indyfabz

You tote around a motorcycle cover?

phughes

phughes

I feel your pain. It's amazing how much noise they can make too.

indyfabz

The place where I had shopped didn't have small versions of anything, so I purchased a half dozen. Since I only had one Cliff Bar and the nearest place to get anything to eat the next morning was a ways away, I seriously debated eating the buns they had not gotten their teeth into, but decided it wasn't worth the risk. I took the remainder and tossed them in the bathroom trashcan. Shame, too, because they were from PA Dutch country. I'll bet they were really good.

str

that's life .....

bark_eater 

Yep. Its like 10 oz and packs up small. It might be more of a moped cover because its not particularly over sized on the bike. Its also cheap so it's kind of a "general purpose fabric thing", sit on, stand on, bothy bag, and keeps the salt off for ferry rides.

djb

That's amazingly light, not living near the sea, I guess I can see the ferry/salt water thing if that's a regular occurrence.

bark_eater 

I checked on Amazon and this is what it said I bought. I think the model has changed a bit in 4 years, but its close. I thought it was advertised as a motorcycle cover but I guess it was an xl bike cover.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...TF8&th=1&psc=1

bathedinshadow

By "bike friendly," I mean it in the way that it's typically used. haha. That being... a defined infrastructure to support cycling. Cycling is encouraged and a widely used mode of transportation for both recreation and practical reasons. I've been to many large cities and Vancouver, BC is very "bike friendly." But what this also means, is that more people want bikes. SO... more people steal bikes to sell them. There also is a lot of money in Vancouver, and you regularly see 8K bikes around. Most people do not leave those unattended. We have "bait bikes" all over too. You never ever leave your bike on a balcony or basically stored outside of your living space unless it's a piece of junk and you don't care if it goes missing. Smaller towns, have less interest in bikes generally. And they probably don't know when they're looking at a bike worth 8k.

bathedinshadow

I hadn't been on this site in a while when I asked this question originally. And now i remember why. The jerk responses. I don't know what it is about certain forums and people just have to be that guy. I won't bother to call each one out because I'm sure most jerks know who they are. But for the majority of you, thanks for your input. I did go on my 10 day tour. I like to have an idea of what to expect when I do things, but of course things don't always line up. I made it from Vancouver and into Oregon a ways before I had to head inland to get a ride back up. Washington was the part of the PCH that I was least interested in doing, but for practical reasons, obviously I spent the majority of the time there. I saw 2 other people in Washington touring the entire time! Once I got to Oregon, the numbers increased noticeably.

I was probably more cautious with my stuff than the average person. I guess some of you call it "paranoid." But I did meet a guy that had 1 his panniers taken off his bike at a campground that he thought was virtually empty in Washington. I happened to stay at the same campground the night after him. And it was basically empty. Close to the highway though, so I'd assume it was locals that know cyclist stay there. He said there wasn't anything valuable in there... but it had all his rain gear... so he had a cold and wet couple of days until he could buy more. Anyway, I knew when I asked the question that there wasn't going to be one tried and true way to prevent theft. I was just curious if anybody had any odd tricks up their sleeve to help as obviously it happens.

For the record, I did not spend the entire trip worried about my stuff. But it was something I was mindful of. All and all, I had a good time. And I showered nightly.

Doug64

mattk42

That is a very slick idea. Serves so many purposes like you said, aside from covering your bike from the rain. For peace of mind sleeping, one could even attach some noisy bells underneath the cover and out of site. I think most people would be deterred if they start to make a racket.

djb

Glad you did it, and hopefully in the future you can do the Oregon and California bits, the changing landscapes they have are really fun to bike through.

bathedinshadow

I've driven the coast several times and Oregon/California was always the real draw for doing the ride at all. So I do hope I find the time to do the whole thing! Though I will say that I'm not overly keen on redoing Washington. But I feel like I'd need to do the whole thing at once to feel like I've really done it. Personally.

stevepusser

When I did an overnighter to a crime-ridden campsite like they used to have on the SoCal beach State Parks for hiker-bikers, if I wanted to take a swim in the waves after registering, I'd wheel the whole loaded bike down to the sand and lock it to a manned lifeguard tower.

For peace of mind, this inexpensive bike alarm-horn-tailight works a treat, and will go off if varmits molest your bike at night.
https://www.amazon.com/Keni-Anti-The.../dp/B09Z2B5LB1
Not a good idea to arm it if locked to lifeguard tower, as their footstep vibrations will set it off.

I'd take a shower after swimming, or if it was still warm, just use the outdoor unheated showers. Some of the showers were big enough to wheel the bike inside and lock the wheels with a cable lock, or I'd lock it outside to something and set the alarm. Then the panniers or rack bag would come off and go into the shower stall with me, along with any easily removable bike electronics such as computers. After showering, I'd head for the hike and bike site.

I didn't feel that any of these precautions were necessary at more remote sites, such as along the Pacific Crest bike route in Northern California, except for the racoon and meth-head motion alarm being set on the cable-locked bike at night.

Miele Man

At night in a campground I remove the front wheel of my bike and bring the bike inside my tent and let the bike rest on the low-rider rack. Most times I just carry one of those solar-shower bags and use that to shower with = navy-shower style. wet down, shut of the water flow, soap up, then rinse.

When I'm touring in the backcountry away from people I don't concern myself with theft nearly as much.

I do lock my bike securely if stopping at a gas-bar to use their facilities or at a store. I've read of a few instances where a cross country bicycle tourist lost their entire setup to a thief. As a young teenager I had an unlocked bicycle stolen. Time that the bike was out of my sight? THIRTY SECONDS. A LOT of bicycle thefts are crimes of opportunity = someone sees the unlocked bike and hops on a goes. I don't want to be the person who loses their bike whilst on tour so I lock it up when not on it where people might try to grab it and ride away.

Cheers

indyfabz

Just got done (unceremoniously) a week+ ride across PA. Never secured the bike while taking any one of my 7 showers. During my 9 nights sleeping outside I locked the bike 1 time. I stayed at a shelter along a trail near a populated town, and the trail had easy public access. Locked the bike once or twice while grocery shopping. One of those times was with all my gear attached. During the other grocery shopping trips I stashed the bike inside store vestibules. During C-store stops I just left it outside.

Nothing went missing.

Doug64

I made these "security" cables for my Orltlieb Back Roller panniers. They were made from 3/32" cable, but 1/8" could have also be used. They would deter an opportunistic thief, and were easy to make. The swaging tool is a relic of my sailboat days.

They allow me to run a cable through all my panniers and lock them to the bike. I think I used them once or twice in 10 years.


Ortlieb clip hardware( same as the hardware holing the hooks on), cable, swaging tool, aluminum plate.