48,595 bikes were reported stolen to police in England and Wales in
2025. Around 2% of those cases led to anyone being charged, and
roughly 89% were closed without a suspect ever being identified. If
your bike goes, it is almost certainly gone.
Source: police-recorded crime data analysis, verified 19 August 2026.
See the full sourcing note further down this page.
Pedalsure covers theft of your bike at home and away from home, for
bikes worth £400 to £15,000, from £2.47 a month.
And because a theft claim lives or dies on the conditions, this page
publishes ours: the lock you need, how long you can leave the bike,
and what we need to see when you claim. Nobody else in this market
puts all three on one page. We think that's odd, given it's the only
thing anyone actually wants to know.
Covered, subject to the storage conditions for your home, garage, shed or communal hallway
Theft away from home
Covered, subject to the lock requirement and the time limits below
Malicious and accidental damage
Covered — including vandalism, and damage caused by a failed theft attempt. Note the policy names the insured perils as theft, accidental damage and malicious damage; "attempted theft" is not a separate named peril
Accessories, clothing and bike boxes
Covered when the bike is stolen at the same time
Replacement bike hire
Up to £500 while your claim is settled
Bike value range
£400 to £15,000 per bike, up to five bikes, £30,000 combined — higher only where we have agreed cover and reflected it in an endorsement
Claim assessment
Within 24 hours of us receiving your claim, under the Pedalsure Claims Promise — a service commitment rather than a policy term
Your price during the policy year
Does not change, whether or not you claim
Theft is settled by repair or replacement through a specialist dealer,
or a supplier you nominate. If we don't replace the bike, we pay in
cash — less the policy excess and subject to your sum insured. Insure
the bike for its current equivalent replacement cost: if your sum
insured is below the bike's value, the settlement is reduced
proportionately.
Every specialist insurer sets a Sold Secure rating threshold. They are
not the same, and the differences matter, because the wrong lock voids
the claim rather than reducing it.
Pedalsure's rule
Bike value
Lock required
£1,000 or under
Sold Secure Silver or Gold, or a Thatcham-approved motorcycle lock
Over £1,000
Sold Secure Gold, or a Thatcham-approved motorcycle lock
And how the market compares
Each insurer's own published requirement:
Competitor requirements taken from each insurer's own published
pages and help documentation, verified 19 August 2026.
Requirements change — check the current policy wording of
whichever insurer you buy from.
Insurer
Published lock requirement
Pedalsure
Silver or Gold up to £1,000; Gold above £1,000
Yellow Jersey
Silver up to £1,500; Gold above £1,500
Sundays
Silver under £1,500; Gold from £1,500
ETA
Silver under £1,500; Gold from £1,500
Laka
Gold, at every bike value
Bikmo
Gold or Diamond, at every bike value
cycleGuard
Stated in a linked PDF rather than on the page
AXA (home insurance)
Any "suitable locking device" — but the bike limit is £350 per bicycle
In every case, the method matters as much as the rating. Lock the bike
through the frame to an immovable object. We suggest through the seat
tube and the rear wheel. Wheels and tyres are only covered if they're
secured to the frame or an immovable object with an approved lock.
An immovable object is a solid object fixed in or onto concrete or
stone that can't be undone, removed with the bike or lifted over or
under it; a properly fixed vehicle roof rack or bike rack; or a
station bike rack provided for securing bikes and within the
jurisdiction of the British Transport Police or an equivalent policing
authority.
Need a lock that qualifies? Pedalsure customers get up to 40% off
Hiplok — the Hiplok DX at £30 (Sold Secure Diamond), Gold at £40, E-DX
at £50.
Leaving the bike too long.
Away from home, the limit is 12 hours. At your place of employment or in a cycle rack inside a railway station, it's 24 hours. Beyond that, theft and malicious damage aren't covered. This is not a Pedalsure quirk — Cycleplan applies a 12-hour rule with 24 hours at stations, and Laka treats a bike left in public as abandoned after 24 hours (both from their own published wording, verified 19 August 2026). It is worth knowing that leaving a bike locked at the station overnight, then travelling the next day, can cross the line.
