How do you secure your bikes while camping?

[dee74]

Our family just upgraded from Walmart bikes to new better quality bikes that we will take camping. I am a little concerned about the bikes getting stolen from the campsite, this has happened to people we know. I am looking for ideas to secure our bikes, any ideas are appreciated.

[shockwave21]

I have a Toylok as well and love it. It's welded to my frame and once I pull it out, its out all weekend so we usually end up locking all sorts of stuff up at night or when we leave camp.

Never had anything stolen in in a CG, but on a Thanksgiving weekend in Glamis one year, we came back from the sand drags one afternoon and my dirt bike was standing up about 50 yards away from camp in the sand. All the graphics had been peeled off as well as the flag. Luckily we had just gotten there a few hours earlier and I hadn't yet mixed my gas and filled it up (2 stroke) so I'm sure they just gave up pushing it through the sand with a paddle tire on it.

Ever since then, I lock up my toys when we are gone from camp.

[mich800]

free radical wrote:
If I had a bike I'd lock it every time,as unfortunately some of our citizens cant be trusted..
this topic just reminded me how uncivilized we are compared to other countries

http://youtu.be/Y3AQiIVjiHg

http://youtu.be/G8meix87N8U

Maybe they are uncivilized in Canada. But in the U.S. it is illegal to take someones bike without permission (steal). There are also countless videos stories of people returning lost wallets, not stealing vehicles with keys in them etc. Or perhaps I just do not understand the correlation of these Japanese videos with the behavior of Canadians.

[free_radical]

If I had a bike I'd lock it every time,as unfortunately some of our citizens cant be trusted..
this topic just reminded me how uncivilized we are compared to other countries

http://youtu.be/Y3AQiIVjiHg

http://youtu.be/G8meix87N8U

[VAfan]

Kryptonite has a decent webpage:

http://www.kryptonitelock.com/en/security/how-to-choose-a-lock/bicycle-security.html

I bought a KryptoFlex Key Cable mainly for the convenience of locking multiple bikes to the trailer bumper/etc.

Youtube has videos on opening a compo cable lock - can unlock in less than a minute.

What's worked for me is using my lower end bikes for camping. Advantages include not worrying about covering them up when it rains, riding on the beach and if someone steals them gives me an excuse to buy another.

[dwayneb236]

We just cable lock our bikes and kayaks. No reason not to. Have never had anything stolen from a campground but I know it can happen. I'm not going to be the guy who says it will never happen to me because I don't camp in those kinds of places. They are all those kinds of places because humans beings are allowed in them. It's a numbers game. Some are lucky, some aren't.

[JAYHAWKERS]

Check out this Toylok retractable cable locking system that you can attach to you RV for handy security of generators, bicycles, and ATV's.

[dee74]

Well I am glad I invested in a lock. I arrived at cg Friday afternoon and droppedy bikes off before I went up and pulled tt out of storage. For some reason I decided to lock the bikes to the picnic table, I usually just lean them on a tree. As I was pulling up to my site some guy stops right in front of me got out and tried to carry my bikes off. I hopped out prepared to put my CCP to work and he sped off when he saw me. I have not seen him return to cg, I wonder if he is a drive by weekend thief. I did not have enough info on vehicle to report him but I am glad I locked the bikes up.

[holstein13]

5 years of camping and one year of full-timing so far. Put me in the unsecured category.

I'm always amazed how little crime I hear about in campgrounds, including the seedy ones. Yes, I understand it happens, but on balance, I'm happier trusting my fellow campers.

[tinner12002]

I have a toy lock on my camper/toy hauler, mounts just under edge of camper out of site and is spring loaded to auto retract when I'm done with it.

[mlts22]

Bikes are just too easy to steal. If I'm not sitting on it or doing something with it, I lock it. It only takes seconds for someone to hop on and ride off, or grab it, stuff it in a car, and head for the hills... and even though the bike's frame may have the serial number registered with the local popo... most bikes past the department store junk can be disassembled and parted out for more than what the bike cost (especially wheels, forks, derailleurs, and brakes), so the bad guys know this and just break up the bikes to sell at a flea market a county or two over.

I worked in a previous life at a university in Austin, which used to be one of the top 10 cities for bike theft. It had gotten better, but there was a time when bike theft was so bad, that people would even steal forks, pedals, wheels, and other parts. From the university setting, it is an ingrained behavior of mine to lock things up, and use European "insurance locks" for the job.

[wing_zealot]

skipnchar wrote:
I've never locked ANYTHING when camping and have never had anything stolen. It MAY be that I'm just lucky or it may be where you're camping that is the issue. Camping mostly in the back country as I do you're not likely to run into a thief where public RV parks you run into a larger cross section of folks found in the general population. Lock them to a tree should suffice as a deterrent assuming bikes are not made of solid gold.

Leave your $500.00 bike out next to the picnic table while you go out for dinner and a movie some evening and I'll bet you change your "where you're camping" meme.

[Redterpos3]

This weekend I went to my bathroom and left my kindle on a table next to my chair, and when I re-appeared (not long) I noticed a guy quickly moving back onto the road from my site-area and looking past my rig. Was at a state campground, and didn't expect something to be stolen, but gave me pause to think twice about leaving stuff for easy access. I grew up in an area where I never would have done that (and when I did as a kid, had my bike stolen), but have lived in an area that was so quiet for so long I've grown used to leaving stuff around without worry. Better to remember my growing up days, and always be sure where your stuff is, and if your not there to hook it up somehow to make it less desirable.

[Veebyes]

We have a pair of DOWNTUBE foldups. Unusual bikes. Makes them less appealing to thieves. Use a cable lock to 5er leg.

[camperforlife]

We are in the same boat. After 15 years and countless miles we were hoping someone would steal our old bikes. We just bought 2 new ones at over 1k apiece and locked them for the first time in years. I used a high quality cable lock to the back bumper when we camped this weekend. We had great weather and logged about 60 miles wondering all the while why we waited so long for new ones.

Although the new ones look great, I would be very happy if I could remove the brand names from them so they wouldn't scream expensive bikes.

[FLY_4_FUN]

We always use a strong cable lock through our bike frame and a rim that loops through our bumper. I wish we were into "cheapie" bikes, but we have Trek and Specialized MTB's so we have no plans to leave them unlocked anywhere.