mjoekingz28

What do you do when you enter a store to purchase water and supplies?

Like when you're traveling and you need to go into Walmart to purchase something or a convenient store to get a drink.


I know these bikes are expensive but the real killer is being stranded if someone runs off with it or maybe they leave the bike and take your saddlebags or something.

I hate to seem paranoid but I sure would be when I had to enter a store with all that precious cargo sitting outside.


Can you bring it inside or something?


For camping, I suspect getting a big enough tent to accompany your bike would help one sleep at night.

KDC1956

What I do is I have three locks and I lock it up to a pole or something.And if you go to wal-mart while on tour I would take my bike in the store if for some reason they want let you then lock your bike up and take your panniers in the store with you.And anything else they can get off your bike easy too.Don't even try to get a big tent it will be way to heavy to have with you.Again just lock up your bike to something close to you.You can take your bags/panniers in your tent and still have room even in a one man tent unless you are a huge guy.Then you could get a two or three person tent.

Yan 

Not at chance.

https://www.2wheels.org.uk/return/mon...my-bicycle.asp

I carry a U lock and cable lock on tour and use both when locking up.

I know some people here harbour visions of honest small town folk never having committed crimes in their lives. Unfortunately it doesn't really work that way.

staehpj1

Most of the time I tour in places where I am not worried about it. When I do pass through larger towns I am likely to take more care.

The amount of concern is dependent on where I am and it ranges from not much to quite a bit.

1. Small rural towns - I leave the bike unlocked and with the panniers in place, but do take the handlebar bag containing money, camera, phone, and debit/credit cards.with me.
2. In bigger towns or anywhere I feel concerned a bit more - I lock with an inexpensive cable lock, but still leave the panniers.
3. In cities or some larger towns where for some reason I am concerned - I try not to leave anything out of my sight.

I ride a fairly inexpensive bike and have a bunch of used camping gear and dirty clothes. There just isn't that much that would be attractive to a thief. So in all but the more bike friendly cities I don't worry too much. In some little town with a population of 39 and the next town 40 miles away where none of the locals lock anything I don't worry at all.

valygrl

Same as staehpj1, except I do lock the bike even in small towns if I'm going to be away from it more than 5 minutes or so. It only takes a second to lock it. If I can't lock it to an object, I lock it's wheels to itself.

If I'm going to be away for many hours, like if I'm going on a hike or something, I try to find a safe indoor place to leave it - like the tourist information center. Once when I went to the movies I asked the ticket taker, and they offered to put it in a back room for me. But if I can't find such a place, I'll usually do whatever it is I want to do anyway - the whole point of the journey is to explore & enjoy new places, so I wouldn't want worry about something getting stolen to ruin that.

As to at night, I bring all my bags in the tent with me and lock the bike to something solid - tree, fence, picnic table.

Valuables come with me at all times - wallet, passport, camera - in the handlebar bag. The one tour I had to bring a computer I started by keeping that in the H.B. bag too, but it made the bike handle poorly, so I just took my chances & left it in the pannier. I think not displaying your expensive toys will go a long way towards not getting them stolen.

I only have toured in 1st world countries, where it would not be the total end of the world to lose the bike, though. I guess if I was going to Mongolia I might want a companion to take turns watching it.

Chris!

If i can see the bike i leave everything on it except my handlebar bag because it has my wallet cell phone etc... i figure that the bike is far to heavy to get away with if i can see it. If i have to leave it and i cannot see it i use a Ulock and take everything that comes off the bike, to me it is never worth the risk of loosing my way home

axolotl

I've toured in developing countries and haven't had any problems at all. I have had stuff stolen in 1st world countries, however. Each country and each locale is obviously different, however.

staehpj1

I forgot to mention what I do at night... I leave the panniers on the bike with most of the gear in them. The handlebar bag, whatever I need for the night, and what I will wear in the morning comes in everything else stays on the bike. I lock the bike at night with a cable lock most nights and try to keep it close and in sight from the tent.

The exception is where I think the likelihood of being raided by critters is high. In that case the panniers may be hung out of reach or kept in a bear box.

