Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Elizabeth Abrams mainly cycled for fun, but when she moved to Washington, D.C., a fairly bikeable city, in 2020, her motivations for biking became much more practical.

When a bike gets stolen, it can feel like a real kick in the guts, regardless of whether it’s your brand new carbon-fibre race machine or the clunker you liberated from a dumpster and have been riding ...