Inpd

So I just completed my first mini-tour! Hooray for me. I promise to post details shortly.

But what struck me was the vulnerability whilst sleeping/camping outdoors. I'm a long time camper but this was very different:

a) My sole form of transportation was locked up, but anyone could have picked it up and put it in a truck stranding me.
b) It was just me so if something bad happened I'd be helpless.

I guess I could have camped on the outskirts of the towns I visited, but that brings its own problems as your closer to population.

mstateglfr 

Yes, the bike could have been stolen. Locking it to a tree or something immovable makes it even less likely someone will drive to you in the middle of the night to steal your bike. Again, thats less likely since its already not likely even if you didnt lock you bike at all.

If you are really concerned, tie a string of fishing line from your bike to your tent. Thatll move your tent if your bike is moved. Havent done that, maybe ime too lazy or trusting, but i guess it could help alleviate your concern.

And yes if you are alone you dont have help from an immediate companion. Same thing applies anytine you are alone in life. If i were hurt riding my bike alone 20mi from home, i would be in the same position as 200mi from home or 2000mi from home. I would need to call for help or find help.

Tourist in MSN

I have had no problems and I have not worried. I do not clean my bike on a tour, I want it to look dirty and dull. I almost always lock up my bike at night to a tree, picnic table, fence, or some other immovable object.

The only thing I regularly do before a tour to reduce potential for theft on a tour is that I remove my quick release skewers and put on bolt-on ones that use a 5mm Allen wrench. On one of my bikes I have a dynohub and a Rohloff, thus two rather expensive wheels.

But if you really are that worried, take your front wheel off and put it in your tent vestibule, a bike with only one wheel is less valuable and less likely to be stolen. Or take the seatpost (with seat attached) out of the frame and bring it in the tent. (If you do that, put something over the hole in the frame to keep out the rain, and your seatpost probably has grease on it.) If you do adjust your seatpost bolt every day, carry a spare bolt in case of breakage.

If there is a campground office with personnel on site overnight, ask if you can park your bike at the office.

Miele Man

I have a Blackburn type lowrider front rack (circa mid1980s type) on my bike. I bought my tent which is a two man dome one and it's big enough that I can remove the front wheel and bring the bike inside the tent where the front of the bike then rests on the bottom of the low rider.

Two quick release skewers and axles can be used instead of the lowrider rack to stabilize the bike. Put one end of one quick release skewer and axle in one front fork dropout and the other on the opposite side. that'll give you a pretty stable base.

I have 70% hearing loss and bring my bike into the tent when i sleep in a campground. A year or so ago a fellow riding from BC to the east coast of Canada stopped at a store in Montreal. When he came out his bike and gear were gone. I don't want that to happen to me so i keep the bike insidethe tent with me at night. That's one advantage to having a bit bigger tent.

Cheers

Rob_E

Sometimes I am struck by how alone and vulnerable you are, but sometimes I am also struck by how much the opposite is true compared to how I grew up.

Used to ride 20 or 30 miles to visit family members. There was generally a pre-arranged plan in that they would be expecting me and my parents would be planning on meeting me there later for the return trip (I usually only biked one way), but then, from the moment I left home until the moment I arrived, I was out of contact. If a road was closed, I found a way around. If I read the map wrong, I wasted time riding in the wrong direction. If I wanted to contact anyone, I would have to knock on a door and hope that someone would help me. And heaven forbid you need to call someone from halfway in between, because you'd be asking a stranger to incur long distance charges on your behalf. Thank goodness it never came to that. And if my parents arrived at my destination before I did, they just had to wait and hope that I showed up. They could try and drive my route, but they had no way of knowing exactly what route I had followed, how I had handled detours, or when I had taken a wrong turn. They really just had to hope I showed up.

These days I can pull up a map from almost anywhere. My wife can ping my phone's last known location. But she doesn't have to, because I usually just call her and tell her where I am, or she reads it on Facebook.

Yes, if someone walks off with your bike in the middle of the night, it can be show stopper, but I feel like I'm much connected to everyone than I ever was. I could probably text my wife an address, and she could have my other bike delivered there in a day or two. Or I could hitch a ride to nearest town and make other transportation arrangements from the car with my phone.

You are vulnerable, and bad things do happen, but rarely, and, frankly, they can happen on tour or not on tour. We don't know whrer or when bad things will happen, but at least they don't happen often, so enjoy the ride.

andrewclaus

After a while you might come to revel in the freedom.

