Soft Luggage Security ?
 

Hi

Looking at getting some Wolfman soft luggage for a forthcoming trip to Africa :mchappy:. I've never travelled with soft luggage before, any tips or advice on how to prevent them or their contents getting stolen ?

Thanks very much :clap:

Neil

I think that most people are using a one or more of either a Pacsafe, Lockstrap or something like a Dowco cover alarm.

You don't need to... Really !!!!

They're no more vulnerable than those tin cans people dote on..

BUT !! You do need some secure luggage...

Keep your REALLY valuable stuff in a tank bag which follows you everywhere. I have the wolfman trail bag which I keep my camera, papers, Ipod, torch etc.

Your passport and wallet should never be anywhere but next to your chest in a waterproof pouch/bag.

No doubt you will have a waterproof ortlieb type roll bag on the back too. Here you keep your tools, spares and camping equipment in. This is what you keep in a pacsafe as you don't need to get in and out of it very often.

With your soft-bags, only keep stuff in that nobody really wants to steal or that you can cheaply replace. We're talking about clothes, underwear, food, books.

In South America and Africa, I never had anyone even try to nick anything out of my soft-bags nor do I know anyone who has. It's actually very rare that you will leave your bike unattended and loaded up anyway.

[QUOTE=*Touring Ted*;345954]
No doubt you will have a waterproof ortlieb type roll bag on the back too. Here you keep your tools, spares and camping equipment in. This is what you keep in a pacsafe as you don't need to get in and out of it very often.

/QUOTE]


but dude.... camping equipment is used every night - well for me 85 nights out of a 100 so that don't work.doh
suppose its ok for the credit card brigade:rofl:

[QUOTE=bugsy;345958]Well me too.. But by "not very often" I meant once a day.

It's no big deal unpacking your roll bag every night because you'l be throwing it in your tent anyway. (the Ortlieb rack packs are the best btw).. Opening up a pacsafe and ortielb combo just to get your camera is a very different different story.

I've never had any security problems with soft luggage in Europe. Tankbag & throwover panniers. I don't put anything of value in them but it wouldn't have mattered if I had. As Ted says keep your wallet & passport (I keep vehicle docs as well) about you in a pocket.
The only theft attempt I've had was a trashed lock on my topbox in Paris, hotel night man chased them away but hard luggage with no lock is a real pain in the arse. Bungeed it up to keep it on the bike. Hard luggage isn't necessarily that secure

Im still researching for my first trip but having read lots of posts over the last 12 months or so the general consensus is that generally the level of theft from the bike on a long trip is so rare that wether you have hard or soft luggage makes no real difference. Unless perhaps in your own head you feel more secure with hard luggage.
I have had read lots of posts where people have had relatively minor falls and trashed their expensive hard luggage.
The other advantage of soft is that they may be safer for the legs in a crash.
At this stage having read lots of posts, I'm leaning towards soft.

just dont leave anything you cant afford to loose in your panniers, hard or soft.

Reading this post has made me realise something.

The only people I know who have had ANYTHING stolen were people in 4x4's or people on the big expensive bikes dripping in the latest bling luggage....

I came across three separate 4x4 vehicles in Africa who had windows smashed in or locks tampered with. I believe this is because they look like rolling gold mines. You would think a truck would give you the best security but it is just advertisement to wealth. I also think they lead to too much complacency.

I think it's the same for these big expensive beemers with all their posh luggage. They look like they're worth breaking into and they usually are. If you're rolling through the third world on a £15,000 bike, your panniers aren't going to be filled with old junk.

My bike always looks trashed, old and dirty and my 50 year old canvas bags don't look like they contain anything but dirty old clothes. It's hardly appealing to the opportunist.

Travel light and travel cheap... bier

And thats true, no ? ;) bier

Just use a cover
 

I prefer soft bags and think they are no more or less of a security risk than hard cases - but my take is use a bike cover (old and dirty) whenever you're leaving the bike for any length of time. What can't be seen is attractive. My bike is at present parked behind a hostel in Ulan Ude with all the camping gear in soft panniers still on it - so I hope I'm right with this philosophy.

Dirty old clothes, a trashy 'swap' novel, small bottle of local spirit, toiletries and a few random spare parts.

Hardly a treasure trove for a local pick pocket :innocent:

I used Packsafes on each of my Andy Strapz and an Ortlieb on the seat. HUGE PITA to get in and out of the panniers but did give some comfort when away from the bike like passport control etc. I could hear the alarm going off every few minutes but that was only from the guys poking at it (a dirty DR650). But they were handy for stowing everything away in your room when your out, not massively secure but better than nothing. Day to day stuff went in the Ortlieb while camping/cooking stuff (not used much in SE Asia) sat in the panniers along with the tools/spares.

