what to do? leave your halmet/kit on bike or not
 

On a recent trip with the wife it was nice to explore without carrying our helmets around. As the Aluminium panniers were full with her hair dressing equipment for the trip obviously they were not going to fit in there! We ended up poking the clip end of the strap under the lid and locking them down to secure them. Sure someone could just cut the strap and walk off with them but it was our only option. Then we get to the rest of the kit, trousers and jacket, fine while you are moving on the bike but not good for walking around in 30+ degrees. What to do with that lot, two of each if you are 2 up??

I think next trip I will get a couple of those plastic covered wire bicycle cable & locks things so we can thread it through helmets and legs and arms of stuff and secure to bike.

Anyone else got any tips ??

I must say in all trip years I've not had any kit pinched, but stopping off in big towns and cities the chance does increase I guess. Had water pinched a few times though

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pretty good.

We use a cable and padlock, string it thru the helmets, jackets, even the tank bag. So far so good...it's a little time consuming but way better than lugging your stuff around.

We do that. Try and cover the helmet with your jacket as much as possible. It's not fail safe, only staying overnight is. And your Mrs gets to do her hair than.

YUP we did this thought 29 countries.. bikes next to us got stuff nicked we were okay..

They used to have a 85l mesh bag that had a water proof roll top bag in side. We used that to put in 2 sets for riding gear and helmets.. :D

None of this stuff will stand up to a really determined thief or a professional. BUT my feeling is 90% of this kind of crime is by opportunity not by plan.

I should point out that i have been a tester for them, and so i am slightly biased (I like their stuff) however i did can the lidsafe™ Lidsafe™ Anti Theft Helmet Bag (Discontinued 25% off) http://pacsafe.com/media/product/pro...Anti-theft.jpgI just did not like it...

That's pretty much what I do and it's been good enough so far. Just remember to push the visor down when you leave it - I forgot and left mine up a couple of days ago and came back after a rainstorm to find the helmet lining soaked. :(

I have a flip front helmet and I carry a choke chain that you can buy in a pet shop, put the hat on the mirror then loop the chain through the visor hole, through the barkbuster and round the throttle. The lock is painted fire engine red and to be truthful the chain is not that strong but it can all be seen and hopefully that will act as a deterrent. I wouldn't leave the hat on the bike overnight but for a quick food stop it has worked so far. If you buy a long chain you can thread it through the arms of your jacket, after first removing the jacket and 'secure' it and the hat. Ride safe.

exactly what I do but not if it's just about to P down!

Even if your gear is locked up, don't hide your bike in a corner where it's easy for a thief to spend a lot of time without being seen.

I've recently purchased (yet to use) one of these. The little pocket expands into a helmet carrier & the bag folds down quite small.
eg Oxford Handysack Fold Away Back Pack - Backpacks & Rucksacks - Ghostbikes.com

We've had the same problem, I bought a 5m plastic coated security cable from Lidl and then thread it through the Lids,legs & sleeves of the clothing and then put the end loops through the disklock.

We've not had a problem yet, though I would also like a bike cover my thinking being if they cant see it they won't want it & keep the stuff dry.

Also have the same problem of panniers filled with hair tongs/dryers and associated crap - she's not taking the GI Jane hint well at all:innocent:


Regards
Gren

A pal of mine once left a helmet locked to his bike not far from a bar. He came back a couple of hours later to find that some loser had taken a piss in his helmet!

Yuk. Hope he notice before he put it on:eek:

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I've often seen helmets on the floor, locked via a push bike cable lock. I've always wondered how many dogs would cock their leg to one. My take is I can legally ride in underpants and helmet, I'll lock a bulky jacket but I'll always carry the lid

Signature;- Current bike, 1991 Africa Twin RD04

lockin' up
 

We've just returned from a 17,500 trip across North America. More often then not we left our lids hanging from the mirrors for short periods of time. For longer stops, we used a cable and lock as described and threaded it through the lids and jackets. Never once did anyone mess with our stuff or bikes and we stopped in some sketchy spots. There seems to a rule in North America: don't mess with bikers or their crap. I think the Hell's Angels have paved the way (pardon the pun) for us!

We've used the cable method when travelling and it has worked fine. A lot will depend on where you are parking the bike. One wants to keep this simple otherwise its a pain.

Another useful item to carry is a light weight bike cover. Its purpose is to keep the bike out of sight out of mind. We use it at Motels or when I'm camping.

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.

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 !