Hi

I would not use soft luggage for big trips becaue so far my metall boxe aved my legs some times from my bike faling on them. They also absorbet lot of energy so the bike it selfe did not get demaged if something went wrong...

If you are doing short trips the wire net shown in the picture above is a realy nice thing...

Travel save. Tobi

A couple of comments:

(1) The poster was not asking about metal boxes vs soft bags. He was asking about security for soft bags. I think we should be trying to address that question.

but since you have made a couple of points, I feel compelled to point out that I think they are quite inaccurate.

(2) Metal boxes dont absorb energy, they transmit energy. They are rigid. Impact on the metal box is transmitted to the bike directly. Soft bags absorb energy. Thats why a camera or anything else sensitive packed in a metal box, will vibrate to pieces over a long journey, while the same camera in a soft bag will not. Imagine if you had a metal tank box instead of a soft tankbag ... how do you think a camera would survive inside a metal tankbox? ... it will vibrate apart ... because metal transmits energy. Similarly, a bike equipped with metal boxes is more likely to suffer subframe damage because any impact or vibration or stress is transmitted to the bike.

(3) Metal boxes have probably broken more legs than they have saved. Almost all the cases of broken legs I can remember hearing about on long overland rides, have been with a metal box equipped bike. I cant even remember the last time I heard of a broken leg on a soft luggage bike. When people start losing control of a bike, the instinctive reaction is to put your feet out and down. You are far more likely to get them caught and broken on a metal box, than on soft side bags - side bags which will absorb the impact and still stop the bike falling all the way to the ground in any case.

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Oh for gods sake let's not repeat that tired old discussion. Telling others to stick to the point while you just address a few misrepresentations does not encourage this. Everyone wants the last word, and everyone has just as much right to have it as you.

The OP was asking about security against theft. For a brief time, people addressed the question which was asked. It was almost refreshing.

Mark

Straps don't address slashing which is what pac safe was developed for. The old one kid slashes a bag and 20 others run in to grab the goods trick. Don't think any thief really wants to walk the street with a big and dusty bag. Not saying they wouldn't off course.

Anecdotal evidence is difficult to take on for me with those things cause there are many other factors involved.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

I wouldn't use pacsafe's because the amount of time it would take to access your gear all the time and also loading your bike in the morning would take longer, this is the same reason I hate bungees

Also it would make thieves curious about what you have inside which in turn may increase your chances to be robbed on the road, these pacsafes won't help you then!

Not sure about that ... How many people have been robbed with some form of pacsafe, vs how many kilometres people have done? If your idea is correct, there should be a fair few people with pacsafes that have had them slashed or broken into, because there are a lot of people riding a lot of km with them on.

Anyone who uses pacsafes out there, how many thousands of Km have you done vs how many times have you had them broken into? If we can collect some form of survey data then maybe we can have an idea of how likely you are to be robbed while having some form of pacsafe. (even by asking, negative data is likely to be over-represented, as anyone who has had a problem is far more likely to be screaming about it than the hundreds of readers who are pacsafe users who have not had a problem)

I will start ... 85,000km vs 0 bag break ins. (pacsafe cable)

My feeling is that its a visual deterrent which is more than enough for 99.5% of the time someone is curious about whats in your bag.

Perhaps I have not read enough trip reports in my life, but I have never heard of of anyone with a pacsafe having the bag broken into at all, let alone anyone in that position who suspected it was broken into BECAUSE they had the pacsafe on it. There's a million theories out there, but only one set of real world data. I am not saying no-one with a pacsafe has ever been robbed, but I certainly have never heard of any. Perhaps they will come to light in this thread, in which hopefully they could provide some opinion as to the causes. It would be useful information for us all.

p.s. I know a guy wh's brothers uncle's dentist had a pacsafe ... doesnt count. Lets keep the data first hand please

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I've used soft bags for both my big Africa trips, and never had a problem with thieves.

I did once dally with the pacsafe idea, when I was backpacking, but like other people have said here, it seemed to take so much time to get stuff in and out, I lost patience with it.

On my bike trips, the only security precaution I've taken is to thread a bike lock through each of the pannier handles and the grab rail, to stop any opportunist taking them.

I think using common sense, and trusting to the Gods of the road is the best way to stop being robbed. In tens of thousands of miles in Africa and the Middle East, the only thing I've lost is a bottle of water, and the only attempt I've encountered to steal anything else was a pickpocket at Rosso, which is a hellhole anyway.

Other than that, every time I leave the bike, I take the tank bag with me, and if I'm leaving it for more than a couple of mins, I make friends with a kid or a security guard and ask them to look after it, or take the panniers with me too.

Good luck in finding a solution that works for you,

Birdy

Securing your luggage is never fail safe and can be very cumbersome.
The following procedure so far have worked great for me. Never leave your bike loaded with full luggage unattended or out of sight.
This is very easy when riding two or more together.
When I am on my own I always park my bike right next to a shop entrance where I can keep an eye, the same goes for stopping at eating places. In most cases there are an outside eating area and I choose the the table closest to the bikes or if inside I want to be by the window with the bike parked outside and if all else fails I just get a take away and eat it outside by the bike.
If direct line of sight is not possible and I need to go inside a building for a longer period I take it all of and keep it with me or at a safe place. It is a small inconvenience compared to loosing part of your luggage to theft esp in a strange country.
Security is mostly only a problem in cities and larger centers.