![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754431149_208_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOn a board full of flyers near Founders’ Hall in P.E.I., one features a photo\u00a0of a teal-coloured bike and a note about an $800 reward for its return or tips on finding it.<\/p>\n
The bicycle belongs to Meigan Aspin, who said\u00a0she last saw it on July 30\u00a0when she locked it up outside the building on the Charlottetown waterfront.<\/p>\n
She said she was sitting only steps away from the bike\u00a0when it was stolen.<\/p>\n
“To have it be that the lock was on the ground, cut, in this wide open, busy, high-traffic area was a sickening feeling,” Aspin said.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Bike thefts prompt warning from P.E.I. cycling group:<\/p>\n
Bike thefts prompt warning from P.E.I. cycling group<\/p>\n
Some cyclists on P.E.I. say bike thefts are a growing concern in the community. Islanders, visitors and businesses alike have been targeted. CBC\u2019s Gwyneth Egan reports.<\/p>\n
Some Islanders like Aspin think\u00a0bicycles are being stolen more frequently in P.E.I. She said\u00a0bikes have become\u00a0more “sophisticated,” so their parts are now worth more money to thieves.<\/p>\n
Cycling P.E.I. recently posted a warning about bike thefts across the Island, along with some suuggestions for Islanders to protect their items.<\/p>\n
Those included using\u00a0strong, reliable locks; never leaving bikes unattended for extended periods of times;\u00a0and storing bikes indoors or in well-lit, busy areas when possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this summer, around $10,000 worth of cycles\u00a0\u2014 two e-bikes and a pedal bike \u2014 were\u00a0stolen from a tour operator’s\u00a0locked trailer near the Confederation Trail in Charlottetown.<\/p>\n
Taran Guest, owner of Nova Scotia-based Freewheeling Adventures, said someone used lock cutters to break into the trailer\u00a0the night before a\u00a0group was set to start out on a tour.<\/p>\n
He said a guide was able to source replacement bikes, but that the company\u00a0contacted Charlottetown police to report the thefts in the meantime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It reminded us of the importance of security and how staying in cities is always high risk, no matter how secure it feels,” Guest said. “We just encourage people to be diligent and always aware that bicycles are flags for thieves.”<\/p>\n
It’s really unfortunate because people invest a lot of money in bikes and they get connected to them.\u2014 Brett Doyle, Outer Limit Sports<\/p>\n
The sentiment was shared by Brett Doyle, who owns the Charlotteotnw bike shop\u00a0Outer Limit Sports.<\/p>\n
He said the store is getting multiple calls\u00a0on a weekly basis from customers who have had their bikes stolen.<\/p>\n
“It’s really unfortunate because people invest a lot of money in bikes and they get connected to them,” Doyle said.<\/p>\n
“For lots of people, that’s their mode of transportation. They use [them] to get to and from work or they use it for exercise.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/bretty-doyle-oter-limits-sports.jpg\")
Outer Limit Sports owner Brett Doyle says the store is getting multiple calls a week from people looking to buy a new bike after theirs was stolen. (Rob LeClair\/CBC)<\/p>\n
In Doyle’s estimation, bike thefts in P.E.I. have increased significantly over the past\u00a0five\u00a0to 10 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While lock technology hasn’t changed much recently, Doyle said customers have\u00a0been buying\u00a0better quality ones lately.<\/p>\n
Contact authorities in case of theft, experts say<\/p>\n
If your bike is stolen, Doyle said the best course of action is to contact police and file a report.<\/p>\n
It worked for Guest \u2014 after the tour operator spoke with Charlottetown police about the\u00a0theft from the trailer, officers were able to locate the two e-bikes that had been stolen. The pedal bike remains missing.<\/p>\n
Doyle said securely locking\u00a0bicycles\u00a0and storing them indoors are other\u00a0ways to protect them.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Here’s how to keep your bike safe this summer:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/derek-thompson.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how to keep your bike safe this summer<\/p>\n
The warmer weather in the city means it’s prime time for cycling \u2014 but that\u2019s also a recipe for more bike thefts. CBC\u2019s Emma Weller speaks with Ottawa police to get tips on how to keep your bike safe.<\/p>\n
Apart from the posters, Aspin also reported the theft to police\u00a0and said she was told they would be looking at surveillance footage from the area.<\/p>\n
She’s also taken to social media to ask for help locating her bike.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been getting huge support,” she said. “People just have kind of a heartfelt way of showing disappointment that you’d be going through such a thing.”<\/p>\n
Moving forward, Aspin said she’ll be more cognizant about where she locks up\u00a0her bike, and said she’ll purchase GPS tracking tags in case she’s the victim of another theft.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’m going to take probably a lot bigger precaution in the future.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a board full of flyers near Founders’ Hall in P.E.I., one features a photo\u00a0of a teal-coloured bike…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-47979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}