Questions and answers

Lost the bike key, or the lock will not open

You are standing at the bike. Your hands are cold, the train has gone, or you are due at work, and the key is in none of your pockets. That is a rotten moment. It is also fixable. Below are the questions people send us, and the answer we give then. No speech. What you can do now, and what you should leave alone.

Written from the van, not from a desk. About Rapido

The key is lost, and the bike is not at home

Look once, calmly. The other coat pocket, the pannier, the basket, the ground under the lock. Very often it is there, and then the evening is ordinary again. If it is not, the bike is still standing. That is the good news. Do not grab a screwdriver and do not pull the bike off the post. That bends the frame, and an insurer will later want photos of damage you made yourself. The lock may take it. The bike may not. WhatsApp 06 84 62 36 12 with a pin and a photo of the lock. You hear the amount before we drive. If it is in another town, pick it on lost bike key.

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The spare key is at home

If someone can bring the spare key, that is the nicest ending there is. Five minutes of waiting is cheaper than a visit, and your lock stays whole. If you are alone at the station and the key is on the other side of the city, the trip there and back often takes longer than we are on the road. Message home first. If that does not work, message us, and say a spare exists. Then we know the lock itself may still be fine, and we try to open it before a disc is involved.

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A bit of key is sticking out of the lock

If a bit is still sticking out, you may pull once, straight towards you, with a fine pair of pliers. Do not lever it, do not twist it. Levering snaps the stub, and then it sits deeper than it did a moment ago. If it does not come in that one calm try, stop. You have tried, that is enough. A drop of oil sometimes makes the metal smoother, and the pliers more slippery. We pull it out, or we open the cylinder. The frame stays out of the disc. How that visit goes is at snapped key.

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The key has snapped and is fully inside

If nothing is sticking out, a paperclip or a screwdriver only pushes the piece deeper into the cylinder. Leave them in your pocket. A key that is fully inside, we pull if the cylinder still allows it. If it does not, we cut the lock. Not the fork, not the rim. A lock nobody has poked yet is a smaller job than a lock that has already been picked at. So wait with “just having a look”. The bike will still be there in half an hour.

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Does WD-40 or penetrating oil help?

A dry, dirty cylinder that your key still fits: one drop of penetrating oil, let it settle, then turn calmly. Sometimes that was all it needed. Half a can in a cylinder already full of old grease and street grit becomes paste. That paste sets the pins tighter than they were. On a frozen lock, oil does almost nothing, except that the key then snaps in the ice. If you are unsure, do not. A photo to us is faster than a can of spray, and your lock is not greasier afterwards.

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The lock is frozen

Yesterday it worked, and this morning it does not. That is usually ice in the cylinder, not a broken lock. Lukewarm water over the cylinder can be enough to turn it once. Boiling water on a carbon frame, a gear hub or a battery is a mistake you feel all winter. Dry the cylinder afterwards, or the same water freezes again tonight. If it stays shut, stop pushing. The key that turns halfway and then stops snaps if you continue. Frozen bike lock goes further. If it has been stiff for weeks and it is not ice, rusted shut is the better page.

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May I cut the lock myself?

Your own lock, in daylight, that is allowed. People do it, and there is nothing secret about it. A cutting disc can still shatter. Sparks in the tyre, or a cut in the rear fork, cost more than the visit. From the pavement it also looks like theft. Stay calm if someone asks, and explain that it is your bike. We would rather you called. We bring power, including where there is no socket, and the disc goes on the lock, not on the bike. The bike still has to ride afterwards. How that visit goes is at cutting a bike lock.

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What does it cost if you come?

€75 is the first lock and the drive within 15 km of postcode 1063. Each kilometre past that is €1. Amsterdam centre, postcodes 1011 to 1018, is €25 extra. Evening from 18:00 to midnight is €25. Night from midnight to 08:00 is €50. Express, if you want to go first, is €25. We then aim for half an hour. A second lock on the same bike is €25. A new lock afterwards we agree beforehand, so the price does not surprise you later. None of this you hear only at the kerb. Work it out with the address where the bike actually stands. You can send that amount, with an easy mind, to whoever is waiting for you.

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What proof do I need to bring?

A receipt, an invoice, a registration, a hire contract, or a sharp photo of your ID with the bike. A screenshot of an advert is not ownership. Without proof we do not start, not even if it is raining and the metro is leaving. That is not distrust of you. It is so we do not open someone else’s bike while that person is still on the train. A hired OV-fiets is fine, if the hire is in your name. Why we are strict about it is at proof of ownership.

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Can I order a new key?

With AXA and ABUS you can often order a new key. You need the number that is on the key, or on the card or the receipt. The number on the lock itself is usually not enough. No number, no key by post. And if the bike is locked now, that new key lands on the mat in a few days, while you are still at the rack. Then call, do not order. Do keep the number afterwards, somewhere not on the keyring. Next time you will be glad you wrote it down.

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My insurer wants two keys

Many policies want to see two original keys after a theft. If you have lost one, tell your insurer and order a new one, or replace the lock and keep the receipt. If you do not, a claim can fail later, when the bike is already gone. Which ART class they want is in your policy, not in a general rule. On an e-bike, ART 2 is often too light. ART rating explains the stars without repeating the brochure. After opening we can bring a lock that fits that policy. Say the number in the message, and the right lock is on the van.

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The battery key is gone

The battery key is sometimes the same as the ring lock, sometimes a small key of its own that you have not seen separately in a year. Without the battery an e-bike is a heavy walk home. Do not pry in the cradle. A screwdriver there turns a stuck lock into a dead bike, and the battery is the expensive part. Send a photo of the battery lock and the make of the bike. We open the lock, not the battery. After that a chain can go through the frame, so it does not spend the night open. More on that: battery lock stuck.

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Someone has been at the lock

A cylinder that spins, a chain that is half cut, scratches that were not there yesterday. Stay off it. Take photos, note roughly the time, and message us if the bike is still locked. You report to the police if there is damage, or if it is gone. We are not detectives. We do get it free, without taking the rest of the bike into the cutting disc. Then a better lock. Whoever tried once sometimes walks that street again. How to handle it is at after a theft attempt.

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It is the middle of the night

A message at two in the morning is read. You do not have to work it out alone in the dark. Between midnight and eight the night surcharge is €50, on top of the rate. We say that before the van drives, not as a surprise next to your bike. We ask for proof the same as in the day. Stand in the light if you can, and send the gate code if you are in a courtyard. Otherwise we are at a shut door and you are with the bike. Opening at night. We are now open.

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