Bike stolen in Madrid: what to do, step by step

You come downstairs and the rack is empty. Or there is a cut cable lock lying on the pavement. It is a horrible feeling, and most people stand there for a while not knowing what to do next. Here are the steps, in the order that makes sense.

1. Gather everything you know about the bike

Before you go to the police, collect the details. The more specific the description, the easier it is for someone to recognise the bike if it turns up.

• Serial number. It is usually stamped under the bottom bracket, the part of the frame where the tubes meet and the pedals attach. If you never wrote it down, check the receipt, the original box or the brand’s app if you registered the bike.
• Receipt or proof of purchase. It shows the bike is yours, and almost every insurer will ask for it.
• Photos. Go through your phone for pictures of the whole bike and of details: stickers, scratches, accessories.
• Description. Brand, model, colour, frame size, brake type and anything that makes it different: a swapped saddle, a basket, a rack, a particular light.

2. File a police report (denuncia)

Without a report nothing else works: no insurance claim, no Biciregistro alert, no way to claim the bike back if it is found.

Online, with the Policía Nacional. The national police run an online reporting office, the Oficina Virtual de Denuncias. It is for incidents with no violence or intimidation, where you do not know who did it and there are no witnesses. A bike stolen from the street overnight usually fits. When you finish, you get a reference number, and you must sign the report at the police station you chose as soon as possible and never later than 72 hours. Without that signature the report has no legal validity. The upside is that you arrive with the work done and do not have to tell the whole story again at the desk. The online form is in Spanish, so have a translation app ready if you need it.

In person. If the bike was taken by force or with threats, if you saw who took it or if there were witnesses, the online route does not apply: go straight to a police station. If it is happening right now, call 091 or 112.

Policía Municipal. Each district has a Policía Municipal citizen service office (Oficina de Atención al Ciudadano) inside the district police unit, which handles complaints and reports. If it is closer, ask there.

Keep your copy of the report. You will need it for everything that follows.

3. Biciregistro: useful, but only if you register first

Biciregistro is a voluntary bike register run by the Red de Ciudades por la Bicicleta, a network of Spanish cities, and Madrid is part of it. It works like this:

1. You sign up at biciregistro.es and enter the bike’s details and photos.
2. You validate the registration in person, at the City Council with an appointment or through an authorised administrative agency (gestor administrativo). You receive a marking kit with a code for the bike.
3. If the bike is stolen, you mark it as missing on the website and attach your police report.

If the police find a bike with that code, they can trace the owner. The hard part: it really helps when the bike was already registered and marked before it was stolen. With your next bike, do it on day one. Conditions and fees are on the City Council’s website and on Biciregistro itself.

4. Check your insurance

Plenty of people do not know whether they are covered. Look at:

• Home insurance. Some policies cover bikes, but each one sets its own conditions. Check whether theft outside the home is covered or only inside the flat or storage room, and whether there is a limit.
• Bike insurance, if you took it out when you bought the bike.
• The card or account you paid with, in case it includes purchase protection.

Call with the police report, the receipt and the photos in front of you. Also ask whether they require a specific type of lock. Some policies do, and it is good to know before you buy the next bike.

5. Search Wallapop and other apps

Many stolen bikes end up on second hand apps, sometimes within days.

• Search by brand and model, and also by generic descriptions in Spanish (“bici carretera talla M”, “bici paseo azul”), because the seller may not know what they have.
• Save the search so the app notifies you about new listings.
• Look closely at the photos: a scratch, a sticker or an accessory you recognise is worth more than the text.
• Check other classified sites and local buy and sell groups too.

If you think you have found it: do not meet the seller alone to get it back. Screenshot the listing and the profile, note the date and take it to the police together with your report number. Let them decide how to act.

6. Your next bike: how to lock it

No lock is impossible to open. The goal is to make your bike take more time and more noise than the one next to it.

The lock. A good quality U lock is the best everyday choice. Thin cable locks can be cut in seconds. If the bike is expensive or spends long hours outside, use two locks of different types, so a thief needs two different tools.

What to lock. Always the frame, together with the rear wheel, which is the more expensive one. Secure the front wheel with a second lock or a cable through it. If your wheels or saddle have quick release levers, swap them for locking skewers or take the saddle with you.

What to lock it to. A rack that is firmly fixed to the ground. In Madrid the city’s mobility ordinance does not allow locking bikes to signs, trees, benches or bus shelters, and only allows furniture that marks off spaces, such as some railings, when there is no bike parking nearby. Always check that the bike cannot be lifted over the top of the post.

How to position the lock. Tight, with little free space inside the U so a bar cannot fit. And off the ground, where it is easier to break.

At night, inside. A hallway, storage room, your flat or a supervised car park. Many thefts happen to bikes left locked for hours in the same place.

7. Do now what you wish you had done

With your new bike, or the one you still have, spend ten minutes today:

1. Photograph the whole bike from both sides, plus close ups of details.
2. Photograph and write down the serial number.
3. Save the receipt in your email or cloud storage.
4. Register it with Biciregistro.
5. Check what your insurance covers.

If it ever happens, you will have everything ready in two minutes.

If you buy another one, or yours turns up

If you get the bike back, it has probably spent days outside or with someone who did not look after it, so it is worth having a workshop check it before you ride it every day again. And if you buy a second hand bike to replace it, a service at the start is a good idea. On madridbikes.com you tell us what the bike needs, in English or Spanish, and we assign a partner workshop in your area.