But always use some situational awareness to keep out of obvious trouble, and minimize what risks you can.

As said already, bad stuff could happen if you stay home, too.

travelinhobo

If you're the kind that lives with the 'what ifs?', you stress yourself out and lose out. I have to assume you're talking about touring the states. I did a 13 week tour a year ago of southern Cal and never had any problems. I've been street homeless now for a year and no problems - and I only use my tent for rain and temps under 40. Sure, this and that could have happened, but it didn't because I have common sense and am very cautious about the places I cowboy camp. I sleep with mace and have never had to use it. I'm also very vigilant about not being caught, esp. by the cops. You need to get out of the Hollywood state of mind that the bad guy is just around the corner waiting to stalk you. Also, I never "camp" downtown or where the other homeless are. I'm usually miles from them.

shelbyfv

What's really scary is you and your bike may not be safe even whilst not sleeping. https://www.bikeforums.net/general-cy...d-hit-run.html Fellow lost life AND bike whilst JRA!

reppans

I've had a nice bicycle, and gear off my parked motorcycle stolen before, so the theft thing has always been a huge damper for me. Got a Brompton (and into ultra-light backpacking) this year which has flipped things around - thinking of leaving my stupid lock at home now, considering I haven't used it since: Bicycle Tourer and Tourist. Sacrifice: rough dirt roads, and ~1 mph.

Inpd

Wow, I would never ever expect a homeless person to post on this forum.

The can of mace idea is a good one. I'm not so worried about other humans, but dogs, feral cats etc. as well.

hartlean

I've been bike camping plenty. I never worry about people, but am sometimes concerned about bears.
Some measures I’ve taken, & they do make me feel safer:
1. Stealth camping, away from populations, and—I hope—anyone who would try to make off with my stuff, and almost always in thick brush & on top of nice crackly leaves that make lots of noise when anyone—or even animals larger than chipmunks—approaches.
2. Motion detecting alarm attached to seatpost.
3. Handlebar bag—with pepper spray, $, credit cards, IDs & other valuables—stored with me in my hammock.
4. Wrapping a heavy duty webbing around my downtube & front wheel, which also facilitates leaning the bike against trees, (un)packing panniers & sleeping bag, & repairs.

DropBarFan

For grocery-getting I use a U-lock but those don't work well for locking a bike to a tree or picnic table. In a regular campground it would be fairly easy for a brazen thief to steal an unsecured bike. Once was swimming at a remote beach & jerk stole my car key: nothing in the car worth stealing but perp threw the car key away somewhere & it was a huge hassle getting home & having to return to fetch the car.

Walter S

I almost always wild-camp with my hammock. The bicycle is leaning on a tree and lashed to the hammock not more than three feet from where I'm sleeping in it. I can be a reasonably sound sleeper but I'm quite confident nobody is going to discover me in the woods, shine lights around the area and figure out how to quietly extract my bicycle from the hammock lashings and camping gear while leaving me there to wake up without my transportation

fietsbob

I stayed in a few Commercial campgrounds on my European Tours.. Like staying in Hostels You Get to Meet Other Cycle tourists There.


I secure my Bike to stuff , trees chain link fences Picnic tables ..etc.

Inpd

Anyone had close calls or God forbid their bike/stuff taken?

Maybe the reality is quite different from my perception! But I remember sitting in my tent thinking: "Any bike lock is breakable if given enough time, oh crap, I'll be asleep for the next 8 hours!"

kellichou

Well, they are people, just like all of us. And I think any of us could find ourselves without a home, whether by plain hard luck or even by choice. I've seen a number of posts from folks on BF about choosing a more nomadic lifestyle. Different strokes for different folks.

fietsbob

Had my Passport, Cash & TC, and return ticket Nicked by airport pickpocket at Shiphol ..

Took 48hrs to have US embassy clear me to go.. & BA comped a Ticket back to SFO From AMS

Next trip all that was in a Money Belt under my clothes , not a Back pack pocket.

Doug64

I believe that there is a lot of merit to these posts. I have toured for over 4 decades. My wife and I have spent over 16 months actually touring during the last 10 years in 12 different countries. We take reasonable precautions, but do not obsess over either our sleeping arrangements or fear of someone stealing our bikes or gear. In all that time we have never had anything stolen or been in a "bad" situation. That is unless you count accidentally riding between 2 drunks throwing rocks at each other being in a bad situation.


