Auckland cyclists, lock up your wheels: March is the most popular month for bike thefts.
Police say largely teenage thieves are targeting universities and hospitals, pinching bikes to showcase stunts.
Provisional statistics show you're more than three times more likely to get your bike pinched in the central city than any other part of Auckland.
It only takes seconds for thieves to steal a bike with bolt cutters, which can easily chomp through standard locks.
"They can hide it in their backpacks, some put it down their pants," Constable Steve Mack says.
There are plenty of police lock ups in Auckland, but the one Newshub visited is full of recovered bikes ranging between approximately $800 and $2000, that fell victim to similar swift manoeuvres.
But thieves aren't often inconspicuous, and sometimes will strut their stunting online in videos- and Police say there's hundreds of videos of youth showing off their new stolen toys.
Hundreds are eventually recovered and find their way back in the lock-up rooms, but police struggle to find their owners because they can't sufficiently prove the bikes belong to them.
Many owners aren't recording the bike's serial number, which can be found on the underside of their frame. By not doing so, they can't positively ID their bike - prompting police to peddle prevention tools at hotspots before it gets to this point.
An online registry run by police allows you to securely store your serial number on the web.
Newshub.