Never had any luggage stolen but the stuff I did loose included:

Arai Tour X (in KL) - Put it on the helmet lock thinking it would be fine while I popped into a shop. It wasn't. They just cut the strap off it. I always put a locking cable through it but was lazy on this one occasion.

Petrol cap (Pak) - Had a non-locking cap for an IMS tank. Found it shortly after but wasn't best amused when I saw it had gone. Also had some fuel stolen one night in Laos.

Cramp Buster (Malaysia) - left it on overnight..

GPS (India) - Normally removed it but left it on while having lunch in a tiny village one day. Kids tried to remove it and broke the folding antenna (nothing some gaffer tape didn't put right).

So its mainly the peripheral stuff attached to the bike that is likely to walk/get broken in my experience.

One thing that increasingly occurs to me is that soft luggage is usually 'lower-profile' - ally boxes just seem to stick out a mile. Well, mine do. I've pretty much given up filtering when loaded up as one of these days I'm just going to tear a new air-vent in somebody's Audi TT.

Soft bags usually seem to sit closer to the bike and presumably, if you do nudge someone in a car, no damage will be done.

There's also the streamlining. Because they sit closer in they are presumably more streamlined. They also tend to be a bit less 'square'. I have no idea what the effect of this on fuel consumption might be, but I wouldn't be surprised if having great big boxes on your bike made a big difference to your mpg. Look at my bike head on when its 'tooled up' and it's bloomin' laughable - it looks like a galleon under full sail. The AA reckon adding a (empty) roofrack to a car can add 10% to fuel consumption, so God knows what a couple of big boxes add to a bike.

Oh, in terms of security... :blushing:

You could always have a strong top box for the expensive items. You could get into my ally panniers with a set of strong fingers but I made my own topbox out of a peli case which is extremely strong and in conjunction with a solid padlock would take a hell of a lot of getting into. I'm confident its secure against all but a pretty determined attack.

:)

Probably they were not using the ultimate state-of-the-art deterrants: black gaffer tape on the driver's otherwise falling lock (years ago tampered back in Spain and closed since long ago) and a HU sticker on the back... Add a poorly shaved and blind looking Spaniard and his shouting girlfriend -reaching 120 dB when disturbed from her siesta- and then you can feel your belongings are safe anywhere.:Dbier:D

http://i.imgur.com/xmvL2.jpg

PS: Could not find any pics with both "stickers" but without poorly shaved Spaniard! :D

Now that's the way to do it ! :thumbup1:

Bike Cover
 

I'm yet to travel, however I'm planning on soft luggage with a hard top box. I've got a pac safe in which I can pop things I don't want to loose whilst away from the bike (mostly riding gear). I'm going to try a bike cover too. Got a cheap one off eBay that is light but pretty well made, this will hopefully make the bike disappear whilst parked. It will also keep things left on the bike dry if I'm camping out....at least this is the theory ;-)

Totally agree, although may still be more thieves appealing than the 50 y/o old saddlebags (definitely they way to go, on two wheels!). However... "not without my (hopefully forthcoming) pressure cooker" :clap:

Hard luggage: just knock the side of the pannier to listen/find out whether it is full or not, so...

This is what I was comfortable with on my trips.

Hard luggage offers the about 30 seconds more security than soft. This will never stop anyone who wants to get inside but this combined with a cover as others have said and a cable may put them off and get them to keep walking. As others have said you shouldn't leave anything in there that will end your trip. I carried all my goodies either on me (Passport, etc) or in a tank bag that I took with me everywhere.

Personally I use soft luggage off road and hard on road. Easy choice if you are doing one or the other. I prefer hard on road as I can pack more in, it wont flap about while riding, does offer some crash protection in terms of keeping the bike off you, slightly more secure and usually waterproof for longer.

At the end of the day you do what you are comfortable with for me its hard luggage, everybody is different.

For years now I've used the Kriega soft luggage system. I have 3 bags on the tail of the bike (totalling 40 litres, but it can be up to 70 litres), a 5 to 20 litre tank bag and a 15 litre rucksack for water and my laptop. I leave this on the bike always. All through Europe, all around the UK. No issues so far.

