WSJ [unpaywalled] ‘I hate thieves.’ Bike theft is booming, but so is the army of citizen sleuths fighting it. “Mike Pavlik sees a lot while recovering stolen bikes around Minneapolis. Once, pretending to be a potential buyer, he dressed up in khakis, a sports coat and met a seller. Pavlik took note of the make, model and markings, confirming it was the bike he was hunting. He asked to take it for a test ride. The seller wanted some collateral.  “Do I look like the kind of guy that steals bikes, dude?” Pavlik recalls asking the man. Then he just pedaled off. An hour later, the seller texted him, “I guess you’re not coming back?” Pavlik is part of an unusual army: amateur sleuths who find stolen bikes and return them to their owners. As bike theft becomes more profitable, grassroot efforts to thwart thieves are springing up nationwide. Part wannabe detective, part vigilantes, the volunteers say recovering bikes can be strangely fun and addictive…

Bike theft is big business, particularly with the arrival of costlier e-bikes. Close to two million bikes are stolen each year in North America, costing cyclists nearly $1 billion, compared with $500 million 10 years ago, according to bike registry Project 529. “It’s been bananas lately,” says Bryan Hance, who helps run Bike Index, where cyclists can register their bikes online free and report them stolen. More than 16,000 stolen bikes were reported last year, versus 11,000 in 2019. Hance says the thefts aren’t high priority for police, creating space for volunteers…”