I have no first-hand evidence, but it's said that there are rings of thieves here in Shanghai who target valuable bikes in the field, then follow the rider to find out where the bike lives. then they can plot their strategy for nicking it. it's also said that some of these thieves, operating out of scooterville in Jiaoji Lu, will steal bikes to order.

Needless to say, exotic bikes are high-value targets, and countermeasures are essential. But at the other end of the spectrum, commodity ebikes in good condition are almost guaranteed to get stolen because they are outside the VIN registration system and can be easily resold without any risk of being traced.

I'm assuming this is pretty much universal across China. Pretty sad. TIC.

cheers