The other thing is tail heads where we want to go for a hike. In that case I take the handlebar bag (it has a shoulder strap), and cable lock the bike somewhere it is out of sight to passing traffic or in plain sight depending on which seems safer for that particular location.

raybo

My first thought is to keep the bike in sight at all times. If I am going into a store, I try to take it inside and find a place where I will be able to see it while I shop. If I can find something to lock it to, I do. If I have to leave it outside, I try to find a place where it can't be easily seen and lock it there. At night, I lock it near the tent, if I am camping. I take the panniers into the tent with me at night.

As for valuables, I wear a Camelbak and keep everything of value in there. Since I am always wearing it, I never leave anything valuable on the bike when I'm off it.

I recently bought a bike lock that sounds an alarm if it is cut. It is a plastic lock with a thin cable that will stop a snatch and run theft but offer no resistance to a cable cutter. I haven't toured with it yet but it will be the only lock I carry on my next tour.

This page has 6 links to information about locking a bike while on tour.

Ray

Pscyclepath

I take it in with me wherever I go... but for some reason my Sweetie doesn't want to go riding much any more...

Bikearound

I've found that in addition to locking my bike (common sense), if I ask someone to keep an eye on it for me, they are more than happy to oblige. I've even had restaurants invite me to bring my bike inside rather than leave it unprotected. I think most people realize that a bicycle tourist is somewhat more vulnerable to theft and the consequences and are a little more willing to help out at least thats been my experience. I think if you were to poll fellow bicycle tourists you'll find that the nice people to ****** bag factor is about 1000/1 here in the states and people want you to be safe and sound and as long as you're not THAT .001%.

jharte

Yeah, I think it depends on where you are. These days attitudes are different. I started touring and camping in the early 80s. Now it's stealth camping and locking everything up, especially if you are in a developed country and decent sized city.

Now I carry a cable lock, and when camping, I purposely hide. Quite a bit different now than when I started touring. Unfortunetly if you do take a chance and don't lock up, you may end up being that .001%. That would suck.

Jerry H

Bikearound

That .001% I was referring to is Nice people vs. D bags. I always lock my bike when I'm not in sight of it. My point was that if you ask someone to keep an eye on it to make sure no one digs through your equipment, they will most likely be willing to help you out. Now I can't speak for every place on the planet but where I've toured, I'd say it's the norm. Your WalMart greeter, gas station attendant, restaurant matradee etc etc. etc., these people are generally very nice and helpful if you ask or will tell you a safer place to lock your bike than one you may have chosen.

bktourer1

Most of the time I lock bike, take bar bag (valuables) and watch from inside the store. I have walked my bike right into Walmart. The don't have signs saying no bikes. If you can bring in a stroller/wheelchari why not a bike?
Check with a manager. In Stop & Shop in Sandwich MA. I asked the manager and was allowed to leave by the courtesy desk. At Plimoth Plantation, I wrote ahead and the manager allowed be to bring bike upstairs were visitors were not allowed and at the Mayflower II, inside the gate and the ticket taker watched it.

twodeadpoets

I have a wheel lock cable combo that works very well but even then in cities my wife and I take turns watching the bikes because sometimes we don't want to have to take all the panniers, computers, cameras, and what not off just to get a couple of things. But it is a concern of mine for the same reasons as you (being stranded). And I probably worry more than I should as my obsession has affected where we go and for how long... but then I need medication

stokell

First, I tour mostly in Europe, but around Ontario and New York State too. In many ways the three places are similar.

If you have a shiny, expensive looking bike, lock everything to a pole if you are going out of sight of your bike, even if just for several seconds. Two locks, one for each wheel and two different kinds of locks.

That said, here is what I do. I have an old tour bike, painted CaDPAT camo. You can barely see it at the best of times. All things of value are in my handlebar bag. After several days on the road, the panniers get a kinda 'funky' smell to them anyway, but I fasten them to the bike and the bike to something that won't move and take the handlebar bag. If someone wants to rummage through my dirty underwear, they are welcome to it.

I have a Velcro strip to chock the front wheel brake. It prevents the bike from falling when you lean it against something and acts as a theft protector when walking away from the bike for a few seconds, but still in full view.

I learned something very important one year in Reading, England. I found myself in a very busy shopping district with many hundreds of bikes locked up in various areas. "Why would someone steal my bike from here?" I asked myself. "The owner could be returning at any second."

