baldilocks

Wanting to squeez in a bike overnighter yet this year if possible. I would ride to a local campground. Go across the street to a mtb path and ride. Go back to camp maybe swim, eat and sleep. Wake in the morning eat and come home. What do you do with your bike when your bike camping. If I can carry a big enough tent, I would bring it inside. What do you do?

Caretaker

Nothing.

imi

c0urt

chain to tree if worried

indyfabz

Sometimes I lock it to a picnic table leg or something. I did in Burlington, VT last June because the public had easy access to the municipal campground and I saw who I believed was a junkie about. But most times I don't bother. I have even gone out for a week in populated areas without a lock.

jefnvk

Lock ot to a picnic table or tree or orher large immobile object.

If thats not an option, run a lock through the wheel and frame so it can't be ridden off

hhk25

I sometimes bring a lightweight lock to discourage theft but I don't know if it's even necessary. Most people hanging around a campground aren't interested in your bike and/or are generally decent people. If you're worried about joyriders, do something to discourage them like removing your wheels and saddle and storing in your tent.

Leebo

Lean against picnic table, sometimes I bring a thin cable lock.

Tourist in MSN

Usually lock it up to an immovable object, but it depends on the area. The more out of town travelers there are, the more I am careful as you can get lulled into thinking that the risk is lower than it really is.

If I am really nervous, I might pull the front wheel out of the fork and lock that up with the bike. The goal here it to make theft more complicated so that a potential thief might be less inclined to want to fiddle with it. Where I used to work, one guy always locked up his bike with the front wheel pulled out of the fork, but it only took 5 or 10 seconds to reassemble later so it was not that much of an inconvenience for him.

I usually am not very careful about locking up both wheels with the frame. Around home I usually use quick release skewers, but for touring I use the bolt on skewers that use a 5 mm allen wrench.

manapua_man

I usually place my bike under a giant rock that chases people through a series of traps if they try to take it.

Ghazmh

stardognine

Always bring a cable lock, then if there aren't any picnic tables, just lock it to a small tree. Those are pretty much everywhere. 😉
That's for bad circumstances, I usually leave my bike laying on the ground, right by my head. It keeps anyone from creeping up behind me, lol, and makes it easier getting up.
I carry a nice one-man tent (again), but prefer sleeping under the stars.

reppans

Tourist in MSN

Or you could leave your laundry out over night.

jefnvk

Doesn't that risk scratching the paint tho?

I'm guessing that pic was taken in the middle of the night as well?

davester

I've always used a lightweight cable lock to secure the bike to an object near my tent or sleeping bag. I just bought an Ottolock, which is way stronger than a cable lock but not much heavier. Haven't used it for touring yet though.

Tourist in MSN

Actually no, but you know how light it is in the middle of the night in Jun in Iceland, so it could have been.

travelinhobo

What is bike camping?

If there are other campers nearby, you could always try to strike up a conversation before you'll need the help and then decide on who you could ask to watch it if you're not there. RVers probably wouldn't have a problem with this. If you just mean what to do with it overnight while you're asleep, you lock it to either a tree or something else. Sometimes when I toured and there wasn't a small enough tree nearby, I'd lay it down next to my tent, with a tire partially stuck under the tarp/tent, and then lock it to itself. That way if sticky fingers arrived, the movement would wake me up. Never happened. The problem with bringing it inside the tent is that you have to take everything off it. In Europe, it's pretty safe in campgrounds, so no problems.

fietsbob

I lock it to stuff, fences , picnic tables , trees and so forth..

I made up a light 10 foot long cable.. before then, I linked up several shorter ones..

Happy Feet

Cable lock as well.




On this trip I brought a larger fly and incorporated the bike into the tent




While I don't think a cable lock will stop a prepared determined thief it will stop crimes of opportunity or joy riders. Basically, I also know I will kick my own a$$ for doing something stupid if I just leave my bike unlocked and come back to find it gone. It's hard to have sympathy for people who don't try to take care of themselves.

zacharyhoyt

If I am camping with the bike in sight of me I just lay it gently on its side or lean it against a tree. When I'm going to be backpacking or canoeing away I hide it in the woods, out of sight of the road, even sometimes with brush piled on top. If you're in a busier place with lots of people around a lock would be handy. I would not want it in the tent, I would think that would be a good way to get chain oil on your sleeping bag and everything else in there, unless you have a really huge tent that would be heavy to lug around on the bike.
Zach

Yan 

What he said.

alias5000

Very similar to the clothesline: I'd I didn't bring a lock, I use a rope, tie it around the frame and leave the other end in my tent. Either attached to the tent or a bell. That should wake me up at night. If someone uses a flashlight to get behind the rope system, I would most likely wake up anyways.