If there’s a silver lining to having your bikes stolen, it’s the growing anti-theft network.

Cyclists are banding together digitally to help fight bike crime. Online tools can be exceedingly effective for not only getting the word out but getting the bikes back.

And then there’s the social aspect to it. Once I posted my loss on one list, I started hearing back from friends and associates all over. Most of them are connected with the bike culture, but I also got pinged by non-biking folks.

Jenny Oh’s San Francisco-based site is particularly wired. It seems that clubs, shops and bloggers are plugged into Jenny’s Google group. I heard about it from Epicenter Cycling in Santa Cruz, posted my sad tale, and within minutes was hearing from bike compatriots all over the Bay Area.

I also blogged here on BikeIntelligencer, of course. And tweeted. And linked to Facebook’s BikeIntelligencer page.

Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz hosts a bike theft page as well, with lots of great tips. But beware: I followed each and every one, and my bikes still got stolen. A shop friend told me he locks his 4 bikes together INSIDE his apartment with a New York Fuhgettaboudit lock under the assumption that there’s no way 4 bikes would fit through a doorway.

The gold embroidery of the silver lining to bike theft: The sympathy factor. It’s a good feeling to know so many people have your back. Plus it just boosts your chances all that more of your bikes being found.

So far, nothing yet. I’m checking Craigslist and eBay. My friend Dave Smith at ShuttlesmithAdventures.com has the local posse out. All the shops I know are keeping an eye out as well for a fully tricked Pivot Firebird and Ibis Mojo SL.

How to prevent bike theft, from a bona fide bike thief.

Velotopia reports on the Bike MS ride this past weekend in Mount Vernon. We used to do the mountain bike MS ride and had a great time.

2001 MS Ride: Mountain bike racing greats John Loomis and Ned Overend

Affectionately known as SDOT, the Seattle Department of Transportation has backed off its proposal for a “road diet” on Admiral Way Southwest in West Seattle. SDOT seems to be changing its mind a lot these days — mostly for the better in our opinion. In many of the cases where SDOT dithers, it winds up improving the plan. But there’s also a “not quite perfect” aspect to its deliberations. More on this later, but for now SeattleLikesBikes deconstructs the Admiral Way situation.

It makes sense that if you steal a bike because you’re very poor and need a way to get around, the police give you one of those unclaimed bikes that every police station collects.

The electric bike is now available in a mountain-bike configuration. Good? Bad? Can’t decide, although as much time as we spend riding trails, it’s definitely not for us.

What do women mountain bikers think?

Fixing the Mercer Mess in Seattle will be good for bikes.

Boulder is one of America’s top bicycling communities. And it’s on fire.

You don’t have to have a retired police officer on your side to prove it’s OK to claim the lane on a bicycle, but it helps.

Of all the ways you can hurt yourself riding a mountain bike, this has to be the worst.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUhrfbaNYBI&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

BikeHugger is covering the Spring Olympics by bike and may, just may, be the culprit behind balmy weather suited more to wheels than blades and boards.

E-bike sales: Growing but still tiny, tiny when compared with regular bikes, or e-bike sales in other countries: 300k expected in 2010, double 2009. But total in U.S. is just 500k.

Idaho’s mountain biking license plate moves forward.

Brian Lopes is selling his pimped out Sportsmobile for a mere $67,000…the good news being you can claim it as a second home mortgage deduction. Assuming you have another home. And it’s worth more than $67,000.

Despite all the rain, things are cookin‘ in Aptos!

SeattleLikesBikes: Issues with counting bike commuters.

Good LA Times story on bike thievery. It’s every bit as ugly as we assume.

Psst. Hey. You and I could sell our homes and buy an entire town up by Whistler in B.C. Mountain biking all summer long. Skiing all winter long. You don’t get to see another soul, but hey. You’re getting away from it all!

3-feet-please? How about FIVE. More on Iowa’s Bicycle Bill of Rights.

Found on street in Menlo Park CA

Is bike thievery on the rise along with burglaries and robberies — another sign of hard economic times? No statistical data yet but anecdotal evidence suggests yes. The above photo was taken near a bike rack at the Caltrain station in Menlo Park CA.

Cyclelicio.us reports on a brazen thief caught in the act in San Francisco.

Photo gallery of the “asshat” stealing the bike. What was that Einstein said about people eventually getting the faces they deserve?

But hey, in the Wired Age, we have new tools to fight bike theft. Case in point: Twitter!

As someone who has had three bikes stolen in the past 15 years, I can attest: There’s no foolproof way to prevent bike theft.

The No. 1 most effective deterrent: Having the bike in sight, and locked. Any robust lock, cable or steel, will do in this case. But you do have to be paying attention.

No. 2: Locking the bike in high foot traffic areas. Using a U-Lock is probably the best thing here, although most people get by with cable. There’s always comfort in numbers. In downtown Seattle I always park right outside a main entrance and never in a parking garage (the City at one point made the mistake of mandating bike racks in underground garages, since remedied).

One problem: Pro thieves will come in and clean out an entire rack, especially in cases where there are lots of bikes jammed together as on University campuses, large corporate centers, train stations and so on. Particularly in the fall, right before classes begin and new students have their guard down, campuses are vulnerable. The thieves merely pretend they’re unlocking their own bikes.

Fahgettaboudit!

No. 3: Using a Kryptonite New York lock and chain. These things weigh a ton and are inconvenient to carry around. But for locking to the back of my van or in unsecured areas, you can’t beat ‘em. Having used the chain for more than a decade and not having my bike even bothered once, I really do “Fahgettaboudit.”

I guess it’s understandable if he lives in one of those faceless suburbs where people never seem to be at home. But still…

You have to feel for the guy. On Cloud 9 one day, in the dumps the next.