How to "never" get your bike stolen / Cómo conseguir que «nunca» te roben tu bici
Texto en español a continuación
Please do keep in mind that there are 0! locks that are totally theft-proof, as you spend more cash, the time or specialist and/or sometimes expensive tools or skills that are required to break or open the lock simply go up. In that sense my title is slightly hyperbolic, nobody, including myself can 100% guarantee your bike won't ever get stolen. Following my tips will simply drastically reduce the chances of your bike being stolen.
<- Two bikes in front of Saler commercial center
Today I saw these two, cheap, low grade Decathlon children's bikes, right outside "Saler" = one of the fanciest shopping malls in Valencia, that has cameras. Mall is on a busy intersection where police drive by, constantly.
What that sadly means,.. (it should not be that way) is that even if you ride a cheap or uglified bike, you have! to spend €90 total, or ideally more on two good brand (ABUS, Kryptonite, Viro, AXA and very few others), hardened, and ideally different (type/brand and cylinder/key) locks. U-lock or Chain, never a cable lock, never with a numeric code.
And you have to always, always lock frame and back wheel to a very solid post or such as well as front wheel to at very least the frame, and that you need to replace your (anyone-can-open-and-remove-seatpost-or-wheels-with-no-tools-in-about-5-seconds) quick releases on your seatpost and wheels with the set I am posting below.
If you do not buy and do the above, it is a matter of when! not if,.. people will steal your bike, or parts, or both. I have quite a number of local friends this has happened to, recently. In the cases of cheap kid's bikes above, the wheels, the seat posts, crank-set, pedals, saddles and more were taken.
If you buy a bike with even one, much less a few of these qualities: suspension, new, modern, fancy looking, big logos, Disc brakes, well-known brand, valuable, non-uglified, Alu, 27.5, 28 or bigger inch bike,.. or if you leave your bike (any!) outside overnight, anywhere, often,.. the stuff above applies three-fold.
And the odds that a thief will target (and perhaps bother picking or cutting -with special tools- even your two heavy duty locks) go way up.
If you want to truly make your bike very unappealing to thieves and you don't mind a one-way process and that your bike will look very bad but function perfectly, this is a helpful video:
For in depth information about how to make your bike not lose value but look much cheaper regardless, what bike type of bike is less theft-prone and less likely to be stolen and much more, below is an older post with a slew of upvotes and ideas. 90% of tips in it apply to Valencia and anywhere ->
===
How to never get your bike stolen in Berlin and anywhere, tips based on decades of pro mechanic/daily cyclist experience. What bike? What lock?
Bit of a clickbait title, I know. XD What I mean by the title, is that myself and a number of my friends have been living in Berlin for years, were or are bike messengers or pro bike mechanics and my advice below is based on all those experiences as well as similar experiences in Amsterdam & other large Dutch cities plus some time spend in the "bike scene" in Bangkok, Barcelona, Copenhagen, San Francisco and beyond. This will be a long post.
TL;DR: Buy a, in a good condition, dark or at least not flashy, used, Chromo steel, ca. 1989 to 1993, no suspension, reputable brand MTB, put on Mara+ tires, buy a longer/larger, €38 and up ABUS U-lock or chain lock. Make sure seller is fine with filling in Kaufvertrag & showing their ID. Always lock frame and if you can the back wheel as well, properly and sensibly to strong, immovable objects, buy a ca €12,50 quick release skewer replacement set, put electrical tape over your logos and a LIDL or ALDI bag on your saddle. If at all possible, bring someone with some bike knowledge when you go buy. Done.
A. Don't buy a new bike. Really. If you absolutely must have a new one, buy a steel Froschrad. Or as a somewhat distant second a VSF Fahrradmanufaktur. Both are somewhat affordable (ca. €650 to €900+) excellent quality and are understated/black and quite common, in other words not very eye-catching nor an attractive target for thieves.
B. Ideally, buy a late 80s or early 90s high quality, no suspension, chromoly steel MTB that is in very good condition (gears!). It always says on the frame if it is Chromoly or Chromo or 4130 steel = all good. Cost ca. €30 to €300 tops, on all the known channels, Kleinanzeigen, FB marketplace, Craigslist etc. Brands to look out for are Trek, Checker Pig, Corratec, Focus, Kastle, Stevens, Univega, Merida and many more. There are tons of these bikes to be had second hand in Berlin. Best not to buy a hyper light-coloured/colourful/ostentatious one of course.
