings on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and eBay against the stolen registry
• Law-enforcement OSINT — export filtered datasets by city or manufacturer for investigative use
• Delta sync — run on a schedule to capture newly-reported bikes; combine with previous exports for incremental updates

Pricing

This actor uses Pay Per Event pricing: $0.10 per run + $0.001 per record. A 1,000-record export costs approximately $1.10.

Data Source

Data is fetched directly from the Bike Index public API v3. No authentication required. The API is updated in real time as reports are filed.

Notes

• Serial numbers are often recorded as "Unknown" for bikes registered without a serial
• stolen_coordinates may be null for older records filed before GPS location was collected
• The proximity stolenness filter requires a location input to function
• Per-page requests are throttled at 300ms intervals to respect the API