Jepedale.com, le vélo pour passion

The WSJ published an article about the use of Social Media to recover stolen bikes. More and more cyclists use the power of Social Network Sites to get the cyclists community to look up for their bicycles and identify thieves. Here’s an extract of the article:

Ms. McKibbon is one of a growing number of bike-theft victims who are using bike blogs and social-media sites such as Twitter to take matters into their own hands. These grassroots efforts come as bike theft rises in cities and college campuses around the U.S….
The reasons for the theft boom are complex, including population growth in some locales, but generally, more people are biking these days—and they are riding pricier bicycles. Also, the economic downturn is contributing to the increase…
Some cities are taking action in an effort to be more bike-friendly. In Austin, city officials are planning to curb theft through a new bicycle registry and an education campaign on how to correctly lock a bike…
Some city employers, like Google Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG, already allow employees to store their bikes at work…
Many cyclists prefer to start their own grassroots movements against bike thieves (…) The proliferation of sites puts more eyes on the road to identify thieves, says Mr. Maus of BikePortland.org. « We’re trying to empower the eyes of the community to get bikes back, » he says. The site had 80 listings for stolen bikes in July…
Ms. McKibbon, who recovered her bike in Toronto, also faced new problems. Last weekend, her bike’s rims, gears and other components were stolen on a busy street in Toronto. But she has a message for bike thieves: Watch your back. « The world isn’t as big as it once was, » she says. « You never know who’s watching. »

Read the full article

I also found this (scary) video containing useful tips to get your bicycle properly locked!