Not being able to produce the lock.
For a theft claim we need the key and a receipt for the lock showing its make and model, or the remains of the lock. Buy the lock in a way that leaves a receipt, and photograph the receipt.
Not uploading your photos.
You must upload photos of your insured bikes within 30 days of buying your policy. Failure to do so may invalidate your cover. It's two minutes in your dashboard, and it is the most avoidable reason a theft claim runs into difficulty.
You will also need evidence of ownership: an original purchase receipt
showing the date, price, bike details and the seller's name and
address — or other clear proof of ownership and purchase. And
unexplained loss or disappearance isn't theft: there has to be an
identifiable incident.
Where bikes actually get stolen
The most useful thing about UK theft data is how badly it matches most
people's intuition.
62% of bicycle thefts happen at or around the victim's home. Not in
city centres. At home.
27% of victims hadn't locked the bike because they thought the area
was safe. 26% simply never thought about it.
The mean value of a stolen bicycle is £487.
71% of victims said they were emotionally affected — annoyance 70%,
anger 62%, shock 27%.
Police-recorded thefts are falling. 71,835 in 2022, 63,028 in 2023,
54,802 in 2024, 48,595 in 2025 — an 11% year-on-year drop. Charge
rates are not improving with them: around 2% of cases result in a
charge and 89% close with no suspect identified.
Source: police-recorded crime data analysis, verified 19 August 2026.
Attributed to police-recorded crime statistics analysis rather than
the ONS "Nature of crime" bulletin, which does not itself contain a
numerical bicycle-theft count for this period.
Where it's worst. Per 100,000 residents in 2025:
Oxford 454, Cambridge 419, York 285, Cardiff 199, Newcastle 190. The
three worst are all university cities — high bike density, predictable
parking, and a population that turns over every year.
At stations. 4,106 bikes were stolen from UK railway
stations in 2024 (British Transport Police). The worst single station
in Britain is Cambridge North, with 143 thefts in 2023. In October
2025 BTP announced it would stop investigating station bike thefts
where the bike had been left more than two hours or was worth under
£200; the policy was reversed on 5 January 2026 after public
criticism.
Your bike has been stolen. What to do in the next 24 hours.
Every competitor page tells you how to prevent theft. None of them
tells you what to do afterwards.
Report it to the police straight away and get a crime reference
number.
You cannot claim without one. Report online via your force's website
or call 101.
List it as stolen.
Register the theft with BikeRegister and, if you're in London,
StolenRide. A listed frame number is much harder to sell on.
Check the resale sites in the first 48 hours.
Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, eBay and local selling groups,
searching by model and by distinctive components. Most stolen bikes
that surface, surface fast. If you find yours, do not go and collect
it — give the listing to the police.
Gather your evidence.
Your crime reference number, proof of ownership, the lock key and
lock receipt or the lock's remains, the frame number, and
photographs of the bike.
Start the claim.
Log in to your dashboard, or email
claims@pedalsure.com
, or call
0800 888 6745
(Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm). We assess your claim within 24 hours.
AXA figures published at axa.co.uk, verified 19 August 2026. All
home policies differ — check your own single-article limit.
Feature
Pedalsure
Typical home contents insurance
Single-bike limit
£400 to £15,000
AXA publishes £350 per bicycle, £1,500 per claim for several bikes
Theft away from home
Standard
Usually an optional extension
Attempted-theft damage and vandalism
Covered
Varies
Effect on your other cover
None
Affects your home no-claims discount and renewal
Replacement bike hire
Up to £500
Not offered
Bikes covered
Up to 5, £30,000 combined
Counts against your total contents sum insured
If your bike is worth less than your home policy's single-article
limit and you never leave it anywhere, home cover may be enough. Given
the mean stolen bike is worth £487 and the typical published
single-bike limit is £350, that's a narrower window than most people
assume.
Buy the right lock and use it properly.
