one of the advriders-radioman has gone most to the way around and some 2 years into his ride only to get his tank bag pinched in africa.outside a bar.
I had someone in SF ,CA trying to lift mine in front of the hotel but it was on tight enough and i showed up while another bystander kept quite.
it would have been a areal slow down to lose the basics we carry in that bag and with a helmet AGATT would go out the window.

burn down italy
 

yea, i left things on my bike often. helmet was allways strapped to the wheel with a big chain lock thing, and everything not so important bungeed to the back.
the tent was one of those things. it was stolen at a festival in spain early on in my trip.
after that, my sleeping roll was the only thing not locked away, aswell as the tank bag which diddnt lock, so only food and water went in there.
in italy i had problems, first someone stole my boots while i had a afternoon nap in a park, then for the next 3 night, someone went through my tankbag trying to steal things.
so itialy is on my bad list.
after i escaped to germany, things were more relaxed. still locked the helmet to the bike in the big cities, but left the bike out in the middle of hamburg for about a month, often leaving jacket and other things out on it. nothing was stolen.
long story short. people will steal your stuff if they can, except the germans apparently.

If you don't want to fuss about with yet another key, use a combination lock for your helmet.

http://images.esellerpro.com/2189/I/...met-Lock1.jpeg

I'm curious about this statement. Did you have some fancy water jugs that the thieves were after? Where was the water?

As to your main question, I carried a cable lock when I traveled through Mexico and Central America. I think I used it once... and then halfway through the trip I shipped it home, along with my pannier padlocks which I never used.

It's not very bright, but I got lazy about locking stuff up, and I never had a problem. When I left the bike unattended, I would roll up my jacket and stuff it as much as I could into my helmet, and then my helmet went under a bungee net on the pillion.

Despite my experience, the next time I make a similar trip, I'm going to try to be a little more secure. The chance of theft is low, but if you're far away from home, losing riding gear or other items could be a real pain in the butt.

Jamie

Nothing fancy just bottled water you buy from shops etc. It was under the bungee net, so not secure by a long shot, but I figured it was probably the least likely thing someone might steal !