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.

[holstein13]

Macrosill wrote:
We take 5 bikes, sometimes 6 or 7. At night or when leaving the CG I place the bikes in a wagon wheel spoke pattern and lock the front tires together with a cable lock. This is just to prevent the casual thief from walking away with an unsecured bike in the middle of the night.

That's a good approach, but I'd reverse the bikes and lock the rear wheels. They are much harder to detach.

[Macrosill]

We take 5 bikes, sometimes 6 or 7. At night or when leaving the CG I place the bikes in a wagon wheel spoke pattern and lock the front tires together with a cable lock. This is just to prevent the casual thief from walking away with an unsecured bike in the middle of the night.

[gazingm42]

Lock our with a good luck to the frame of the trailer.

[tll]

I know that if someone is going around intending to steal bicycles, there is not much to stop them. It is more about stopping the crime of opportunity. I use a cable lock and lock the bikes to the loop of the hitch on the back of the trailer or to the trailers wheel under the awning if it is going to rain. Also my bikes get locked to the rack during travel, I would hate for them to disappear while at a store. Bikes in the picture are worth about $5000.00 total so it pays to be a bit cautious.

[1100Sabre]

When parked I lock them to the landing leg with a plastic coated cable. We just put them in the garage if we have room or just put them in the kitchen when moving. Only issue we had with hauling them inside was we had one lean against the stove once and turned the stove top burners on!!! Yup, it sure filled the camper with gas!! After 2 days with all the windows and doors open it was safe to enter!!!

[genekiwi]

I use to feel the same way about leaving stuff unchained or other misc things outside of the tt.

I have never had anything stolen while camping.

However, I have gone from a trusting person to a more cautious one.

Reason: Someone went through both vehicles and then went into my shed and stole a $700 bike. Not sure what they wanted but they left everything all over the vehicles. Just opened the glove boxes and ransacked them.

The thieves hit 25 homes and no one saw a thing. They came over the wall.

Now, I make sure both vehicles are locked and my new bike and older bike are locked together and the shed is locked.

Hard adjustment to go from feeling safe to a feeling of violation.

Again no problems at a cg, just at home.

[CarlGeo]

Been camping since 1973, in all types of public parks and private parks. I have seen and know of items being stolen from all of the parks.
SO, if you want to keep your property, secure it, even if you are just inside your unit.
Some years ago when camped in a state campground with my brother and his family, we were sitting in my site under the canopy visiting in mid afternoon. His site was just a couple of sites removed from where we were sitting, and we noted two younger guys eyeing a stack of fire wood at his site. We continued watching them and sure enough they finally walked up and started to carry the wood off. Of course we went over and ask them what they were doing, and they said they saw the wood was not being used and thought it was for the taking. The were told 'put it back or suffer the consequences'. They returned the wood to his pile. Some people have very large 'testicles'.
I have a practice to always use a cable or chain to secure anything outside that could be carried off with reasonable ease.
Safe travel and good camping everyone!

[RoyBell]

I lock my bike to my bike rack. It has lock tumblers that locks the front fork and the rack to the truck. When at CG I run a cable around all the wheels and frames and lock to something solid. Otherwise they stay on top of the truck.

Both my and DGF bike would be in the neighborhood of $2800 to replace. I try to keep them secure 🙂

[TOMMY47]

Take off the seat with the quick release--take off a pedal--chain it up.
Can't ride it away even if they cut the chain.

[2012Coleman]

dee74 wrote:
Thank you for the replies. I think the cable lock will be the way to go for us. I know if somebody really wants something the cable will only slow them down. We camp in a family friendly campground but like I said bikes have disappeared before so I was looking for ideas to slow someone down.

I used to lock my bikes to the TT frame with a long chain. After a while, I grew comfortable just putting them out of sight when leaving the site.

If locking things up makes you feel better, then go ahead and do it. Why people have to tell you how easily things can get broken into or stolen is like telling you about Geico insurance - everyone knows.

[Tystevens]

If I have my "good bikes" along, they are always locked to the bumper when we're in the site, and stored inside the trailer if we're away from the site. But I don't usually take my good bikes. The kids bikes and my old campground bike pretty much get left where they are dropped.

[RavensFan24]

We travel with our bikes inside the trailer and then pull them out at the campground. Sometimes we leave them unlocked and other times I'll either use the cable lock to lock them to each other or I lace it through the wheel of the trailer. Either way, I think there is a basic respect amongst campers to leave other people's stuff alone. In the end, there is no perfect solution. If someone really wants something, they can take it. If I don't have a cable lock handy or I forget it, I'll sometimes throw the bikes in the back of the Tahoe for the night.

[Need-A-Vacation]

Our boys bikes are Toys R Us specials while they are still growing like crazy, but we have a set of nicer mtbs that I will lock up.

This may sound crazy, but I just use a 15' dog tie out cable (for a smaller dog- cut the snap hook off) to prevent someone taking a joy ride on the bikes. I figure if they really want them as mentioned, they will get them. I would hope if someone was seen carrying a set of bolt cutters through the campground that others would contact the park/ police.

That cable with a standard master lock has worked for years even on Mackinac Island where bike theft has happened in the past (not ours luckily). Not sure about now as we haven't been over to the island in a few years.

[mlts22]

The Toylok looks like a good idea. I'm looking at buying an enclosed cargo trailer, and I might see about mounting 2-3 of those (one on each side, one on the back.) That way, I could set up solar panel frames, and they will have some resistance to walking off.

If I couldn't weld the ToyLok directly on the frame, I'd definitely use shear nuts from FastenRight that have a section for the wrench, and once it reaches a proper torque, it will shear off, leaving a conical-shaped section of bolt which only really can be removed via a cutting wheel. To ensure it doesn't come off, LocTite Red is also useful.