Through the frame, to an immovable object, ideally through the seat tube and rear wheel. Two different lock types beat one.
Register the frame number with BikeRegister before anything happens.
Photograph the number and any distinguishing marks.
Don't trust "safe areas."
27% of victims didn't lock up because the area felt safe.
Take the risk seriously at home.
62% of thefts happen at or around home. A shed with a hasp and a padlock is not a secure store — and under our policy a shed needs to be a metal, Secured by Design accredited unit, or the bike must be locked to an immovable object inside it.
Vary where you park.
A bike in the same rack at the same time every day is a scheduled appointment.
Take the saddle or a wheel with you where the bike has to stand somewhere unpromising.
Yes. Pedalsure covers theft at home and away from home. At home, the storage conditions matter, and in every case a claim requires forcible and/or violent entry or exit. Inside your home, no lock is needed. A garage or shed needs the door secured to the standards in the policy and the bike locked to an immovable object inside it. A communal hallway needs the bike locked through the frame to an immovable object.
Is my bike covered if it's stolen from a bike rack at work?
Yes, for up to 24 hours, if it's locked through the frame to an immovable object with a lock of the right Sold Secure rating. The same 24-hour allowance applies to a cycle rack inside a railway station. Everywhere else away from home, the limit is 12 hours.
Is my bike covered if it's stolen from a shed?
Yes, if the shed is a metal bicycle shed with Secured by Design accreditation. Otherwise the bike must be locked to an immovable object inside the shed and the external door secured with a 5-lever mortice deadlock to BS3621, an approved lock or a CEN 4 or higher rated padlock. In either case a claim requires forcible and/or violent entry or exit.
Is my bike covered if it's stolen from a car?
Only one bike is covered if left unattended in or attached to a motor vehicle. A properly fixed roof rack or vehicle bike rack counts as an immovable object. The vehicle's doors and windows must be locked and closed, the bike must be stored out of sight, and between 9pm and 6am the vehicle must be fitted with a Thatcham category 1 alarm/immobiliser, a category 2 immobiliser or a category 3 steering lock. A claim needs evidence of forcible and violent entry — visible damage at the point of entry, or to the lock or the immovable object.
What lock do I need for my bike insurance to be valid?
A Sold Secure Silver or Gold rated lock, or a Thatcham-approved motorcycle lock, for a bike worth £1,000 or less. A Sold Secure Gold rated lock or Thatcham-approved motorcycle lock for a bike worth more than £1,000. Lock the bike through the frame to an immovable object in both cases.
Do I need to report a theft to the police to claim?
Yes. Report it as soon as possible and obtain a crime or lost property reference number. You'll need it to claim.
Do I need the broken lock to make a theft claim?
The policy requires the lock key and a receipt for the lock showing its make and model, or the remains of the lock. Keep both the receipt and the key.
How many bikes are stolen in the UK each year?
48,595 bikes were reported stolen to police in England and Wales in 2025, down 11% on 2024. Around 2% of reported cases lead to a charge and roughly 89% are closed with no suspect identified. Under-reporting means the true figure is considerably higher.
How much does bike theft insurance cost?
Pedalsure cover starts from £2.47 a month for a £400 bike (rider aged 30, postcode SW1A 1AA, quoted 17 August 2026, inclusive of IPT). Your price depends mainly on bike value, postcode, age and the cover you choose.
Will my premium go up after a theft claim?
Your price is fixed for the whole policy year, so a claim during the year doesn't change what you pay that year.
How long does a theft claim take?
We assess every claim within 24 hours of receiving it. Settlement then depends on the replacement route and on your evidence being complete — which is why the photo upload and the lock receipt matter.
Is a bike stolen while I'm riding it covered?
A bike taken by force while you are with it is theft or robbery, not an unattended-bike claim, so the lock and time-limit conditions don't apply. Report it to the police immediately and get a crime reference number.
Get your price in about two minutes. Hold it for 30 days while you
decide. Your price won't change during the policy year.