Please always search the brand + model name online before you buy, all the brands above made decent to very high end, quality bikes, there is almost always opinions online on how good a specific bike model is. Fortunately brands above made very few truly poor bikes, so it is hard to go totally wrong with them.
Ideally take someone knowledgeable with you! I used to offer this service for a low flat fee, but my time has become a little too valuable these days, I would have to charge too much. Still, there are so many bike nerds in Berlin, you probably know one who is happy to come! :) A critical, knowledgeable eye who can tell you to "walk away" may save you a ton of money/costs/repairs/disappointment down the line. How worn the chain rings, bottom bracket, shifters and rims are, as well as any damage to the frame and whether the seat post and stem are not immovably seized/corroded in place (if so, walk away) are the minimum things you want to check, those are also the most difficult or expensive things to repair or replace, by far.
If you have bad memories of steel MTBs being heavy/slow that is most likely due to the knobbly, low pressure tires they almost all came with and perhaps due to riding a different, not good brand or a very low end model. Millions of these were made too. Good thing about all that is, that is that MTBs (good or bad) do not command a premium at all/harder to sell and hence not popular with thieves.
Even the very lightest and fastest MTBs are quite hard to distinguish from "meh" or ok ones for most thieves. Road bikes especially and 28 inch bikes generally are much more likely to be targeted by thieves. On top of all that a 26 inch wheel is way sturdier, takes way more tire sizes and types (including skinny, high pressure, fast slicks) and this size can be found the world over, unlike 28 inch.
A friend of mine used such an MTB he bought for very little money, to cycle US coast to coast with a ton of camping and cooking gear, in winter (I would die hehe) in pretty record time. I am not as hardcore as he is and I use mine every day around Berlin, doing 3 to 20+ km each day, with the right tires MTBs are certainly fast enough for commutes up to an hour or city riding with just a backpack or panniers.
I am not a zealot, besides my daily "driver" steel MTB, I own a 28 inch roadbike, several 20 inch folders etc. etc., a lot of the tricks in this post work for any bike, so if you truly prefer some other wheel size or material, I hope you still benefit. I just always just hope people pick a bike type because it is the one that makes them happiest, not because what is being marketed/pushed to them/popular right now.
Importantly, buy some Marathon+ tires for them. These are high pressure, semi-slick and consistently are tested as having the best puncture protection and some of the lowest rolling resistance. ca. €58 to €80 for a set, but they should last 5 to 15 years if you add a bit of air to your tires every 2 months to keep them up to the ideal pressure. They will serve you well on the bumpy/rough/wet/glass strewn Berlin roads.
Other than the tires and having any €3 to €10 LEDs, lights (legally mandated and also very unsafe to ride without when dark) I feel there are no really "must do" upgrades. USB rechargeable lights may cost a little more but will save you money in long run. With a bit of luck your second hand bike will already have the €10 euro plastic fenders that work just fine. If you want great and bright lights, a hub dynamo set is the way to go.
If you do want to upgrade generally, the sky is the limit. Could end up something like this:
I would opt for one or two steps skinnier/narrower tires than in the pic above, and perhaps would get a more upright/higher handlebar/stem, but I do love me a (one size smaller) WALD basket.
Or if you really want to go all out, add a Brooks or other good saddle of your preference and any other upgrades you value. This dude did that and went even way further, adding a ton of super high end stuff besides, beautiful build! But I would never bother because of the cost and marginal improvements in practice if your are doing mostly city riding. For a world tour though, this would do very well if one added a rack and mudguards: https://www.reddit.com/r/xbiking/comments/ay603m/thought_id_share_my_92_trek_970_build/
C. Only buy a bike it if the seller is willing to completely fill in this Kaufvertrag and show you his own I.D. and write down the I.D. nr on the Kaufvertrag -> https://www.adfc.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Im-Alltag/Fahrradkauf/Download/ADFC_Musterkaufvertrag_2018-08.pdf Ask before you go to see the bike, print the Kaufvertrag before you go, it is perfectly! normal to request a filled in Kaufvertrag in Germany. If even more people did this, bike theft and especially fencing stolen bikes becomes somewhat harder.
