Announcing 529 Protect

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We launched 529 Detective back in November. Now we’re announcing 529 Protect, available in the US, with other regions to follow. We don’t love using this newsletter for product announcements, but we believe in what we’ve built, and we wanted you to hear about it directly.

Our mission has always been to keep people on their bikes. Theft stops that, not just because the bike is gone, but because the habit goes with it. Protect is our way of closing that gap; real support, active recovery and a bike recovery warranty to provide you with a replacement bike up to $3000 to keep you cycling.

Finally, a membership that acts like a good neighbor

The other day my friend Andrew locked his Brompton outside a stadium and came back to find the lock had been tampered with.

Someone had stuffed paper and glue into the keyhole. It didn’t feel random. It felt deliberate—a way of keeping the bike where it was, until someone could come back later with the right tools.

Andrew didn’t want to leave it there. The police told him there wasn’t anything they could do, so he babysat the Brompton while the neighbor he’d gone to the game with ran to a nearby hardware store to buy a cordless angle grinder.

Even that turned into a whole thing. The staff got suspicious when he insisted on leaving with a fully charged battery. Back outside the stadium, they cut through the lock in less than 30 seconds—and not a single passerby even looked up.

It was a sobering reminder of how easy it’s become to defeat a lock. Quiet cordless cutting tools are easy to buy, easy to carry, and brutally effective. And online marketplaces make it easy to turn a stolen bike into cash, fast.

A US study estimated 2.4 million adult bikes are stolen each year, worth roughly $1.4 billion.

Thieves have adapted. Most riders haven’t had a chance to. It’s why we’ve launched 529 Protect: a first-of-its-kind membership that bundles deterrence, active online detection, verified selling tools, real human support, and a replacement promise of up to $3,000 if we can't find your bike.

It costs $11/month, or $120/year. Call it three coffees a month. Worth it for the peace of mind.

It’s a good-neighbor kind of membership: it shows up when you need it, with real help to get things sorted.

Of course, there are already ways to fight bike theft: bike registration, deterrents, community alerts, online searching. In fact, we already provide some of that through 529 Garage and 529 Detective, both of which are included in 529 Protect.

The problem is nothing works every time, and the gaps are where thieves win.

529 Protect fills in the missing pieces. It’s where the community and the tools finally work together, because we’re stronger together than any single feature on its own.

So what does that look like in real life?

Your bike’s online profile

With 529 Protect, 529 Garage bike registration is included, so your bike has a digital identity you can share with police and the community if it’s stolen. You also get the 529 Shield—a visible identifier that can make the difference between “a bike the police recovered” and “a bike the police recovered and can return to its rightful owner.” And because your bike’s details are on file, you’ll also get recall alerts if a safety issue is identified.

A personal private investigator

Stolen bikes do show up online. The hard part is you don’t have the time, or the mental energy, to sit there refreshing listings for days, or even weeks.

529 Protect comes with 529 Detective, which automatically monitors online marketplaces for stolen bikes that match yours. The recovery window can be short: listings appear, disappear, and get reposted. Parts get swapped. Photos get cropped.

Detective takes that load off your shoulders, and is proven to find stolen bikes.

A safer way to buy and sell

Bike theft isn’t only a theft problem. It’s a resale problem.

That’s why 529 Protect includes our verified marketplace and a verified badge; so you can buy and sell bikes with the confidence that they are not stolen. If you’ve ever bought a bike secondhand, you’ll know the tension: great deals exist, and so do listings that feel…off.

Verification won’t clean up the internet overnight. But it gives honest sellers a way to stand out, and buyers a safer place to start.

Real support, when you need it

After a theft, you don’t need more admin. You need someone who can help you take the next step.

529 Protect also gives you concierge support by phone or email (9am–6pm CT, Monday to Friday), plus 24/7 support via chat.

The part that matters most

If your bike isn’t found after the recovery period (30 days), 529 Protect steps in with a bike recovery warranty that replaces your bike up to $3,000.

The goal is to keep you riding even if recovery doesn’t happen. Because theft doesn’t just steal the bike. It steals the habit.

A 2024 peer-reviewed study found 45% of theft victims reduced or stopped cycling after their bike was stolen.

Rob Brunt, a former police officer and Project 529’s Chief Outreach Officer, puts it simply:

“My mission has always been to prevent bike theft. But if your bike gets stolen, 529 Protect provides the system to aid in recovery and replacement to keep you cycling.”

Set it up while everything’s fine so you’re not starting from scratch when it isn’t.

What’s included

• $3,000 bike recovery warranty

• Bike registration in 529 Garage

• 529 Shield

• 529 Detective (marketplace monitoring)

• Marketplace for verified sales

• Verified sellers badge on our Marketplace

• Bike recall alerts

• Concierge support
  

Availability note: 529 Protect is currently available in the US only. If you’re outside the US and you’d like it where you live, let us know in the comments.