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There's a new map that shows the areas in which you're most likely to get your bike stolen. The map comes from rental site HotPads, who point out that bike stealing is no joke. According to the FBI, 200,000 of them get stolen every year and that number is increasing across the U.S. as more and more people are using bikes to commute.
In Los Angeles, the hot spots are West L.A., Venice and Westwood. There also seems to be a fair amount of thieving downtown and in Hollywood and parts of Central L.A. (This editor recently had a bike stolen out of a locked parking garage in Koreatown.)
If you get your bike stolen, you can report it to the police, of course, and Biking in LA. And Sometimes, people do actually get their stolen bikes back. Last night, 40 bikes stolen from Santa Monica were recovered at a suspect's home. In 2010, undercover officers busted up a bike stealing ring using Craigslist.