If you do not do this, the chance the bike is stolen is waaaay higher and in theory if it ever was registered (even if 10 years and 3 sales ago) as stolen and a cop stops you and checks the frame nr., you lose the bike! Could even get in trouble. Happened to a friend of mine. Flohmarket sellers rarely are willing to give you a Kaufvertrag, because well, either it is stolen or they are not sure themselves since they bought it too without the Kaufvertrag. Plenty of (online) sellers are legit and will do the Kaufvertrag no problem, I bought about 40 bikes this way in Berlin.
D. Buy an ABUS chain or U-lock costing at least €50. The end. XD ABUS gets consistently tested as the best locks, by all kinds of bike and lock authorities. Kryptonite is close but almost always more expensive in Germany and very hard to have key copies made. I would never go cheaper or lighter/thinner than than a 85cm ca. 1.7 Kilo and up chain, they have not let me down, been using them a very long time. All I do is WD-40 it 3x per year, which is important with any lock
ABUS Iven is my go to, will run you about 65€, worth every penny. A replacement bike and lock, if yours get stolen, is a lot more expensive,.. ABUS has many offerings, but even some of their locks are too cheap, thin, bad design or have a known vulnerability, i'd be very wary of any of the ABUS chains sold in Decathlon. Always do a bit of research on Youtube and elsewhere about any specific lock.
Please do not buy your locks from Amazon if at all possible, support your local bike shop. Lampke on Graefestraße 1, 10967 Berlin, only sells parts/accessories, it is the cheapest in town by far and a quirky store in a good way.
I am not a fan of most other designs of locks (for instance the folding ones) either they have their own special vulnerabilities or are a lot more expensive and less convenient to use.
Please do keep in mind that there are 0! locks that are totally theft-proof, as you spend more cash, the time or specialist and/or sometimes expensive tools (lock picks, battery powered angle grinder) or skills that are required to break or open the lock simply go up. In that sense my title is slightly hyperbolic, nobody, including myself can 100% guarantee your bike won't ever get stolen. Following my tips will simply drastically! reduce the chances of your bike being stolen.
Sure, a larger, very functional and strong lock adds 1.2 to 1.9 Kilos to your bike, doesn't matter, shaving of those kilos will make an absurdly small difference on rather flat Berlin terrain in terms of how fast you get from A to B for any rides around 5 to 60 mins.
Use common sense, I totally leave my bike locked up for whole weekend in the most theft prone areas of Berlin,.. however I might/ideally I would chuck a secondary, different lock on it for that weekend. Essentially if you make your bike harder to steal and less attractive in the looks, sale and lock(s) departments than any other bike within 30 meters, the chance that a thief goes for yours plummet. Why take more risk and put in more effort for less profit?
E. Always lock your bike frame to a sturdy, fixed, metal post or bike rack. Check that the bike could not be lifted with lock past the top of the post and that the post is strong and secured to the floor/earth and can't simply be lifted out of the hole it is set in. Always lock your frame and if at all possible/at night also lock your back wheel (far more expensive to replace than your front) to the post. This means you need chain of 85cm or longer or a rather large U-lock, latter will also fit around a lot more posts than tiny U-locks.
F. If your MTB has quick releases (vast majority of better MTBs, touring bike and road bikes do) buy this skewer and seat post set at Lampke or Decathlon or elsewhere for about €16,00 : https://www.amazon.de/s?k=B004JMZLXQ&ref=404_search
Seatposts and wheels get stolen too. If your bikes' wheels and/or seatpost has a quick release, it takes 2 to 8 seconds to steal your unlocked wheel or seatpost and saddle with no tools. With this skewer set the thief would have a slightly harder time and at least always need a more specific tool.
G. Buy black electrical tape and tape over all the logos/branding on your bike. Costs €2 and about 4 mins. easy work. Helps a ton make sure your bike isn't an obvious target! The electrical tape won't damage your lacquer or leave glue behind, and can be removed fast and easily, so if you do ever want to sell the bike or move to the country, it won't lose value. You can certainly do the taping job neatly, it won't look nasty at all, after taping you just won't loudly be proclaiming the brand/value of the bike any more. Put an Aldi or Lidl bag over your saddle, especially if you have a nice saddle, also very nice for when it rains to have a dry bum.
Everything above may seem like a lot, but it should not take much time nor money if you have a bit of patience. Take a week or even three to find a good bike deal by browsing for 5 mins every day or two.
