Digital protection is built into eBikes with the Bosch smart system
In a City Where Bikes Disappear Every Day, Some eBikes Have Been Fighting Back
Digital protection is built into eBikes with the Bosch smart system
The area around San Francisco leads the nation in eBike riding on the Bosch smart system.
Bosch smart system riders already have free tools that make a stolen eBike worthless and easier to recover.
Foothill Ranch, Calif. (November 5, 2026)
No American region records more eBike riding on a Bosch smart system than the San Francisco area. Riders in and around the San Francisco area account for 6.2 percent of all recorded U.S. riding activity, the highest share in the country, ahead of the areas around Seattle, Los Angeles and Portland. 1
It is also a city where bike theft is a real problem, especially at the end of the season, when thefts peak. The San Francisco Police Department recommends that riders register their bikes with a third-party registry, and maintains an ongoing database of reported incidents. The issue is most relevant to eBike owners, with findings by Bike Index, the largest bicycle registry in the United States, documenting a rise in eBike thefts specifically. In an effort to protect its customers from such incidents, Bosch eBike Systems has implemented industry-leading theft prevention and recovery features in the eBike Flow App.
Riders connected to the eBike Flow App can mark their eBike or battery as stolen. Doing so marks every component in the smart system as stolen, including the drive unit, battery and display. Each component carries a unique registration tied to the owner's user profile, so the mark travels across Bosch's entire digital ecosystem. Anyone who tries to connect a stolen bike through the app, whether a used-bike buyer, a dealer or a public authority, sees a warning listing the serial numbers of the marked components. The stolen eBike is blocked from eBike Flow app connection, and dealers see the same warning in the DiagnosticTool during service. Only the registered owner can remove the mark. The practical effect is that the resale value of a stolen eBike drops toward zero.
Since 2018, Bosch has continued to build robust digital theft protections into its smart system. eBike Lock turns a rider's smartphone or display into a digital key and disables motor support when the bike is locked; recognition happens automatically over Bluetooth, so the rider’s phone can stay in a pocket. Battery Lock ties the battery to the bike and the user profile, which is also disabled in unison with eBike Lock. Riders who want active protection can add eBike Alarm through an eBike Flow+ subscription, which triggers sound and light warnings when a parked eBike is moved, and the ConnectModule, permanently installed hardware that keeps the eBike online for GPS tracking, motion detection and recovery.
"A stolen bike is not just a property crime to the person it happens to. It is the end of a commute, a school run, a way of getting groceries home," said Dave Howard, VP/GM Americas, Bosch eBike Systems. "We cannot stop someone from cutting a lock. What we can do is make a stolen bike more difficult to transport and sell, and make it easier to get back. Every rider on our smart system can mark a stolen bike in the app for free, from the day they buy it. That alone makes it much harder to sell and gives it a better chance of coming home."
For San Francisco area riders, the registration step the SFPD recommends is largely already done. Every Bosch smart system component is registered before the bike leaves the shop, and the eBike Flow app stores bike data and photos in one place, so an owner who needs to file a police report can hand over serial numbers, current location, and images immediately rather than hunting for a receipt. Step-by-step instructions are available in the Bosch eBike help center.
Bosch eBike Systems works with more than 100 of the world's leading bicycle brands, supplying networked drive systems including motors, batteries, displays, and the eBike Flow app. The company's approach draws on Bosch's 139-year history in mobility, and on a conviction that the value of an eBike is measured in the trips it makes possible, and the memories along the way, rather than in any single specification.
For more information about Bosch eBike Systems and its range of offerings, please visit https://www.bosch-ebike.com/us/why-ride-bosch.
1 Source: anonymized, aggregated usage data from Bosch smart system riders in the United States who have opted in to data sharing through the eBike Flow app, covering all recorded activity in 2025.
Press photos and infocharts are available on the Bosch Media Service at www.us.bosch-press.com.
Contact:
Jocelyn Vande Velde
Jocelyn.vandevelde@us.bosch.com
Contact person/s for press inquiries:
Alexa McRoberts
bosch@verdepr.com
Bosch eBike Systems is shaping the future of eBike mobility with innovative products and digital services ranging from highly efficient drive systems and the first series-ready ABS for eBikes to connected biking solutions. On daily routes through the city, on enjoyable tours through the countryside or for adventures in the mountains: Bosch eBike Systems offers eBike riders the right drive system (drive unit, battery, display and app) for every requirement and every area of use, which ensures a unique riding experience. Today, more than 100 of the world's leading bicycle brands trust in the perfectly coordinated, modular product portfolio. As an independent business unit within the Bosch Group, Bosch eBike Systems also uses the group's technology and manufacturing know-how. For healthy, safe and sustainable mobility that is fun.
For more information, please visit www.bosch-ebike.com.
About Bosch
Having established a presence in North America in 1906, today the Bosch Group employs around 38,000 associates in more than 100 locations in the North American region (as of Dec. 31, 2025). In 2025, Bosch generated consolidated sales of $18.8 billion in the U.S., Mexico and Canada in 2025. For more information visit www.bosch.us, www.bosch.mx and www.bosch.ca.
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 413,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2025). The company generated sales of 91 billion euros in 2025. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology.
With its business activities, the company aims to use technology to help shape universal trends such as automation, digitalization, electrification, and artificial intelligence. In this context, Bosch’s broad diversification across regions and industries strengthens its innovativeness and robustness. Bosch uses its proven expertise in hardware, software, and services to offer customers cross-domain solutions from a single source. It also applies its expertise in connectivity and artificial intelligence in order to develop and manufacture intelligent, user-friendly, and sustainable products. With technology that is “Invented for life,” Bosch wants to help improve quality of life and conserve natural resources. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 500 subsidiary and regional companies in over 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. Bosch’s innovative strength is key to the company’s further development. Bosch employs some 82,000 associates in research and development.
The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861-1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.” The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant upfront investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-four percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a limited liability company with a charitable purpose. The remaining shares are held by Robert Bosch GmbH and by a company owned by the Bosch family. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG.
It is entrusted with the task of safeguarding the company’s long-term existence and in particular its financial independence – in line with the mission handed down in the will of
the company’s founder, Robert Bosch.
Additional information is available online at www.bosch-press.com, www.bosch.com.
Exchange rate: 1 EUR = 1.1297