Not only is it waterproof, very easy to unpack and versatile (as all the bags can easily be swapped for different sizes) but it looks too complex to steal. It's all strapped to the subframe and easy to release if you know how, but it looks complex and can't just be lifted off. The rucksack is just left on the seat usually though and since I'm within sight of the bike at all times, no one has even had a look.

Ironically I had my tank bag stolen while on the bike in traffic just near where the picture of the car in this thread was taken in Esfahan, Iran! But there were warnings that I just didn't pickup on.

I road with soft panniers (had things in there that didn't matter if they got stolen) and a locked old top box for more important things. I would definitely do the same again (just attach my tank bag in a better way!!!) I used smaller lightweight waterproof bags to put my stuff in soft bags so just grabbed what I needed for the night from my bike and put an old cover over the rest. No problems at all but I was also in countries that I think are relatively low risk.

Cheers
Adastra

Ride Pray Laugh....... the not so MiddleEast Adventures (now)

That's something I hadn't considered, but it is another reason why magnetic tank bags aren't a good idea. Top tip for soft luggage: Kriega packs are waterproof already, but take liners anyway to separate stuff.

Sorry to hear that. Iran is in general an extremely safe country, although bad luck may happen to all of us. We actually "adopted" one British guy who got robbed (knife at hand at 4am in Tehran; passport, cash, Ipod, etc) so he could save a bunch in transport and others. Very rare case, though. Hope you enjoyed it anyway (and still have nice souvenir of Esfahan).

Pacsafe had a tankbag with a steel cable lockable to the front.

Don't count on that complexness in Spanish cities on the Mediterranean coast, I am sorry/ashamed to say :blushing:. In my hometown, Seville, they may last less than 5 min unattended (not exaggerating); we locals get robbed as well! Your Kriegas, they may look fancier, nice looking, so straps cut (no more complexness); and when profis show up, your lock nicely opened overnight in the place of your bike meaning "find something more difficult to open, pls". Sad to say: always attach to a solid anchor, vans are big enough for bikes sometimes...:(

Anywhere else (where robbery is not fierce), as Ted said: crap looking (and some common sense) is a great "deterrent".

IMHO... never leave anything on the bike you can't afford to have stolen. I never take anything of serious value with me when travelling, and keep documents on me at all times in a money belt.

I've never been robbed while travelling, and maybe I am paranoid, but I'd rather not have the hassles if I am robbed.

I also was rubbed in Iran ( pasdaran???) and I had a nasty experience with the police when reporting the rubbery. i still dont understand why there is so much effort in saying tha Iran is safe whe it is clearly not ( you just can check in the foro people that has been rubbed ) rgs

I actually sent back my pacsafe from Iran because it was just a PITA and of no use at all...

Pacsafes are like that. They can be a pain if you use them all day, everyday.

But when you need one. You need one !

I suppose it depends on your trip. If you're staying in communal dorms or you're in a situation where you have to leave valuable luggage around then they are great. And I've used mine A LOT when backpacking in rougher places. They're also great if you're leaving luggage in storage while doing day trips or stashing your gear in the back room of a dubious hotel.


If you're camping, staying in hotels or travelling in a group where you usually have someone to watch over your bike/stuff, then I agree that they are more of a hindrance than help.

Wanted to start a new thread but it seems this one will fit :)

I'm contemplating whether to get pacsafes to lock the camping gear on the bike. I have hard cases and then couple of drybags strapped on top of each of them with nothing but camping gear. Now getting pacsafe mesh for both of them is not cheap, so I'm wondering whats the common wisdom, should I bother? It just looks so appealing to steal as you only need to undo 2 straps and thats it. Maybe there are other (cheaper) options in my case?

I ran a simple cable with a small padlock through the loops of the bags on the back of my bike when crossing borders, just in case anyone was tempted while I was away from the machine. Otherwise the bags were unlocked for my recent ten week trip in southern Africa. Always ALWAYS have what you really can't loose on your person (in my case in my tank bag which I never left on the bike) and relax, most people are honest.

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...P4220086_1.jpg

I zip tie the buckles together or use small cable combination lock similar to those use by airline travelers.

As noted keep anything valuable on your person, keep clothes etc on your bike and do not flash anything, out of sight out of mnd.If they really want what you have regardless Of soft or hard luggage it's gone.

Agree. Anything you do is to try and keep honest people honest. A bit like not leaving your phone on a table and going for a piss. Best is to keep it in sight.
Keeping things looking worn and dirty may help but in some countries they look at things differently. Worn and dirt may not look without value.