If you do all the above, it may be the last bike you ever buy and some things will pay for themselves. Puncture resistant tires means a lot of time or repair costs are saved since there is so much glass around Berlin. My suggested bike above is steel because there are millions of people happily riding 30 to 75+ year old steel frames with no problems at all, that is not really possible with Alu etc, it all cracks or breaks, 3 or 15 years, sooner or later it will happen, sometimes while you are riding,.. Transferring all parts to a different frame is extremely costly in terms of time and/or money. Of course almost all the other tricks work with any bike, no matter what material or model.
Final tips: if you do not have a decent floor pump buy a Topeak JoeBlow pump. Cheap, durable, rebuild-able, easy to work, fits on any type of valve and has a PSI/Bar dial, making getting the pressure right much easier. Oil your chain every month or 3 in summer, every month in winter, any cheap oil is fine as long as you use little of it or wipe away excess. Ideally put a bunch of cheap reflector stickers and spoke reflectors (I like 3M or CatEye brands) all over your bike! This €3 to €12 expense may save you a trip to the hospital or even your life, it truly can be very hard to see cyclists (even with lights on front and back) at night from the inside of a car.. When you have dark clothes, a dark bike and it is raining and car is to the side of you, forget about it. Buy a CatEye bell too, they last, their sound level can be modulated and bells can also avoid collisions. Do maintenance 2x a year or just bring it to bike shop, it may very well save you cash in the long run and will very likely increase safety. Don't ever cheap out on any brake parts or sleep on brake maintenance.
Happy cycling. :)
===== Español:
Por favor, ten en cuenta que no hay ningún candado que sea totalmente a prueba de robos, a medida que gastas más dinero, el tiempo o las herramientas especializadas y/o a veces caras o las habilidades que se requieren para romper o abrir el candado simplemente aumentan. En este sentido, mi título es ligeramente hiperbólico: nadie, yo tampoco, puede garantizar al 100% que nunca te robarán la bicicleta. Si sigues mis consejos, si reducirás drásticamente las posibilidades de que te roben la bici.
Hoy he visto estas dos, baratas bicicletas Decathlon de baja calidad para niños, justo fuera de «Saler» = uno de los más elegantes centros comerciales en Valencia, que tiene cámaras. Les robaron casi todas las piezas. Este centro comercial está en una intersección muy transitada donde la policía pasa constantemente.
Lo que esto tristemente significa,.. (no debería ser así) es que incluso si montas una bici barata o fea, ¡tienes! que gastarte 90 euros en total, o idealmente más en dos candados de buena marca (ABUS, Kryptonite, Viro, AXA y muy pocos más), endurecidos, e idealmente diferentes (tipo/marca y cilindro/llave). U-lock o cadena, nunca con código numérico, nunca de cable.
Y siempre, siempre tienes que cerrar el cuadro y la rueda trasera a una tija muy sólida o similar, así como la rueda delantera al menos al cuadro, y que necesitas reemplazar tus (cualquiera puede-abrir-y-quitar-tu-sillín-o-ruedas-sin-herramientas-en-3-segundos) "quick-releases" = tu tija de sillín y ruedas con este set:
https://www.decathlon.es/es/p/cierre-para-sillin-y-ruedas-abrazadera-con-candado/_/R-p-170559?mc=8380625
Si no haces lo anterior, es cuestión segura y de cuándo, no de "talvez": te robarán la bicicleta, las piezas o ambos. En los casos anteriores, se llevaron las ruedas, las tijas, el juego de bielas, los pedales, los sillines y mucho más.
Si compras una bicicleta con una o varias de estas características: suspensión, nueva, moderna, elegante, con grandes logotipos/marcas, frenos de disco, de marca conocida, valiosa, de aluminio, de 27.5, 28 o mas más pulgadas, o si dejas tu bicicleta (¡cualquiera!) fuera durante la noche, en cualquier lugar y con frecuencia, los riesgos se triplican.
Y las probabilidades de que un ladrón robará (y que se moleste en abrir o cortar, con herramientas especiales como ganzúas o amoladora angular a batería, incluso sus dos candados de alta resistencia) aumentan muy considerablemente.
Para información en profundidad sobre cómo hacer que tu bici no pierda valor pero parezca mucho más barata, qué tipo de bici es menos propensa a ser robada y mucho más, aquí tienes un post con muchisimos ideas y upvotes. 90% De consejos se aplican a Valencia y en cualquier lugar ->
https://old.reddit.com/r/berlin/comments/e31a51/how_to_never_get_your_bike_stolen_in_berlin_tips/