However, bike theft in larger cities can be a real problem. In Portland, Oregon over 2100 bikes were stolen last year; 1000 bikes were stolen in Eugene, Oregon during the same period. Our son, daughter, and a nephew have all had bike stolen in Portland. My daughter's bike was stolen, recovered, and stolen again! In Amsterdam over 17,000 bikes are stolen annually. Point is : secure your bike properly in large cities (check how the locals do it), or avoid large cities.

I don't try to disguise our bike with dirt, stickers, etc. A professional bike thief can see through the facade. A lot of bikes are stolen to part out, a much safer way of selling stolen items. I actually try to keep our bikes as clean as possible while on tour. It really helps out when you decide to use a motel and want to bring the bike into the room. The bikes also run better when they are clean.

We have pretty nice bikes, but this is our usual security method on tours; a medium size cable and a sturdy looking lock. This is enough to deter most opportunistic thieves. I do not take my panniers into the tent. They usually sit on the seat of a picnic table or under the edge of the rainfly. If we leave the campground to ride into town or explore, we will put the panniers inside while gone.


Sometimes you just have to use a little ingenuity. If I was so worried about my bike and gear while inside a restaurant, museum or grocery store that it caused major anxiety, bike touring would not be enjoyable. When undue anxiety severely limits the freedom a bike is capable of providing , the bike and gear tend to be an anchor. My wife summed it up pretty well after I voiced some concerns about leaving the bikes locked to a fence in a campground to spend the day exploring a region by train, "they are only tools."

shelbyfv

You should search for posts by biketouringhobo. You might appreciate his posting style, he had a similar reluctance to let go of a subject he found interesting. He, too, had some issues. I think he is at Adventure Cycling now if you want to touch base.

BigAura

You are being way too paranoid IMO. Lock your bike and go to sleep. Unless you're in a crime-zone-bike-stealing-area the likelihood of someone stealing your bike is miniscule.

jefnvk

Not often I agree with BigAura, but he is spot on here. I'm of the opinion that any bike theft from a campsite is an unpredictable, unlikely event that barring the incredibly obviously simple steps of locking to something solid with a reputable lock, you have zero control over.

SparkyGA

Worst thing I've ever had happen to me while camping in the middle of nowhere was my GF's $1 market sandal was taking by a dog in the Sahara Desert. Found teeth marks in the other sandal haha.

I don't sweat camping out in the middle of nowhere ever. I tend to camp in spots that are very very hard to find and where no obvious people would be wandering. Never had the slightest issue regardless of where I was in the world.

DropBarFan

Recently 2 Swiss women had their Long Haul Truckers stolen from a DC Metro station, the women went to buy bikes to finish their cross-US trip & got some nice help, one of the LHT's was recovered & perp was busted, other bike still missing. The Swiss ladies used thin cable locks, not realizing the extent of thefts in US. A good reminder to write down frame serial number.

Swiss Tourist's Stolen Bike Found, Fixed by DC-Area Cycling Community | NBC4 Washington

indyfabz

+1. I did a week-long tour across PA without a lock. Even when I bring a lock I use it infrequently. Mostly when I grocery shop in more heavily populated areas. Don't think I locked my bike one night during my week-long tour back in September. A 'coon tried to run ff with a pannier. That was the only attempted theft.

Some local kids did try to steal my stove from a private campground in WY. I was dumb. I left it out in plain site close to a road. Fortunately, I saw them (they didn't see me) while I was outside the laundry room reading and was able to chase them off. Moral of the story: Don't leave valuables out where people can easily get to them.

Sharpshin

I was using a rather stout cable lock until one day, on my way to work, the lock mechanism jammed outside a grocery store and I was stuck, with thirty kids needing to pile into my classroom in about twenty minutes.

Fortunately they sold hacksaws in the hardware aisle.

I was out of there inside of ten minutes. I was stunned by how easy it was to saw through even a stout cable with a $3.95 hacksaw. Lots of people passing by, no-one said anything at all while I was "stealing" my bike.

Since I usually ride with at least one pannier, now I commonly pack a premium U lock, AND a cable lock, same thing on tour. Often the U lock secures the frame to a bike rack, railing or fence while the cable secures the front wheel.

Although I would agree that in most rural areas everywhere bike theft is almost a non-issue.

Mike