The liquidators said one of the company’s directors had told them there were “approximately 1600 bicycles located at four storage facilities in NSW and Queensland with an estimated value of $1,341,860”.

A number remain on city streets, but the liquidators do not know how many or where the bicycles are located.

“As the third-party software provider has terminated the company’s software, we are unable to access the information about the bikes currently deployed,” said Henry Kwok, one of the liquidators. “We were advised some bikes may be deployed in Gold Coast, Queensland.”

Reports from 2019 said Mobike would remove its bikes from that area.

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The director’s estimate would mean the bikes were worth about $840 each, about as much as a low-end but new mountain bike.

The liquidators would not disclose how much an independent valuer said the bikes were worth, citing “commercial reasons” but could not find a buyer for the 1300 in NSW.

Gavin Moss, the liquidator, said in the report he was forced to renounce Mobike’s interest in the bikes because of the “valuation figures”, the bikes’ location, the cost of storage and the difficulty of getting the bikes’ software working for any buyer.

“I had no alternative but to make a commercial decision to disclaim interest in the bikes at all known locations,” he wrote in his report.

Moss’ colleague Kwok said Mobike remained the legal owner of the bikes but had disclaimed its interest in dealing with them. Anyone in possession of the bikes who sold them had to account to the liquidators, Kwok said, and pay any surplus they made back to the company.

The Chifley Advisory liquidators report said Mobike’s directors were not in Australia and this masthead was unable to contact them. Kwok said they had assisted the liquidators but declined to pass on contact information, citing privacy rules.

The chief executive of advocacy group Bicycle NSW, Peter McLean, said while many of the first-generation of bike-sharing firms were “low end”, the newer companies had better products and councils held them to higher standards.

“The e-bike share schemes now in place are much more convenient and easier to use,” McLean said. “They’re being serviced far better, and councils have stronger expectations and policies in place for them to abide by.”

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