Best bike locks in Leiden 2026

Leiden records around 2,500 bike thefts a year, relatively many for a city of 125,000 — the university, with 32,000 students, is the main driver. Hotspots are Leiden Centraal, Stationsweg, Breestraat, Pieterskerkplein and around the faculty buildings on Rapenburg and Witte Singel. On Stationsweg after midnight and around the nightlife on Nieuwstraat, bikes get 'socially borrowed' regularly. Insurers like Centraal Beheer and Reaal require ART-3 in postcodes 2311 to 2316 for e-bikes. Leiden students overwhelmingly pick the Abus Bordo 6000 (fits in a college bag), while commuters and older residents of Stevenshof, Merenwijk and Roomburg go for the classic Kryptonite New York or Abus Granit. The station has a guarded NS facility (first 24 hours free). Always combine at least an ART-2 chain lock through the frame with the AXA Defender ring lock; a ring lock alone means students will 'take home' your bike during a night out.