sleeping in a tent and not getting your bike nicked

jibberish

Hi

Anyone got any handy hints? 5 of us all in one man tents with 5 bikes. Got a couple of alarmios http://www.amazon.co.uk/TripNeeds-Alarmio-Versatile-Sensitive-Personal/dp/B0056GK11Q but no other clue other than locking all the bikes to each other.

Cheers for any help :-)

Mr Bunbury

Err, take your wheel skewers into the tent with you? The thieves should hopefully fall off noisily during the night.

jibberish

Nice idea - and I'm up for that. Was kinda hoping to avoid them being bundled into a van rather than the odd casual ride away theft - but still good advice. :-)

bobs bikes

use the skewers as pegs and tie a guy rope around the bike and through the wheels.
sorted!

andymiller

Motion-sensitive alarm on a campsite? - you risk making yourselves very unpopular eg I doubt the alarmio is rainproof.

With five bikes I'd take a decent cable and a d-lock attached to something solid. Campsites are generally pretty safe, but if you are really worried and prepared to do some phoning ahead, most campsites will probably have some sort of storage.

danm99

Go with Andy's advice, decent (long) cable lock with a D-Lock should do it. I have always used that system with (touch wood) no problems.

apreading

Be a real cyclist - put the shiny bike in the tent and sleep outside!?!?

andrewjoseph

I'm not an expert on cycle camping, only been doing it for 3 years.

We take a bit of tarp big enough to cover the bikes, I use a longish cable with combination lock to link the two bikes together and put this through/around something solid. the tarp hides the bikes and helps keep them dry too! The tarp folds up into something like 18"x6" and is negligible in weight. it goes under my drybag on top of the rear rack, or inside the panniers.

on warm dry evenings though we don't bother as we often use the bikes as our clothes horse to dry our kit. We do look for a pitch that is out of the way and where the bikes can be partially hidden by the tent.

crankycrank

I met an old guy who had cycled about everywhere around the world and his method was to tie some fishing line around the bike and tie the other end to his toe or a bell of some sort. Five angry cyclists should be enough to stop a startled thief.

amaferanga

Put part of the bike under the tent flysheet, in the porch. Doesn't matter if it's not all under, just as long as you can see it and to get it out will require messing around with the tent. As long as you'd wake if someone tries to steal it.

Can't help but think it's odd that you have 5 one-man tents - that's a lot of weight compared to a couple of good, lightweight 2/3 man tents.

fungus_the_muffin_man

Buy one of these http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=8849

amaferanga

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

Buy one of these http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=8849

No more secure than my suggestion and much less practical.

There's good reason why those stupid tents didn't catch on....

P_Tucker

apreading

Ha! Like it.

MichaelW

crankycrank wrote:

I met an old guy who had cycled about everywhere around the world and his method was to tie some fishing line around the bike and tie the other end to his toe

Was this the same cycle tourist who camped out on the Mongolian Steppe and was awakened by a thieving Mongol horseman lassoing his bike and dragging it off, at high speed, behind his galloping horse.

crankycrank

MichaelW wrote:

crankycrank wrote:

I met an old guy who had cycled about everywhere around the world and his method was to tie some fishing line around the bike and tie the other end to his toe

Was this the same cycle tourist who camped out on the Mongolian Steppe and was awakened by a thieving Mongol horseman lassoing his bike and dragging it off, at high speed, behind his galloping horse.

Hmm, possibly. At least he was never separated from his bike though. I asked this gentleman if he still had both his toes. He didn't laugh. :roll:

Cunobelin

Get a dog lead anchor



Screw into ground and "D lock" central bike to this, then d lock the others to this in layers so that each lock secures two different bikes

teulk

As already mentioned just lock them all together and stick a "tarp" over them. 3 of us did LeJog a few years back and camped for over half of it on campsites - never had any problems.

marcusjb

jibberish wrote:

Nice idea - and I'm up for that. Was kinda hoping to avoid them being bundled into a van rather than the odd casual ride away theft - but still good advice. :-)

I think you'd have to be very unlucky to be targeted by a van-driving thief over the opportunistic theft. Relax about it or you'll never sleep!

Typically, if I do lock the bike up whilst camping, I am only carrying a light-weight cafe lock. That through the back wheel and a guy rope through a wheel/frame is more than enough to stop the opportunist - pop the front wheel in the porch to make sure the bike can't just be ridden off.

NickWi

Has anyone actually had thier bike nicked whilst camping?
If so, and be honest about this, how was it secured. :?: