I have been fortunate not to have a bike stolen on tour. I did have a (stupidly unlocked) bike stolen outside a grocery store in Fort Collins, CO when I lived there.
I have been on tours with a few smaller things stolen:
- My bicycle bell was stolen from my bike when parked in an underground parking garage in Mysore, India. It was one place in India I had lost the argument of whether I could bring my bike to my room. Hotel staff had insisted it would be safe in their underground locked garage. I had also locked it in the garage, but not anticipated the bell being taken. In India you notice almost immediately when you are missing a bell...
- My cycling partner had her bicycle pump stolen from her bike in a small village of xxxxxx in the Russian far east (Amur oblast). She had parked her bike by the store to buy some food and some youth had taken her pump. She had chased them but was unable to catch them.
- On TDA supported tour, we had some things stolen. The most surprising was one of our toilet tents in Kenya. Photo below is of such a tent though in Ethiopia, prior to the theft. It could be a disgusting spot with a small tent around a hole in the ground. At same time the toilet tent was stolen a staff member lost some shoes and clothes from under the rainfly. We also had two bikes stolen - but recovered after we worked with tribal locals.
I typically carry a small cable lock and probably are a little too blase in always locked, but knock on wood have been mostly fortunate.
