Calgary police ask cyclists to prepare for bike theft season

For thousands of Calgarians, the beginning of spring-like temperatures means it’s a chance for them to dust off their bicycles and get ready to ride a lot more over the next several months.

But the Calgary Police Service (CPS) is also preparing to be a lot busier during that time, attempting to reunite stolen bikes with their owners.

“We see the peak starting in May through to September… A lot of people are out on their bikes,” explained CPS Sgt. Nick Wilshire. “So that this is now the time that we see a lot of the thefts happening.“

As of late last week, CPS had dealt with a little less than 100 stolen bike reports so far in 2026.

In 2025, 1,292 stolen bikes were reported to police in Calgary — but the true number of thefts is likely much higher than that.

“We’ll get a report, somebody in the neighbourhood said, ‘Oh, I’ve just seen somebody’s bike, it’s stuck in the bushes,’” Wilshire said.

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Wilshire adds CPS officers patrolling the downtown area are also keeping an eye out for riders on bikes that could be property of someone else entirely.

“It’s like a $3-4000 bike, and this is someone who is definitely in circumstances who wouldn’t be able to afford that, so we’ll do checks.”

Wilshire spoke to Global News in front of a collection of bikes that haven’t been returned to their rightful owners, but says more often than not, that doesn’t end up being the case.

The city partners with Bike Index, a universal database that has surpassed 50,000 registered bicycles in the city and has helped return hundreds of bikes to owners, valued at roughly $330,000.

“Usually we get about a third of the bikes back to the owner,” Wilshire said. “If you’ve registered it if you got that serial number, we can return it to you really easily.”

Of course, the best way to deal with a stolen bike is to prevent the theft from even happening.

“Make sure you’ve always got a really good lock. One U-lock is really good, two is even better… no matter where you are,” Wilshire said.

“Lock the bikes up in your own garage, in your own shed… keep them secured.”