Buying a second-hand bike without buying a stolen one

France has a free, public check that takes thirty seconds and almost nobody uses. If you are buying a second-hand bike here, this is the page to read first.

Check the identifier before you pay

Since 2021, bikes sold by professionals in France carry a unique identifier engraved on the frame — usually on the seat tube. Ask the seller to show you, or photograph it yourself while you are standing there.

Type that number into apic-asso.com. Whether a bike is declared lost or stolen is public information: it is the one part of the FNUCI (Fichier national unique des cycles identifiés, the national register of identified cycles) that anyone can look up, specifically so that buyers can use it.

What you may see:

• "en service" (in use) or "en vente" (for sale) — nothing flagged, you can carry on.
• "volé" (stolen) or "perdu" (lost) — do not buy, and do not try to negotiate. Report the listing to the police rather than confronting the seller.
• "hors d'usage" / "détruit" (written off), or a number that matches nothing at all: ask for an explanation before going further.

Run the check in front of the seller, before paying — not at home that evening.

A missing marking is itself information

Marking has been compulsory since 1 January 2021 for new bikes sold by a professional, and since 1 July 2021 for second-hand bikes sold by a professional. Children's bikes with wheels of 40.64 cm or less are exempt.

So:

• A recent bike, sold by a shop or a trader, with no identifier: that is not normal. Ask why.
• A pre-2021 bike sold privately with no identifier: entirely normal. The check above is simply unavailable, so fall back on the other signals.
• An identifier that has been filed, sanded or scratched off: walk away.

Ask for the original invoice

It is the simplest and most revealing question. A genuine owner has often kept the facture, and can at least tell you where and when they bought the bike and roughly what they paid.

Ask for the second lock key too. People rarely sell a bike without it. Thieves never have it.

The seller has to transfer the bike to you in the register

When a marked bike is sold, the owner must report the change to the operator that issued the identifier, and pass you the information you need to access the register yourself. This is an obligation, not an optional courtesy.

A seller who refuses, who will "sort it out later", or who has no idea what you are talking about despite the bike being marked, is telling you something. Without that transfer, the bike stays registered to somebody else.

The other signals

None of these proves anything on its own. Several together are enough to walk away:

• a price well below market for the condition described;
• a seller in a hurry, proposing to meet somewhere neutral and far from where they live;
• several different bikes for sale from the same account;
• no clear photo of the frame, or photos obviously taken somewhere else;
• a frame size that visibly does not match the person selling it;
• a story that changes between the listing and the meeting.

If the bike was never marked in France

This is common for a bike bought abroad — which, in Grenoble, is a lot of bikes — or sold privately for years. In that case Bike Index is a free international register where many owners record their bikes and report thefts, and where you can search a serial number.

It is a useful complement, not a substitute: in France, the FNUCI is the one that counts.

What you stand to lose

If the bike you buy turns out to be stolen, it goes back to its rightful owner and you are not compensated, even if you bought it in complete good faith. You lose the bike and the money.

And buying one while knowing it was stolen is recel (handling stolen goods, article 321-1 of the code pénal), punishable by five years' imprisonment and a €375,000 fine. Which is the real reason the checks above are worth thirty seconds of awkwardness.

Buying used without the worry, in Grenoble

uN p'Tit véLo dAnS La Tête repairs and resells second-hand bikes at modest prices, and is also a workshop where you can learn to fix your own. 5 bis rue de Londres, 38000 Grenoble — ptitvelo.net

Once you have bought the bike, get it marked in your own name — that is what makes it possible to return it to you if it disappears in turn. The Grenoble addresses are at the end of the guide.

And if a bike of yours has already been stolen: here is what to do, and you can report it here.