Bike thieves would have to watch you arrive and strike immediately to avoid being caught. I locked up and went and sat in the shade, sure enough within seconds someone approached my bike and appeared to bend over it. I was up like a rabbit and he must have had a lookout, because he was gone into the crowd in a second. I went shopping and came back to find nothing touched.

My point? What are they going to steal? Your bike? It's locked with two different locks. Your stuff? Is your stuff that important that it can keep you hostage?

BTW: I found many museums and galleries will take a touring bike at the cloak room (coat check) for you. Lock it anyway.

cyclezealot

I never let my bike out of sight unless it is attached to something with a a respectable lock... Luckily where I live, crime is not bad and bike thefts are uncommon. If I lived in a high crime area, don't know if I could let my bike out of sight.. / Here at Bike forums, I remember some cyclists posted he/she went to take a stroll down the hillside at Big Sur, Calif. to have a closer look at the scenery.. As he/she ascended the hill, he was able to see someone put his bike into their pick up and tear off. Assure, you , you'll never catch up with your thieves while running after them in bike shoes..

Bekologist

mini u and a cable comes with on my tours and get used solo or in combination depending on circumstance. my panniers semi-secure on the bike with straps to make them difficult to remove from the racks unless you know where to release them, but they aren't 'locked' on.

nancy sv

I know that we are in a different situation than someone traveling solo, but we never leave our bikes alone. Never. We always leave someone behind to watch the bikes. If we go for a hike, one of us stays behind. If we go into a store, someone stays outside. The only time we ever leave the bikes is when they are safely locked up in a hotel room or in someone's house.

sehsuan

That's security question is part of the reason why I decided on a Tubus LOCC... because it had an integrated ABUS/Rixen & Kaul KlickFix mount. I promptly purchased a Granit X Plus in 300mm length so that I could lock two bikes at one go, and got my girlfriend to get the same setup as well, except that her U Lock is a 230mm since our local distributor didn't have any 300mm in stock. I don't usually carry my Trek/Kryptonite Dreadlock for trips, but I would if I'm anal about where I'm headed. Carrying a 1.6+ kg U lock will allow me to go faster downslopes (OK, so it sucks going UPslope...) and once I take off my rack off my bike, I'm able to ride faster on my bike - it's a XC race rig except that I don't race

jurjan

We just lock the bikes (and if we remember to take the 'security-wire attachment next time we'll lock them together). At night: same thing.
We just try not to worry. Otherwise the thinking about what CAN go wrong WILL ruin your holiday.
(not that we don't think about stuff, but we don't let it get the upper hand).

sehsuan

Oh yes - I'm using a 3 foot length of braided steel wire, intended for hanging flowerpots, to go through itself for the front wheel, and lock off the other end in my ABUS. Pardon me for forgetting...

acantor

I carry a U-Lock on tour, and always carry my money, passport, and other valuables with me. I usually secure my bike to something seriously immobile when I leave it... but context is everything. While on a tour in Switzerland a few years ago, my bike needed a small repair. I arrived in a town, found a bike shop, but it was closed for lunch. Outside the store, there was a display of a dozen or more VERY expensive racing and mountain bicycles... all unlocked! Needless to say, I did not bother locking up in that town!

BigBlueToe

I bring a big cable lock from Home Depot. I lock up the bike (including the wheels) whenever I go into a store or restaurant, and at night. I bring my wallet and keys into the store/restaurant with me. I leave my camera in the handlebar bag. I don't worry so much about someone rifling through my bags. If they do, the camera is older and I'd miss the loss of the pictures on the memory card more than the camera.

Now I have a new worry. I bought a Kindle for $259 (I love it!) That would be a big loss if it were stolen. However, I keep it in a front pannier. Hopefully bad people would be even less likely to go through that than the handlebar bag.

AdamDZ

Good topic. I'm going on my first tour around NY State in May. I will carry a U-Lock to lock the frame to something, a big steel cable to lock wheels (yeah, from Home Depot too) and a thin steel cable to keep my seat and rear panniers locked. Front panniers will be semi-permanently attached and will require undoing one bolt to remove. I will carry my documents, money, keys, phone and GPS with me. Although, I haven't heard anything serious about theft problems in NY State parks and campgrounds. But better be safe than sorry. When we were camping (by car) we'd leave our gear and stuff outside at night or when we went camping, never had any problems. Small towns also aren't known for theft problems.