I have been kick this around for some time and while I ride 2up the security is abit different than solo as keeping an eye out is much easier or in a group but solo it is something to really ponder .I would probably go with an hard box .
the other thing to not discard is an alarm with at least 2 other levels of restraint,this would keep the coyotes away.thinking of pacsafe ,locks and the ball socket chain or similar. I think around this while looking at packing lighter.

Never had a problem in 10 years with soft luggage
 

It helps if there are two of you! We virtually never leave the bikes unattended with luggage on and every night take everything into the room with us (including the bikes on occasion!) We have crappy old soft bags tied on with bungees and never had a problem. On the rare occasions we abandon the bikes with luggage on we take all valuables with us.

We also have a wire mesh security bag we put valuables into, which we padlock to something metal somewhere unobtrusive in the room, so we can leave computers etc when we go out. Not so useful when camping!

I tend to have camping gear (which in total can be expensive) in roll bag. No security. If it gets stolen then I'm tramping or sleeping in hotels I guess.

Valuables usually in a tank bag that always comes with me if I'm off the bike, but if you're hijacked that's gone and there's no going to be any more travel photos.

I did take a pacsafe with me to Morocco and used it Spain. It was a pain since they are designed for backpacks and open on the long side. I guess they work well in roll bags, but I found that it worse holes in my drybag.

If using a pacsafe always get the next size up from what you need.

If leaving your bike gear as happens if you say go to explore something whilst on the between towns, then never leave your helmet/riding gear unless it's locked. You need it more that most of your other stuff.

our 1st long trip, years ago, with our BMWs, we had Alu boxes... way too heavy and pointless. Locks can be opened in 10 seconds.

Our latest trip, last year, across Northern and central Asia, we decided to go "light"!
I had Andy'z soft panniers, just "secured" with additional Rok Straps, to stop them moving too much round the luggage frame.

The camping gear was on a roll back on my husband's bike, this had a Packsafe mesh as we used it rarely.

For everyday bags the packsafe are a PITA, and to be fair, outside of Europe, no one will touch your luggage. My panniers, covered in dust, scraggy and on a 10 year old Honda XR125 did not make us look like rich! Even the cops in Kazakhstan, never bothered to stop us when driving along side us, after having a good look at our sorry state! :rofl:

You can see pictures on my website and blog (links below I think).
Passports, money and valuables are either on us, or on our backpacks, while my pocket camera and my iPad were in my tankbag (hidden under toilet paper, water and food!:D) .

We left the bikes abandoned many times (including tank bag) at border crossings, or for coffee, at patrol station, and no one ever touched anything.

Cheers,

Nice site

From 10/09/13 to 15/09/14 I rode a little Honda c90 from England to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All I had was some Ortileb bicycle panniers clipped onto the back rack, a cheap waterproof sack on the backseat and a shopping basket on the front. I did have a rickman topbox too, but I had to just store my clothes in there is it unbalanced the bike to much if I put anything heavy in there!

I couldn't find a fault at all with the plastic panniers (aside from un-clipping occasionally when I was going a bit 'bumpy') and would happily sing their praises. I was a pretty inexperienced rider (only been riding for 6 months before I left home) and with the thin wheels, I came off quite a lot when going off road. The panniers would take the 'full force' of the bike and would only show minor scuffles. Sometimes I even had my laptop in them and, well I'm writing on it now :) They took everything I threw at them in Africa; crashes, being submerged in swamped out jungle roads, monsoons, the lot.

But practicalities aside, I think in some circumstances, travelling with luggage that doesn't look so brash can really go a long way. When I rode through Nigeria I was travelling with a Swiss guy I met in Togo on a Yamaha Tenre, and he had some huge, metal cases on each side of his bike. Nigeria was quite sketchy - those 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Harem a month before we went and tensions in the country were rife. There was one instance where we were attacked by a crowd (because they thought we were carrying bombs in our bags) and the police had to shoot there automatic machines guns into the air to disperse them. On average we were arrested through suspicion around three times a day. They wasn't bothered with my bags, but they were really interested in the huge metal cases. Everything was searched meticulously, but they never wanted to search mine. That probably saved us a couple of hours each day.

I loved those panniers. They've long since been retired though and replaced with some 20 year throw over ones I got off ebay for £15 for my next South America trip.

The Routes of Earth

Some one a friend new told me he had a tent that attaches to the bike, to keep the tent tight he kept all his gear with at all time inside even his bike was safe, one night it rained and the side stand sank and the bike fell on top of him, so much for been safe