Touring - Foiling Thieves.

I was reading a post on the Hennesy and someone made the complaint about not having somewhere to store gear against theft which got me thinking about it. Where do you store your gear to prevent theft? Any suggestions to foil would be troublemakers?

Maybe I don't understand the question but ....

When I am riding, my gear is right there in front of me, in my panniers, on the bicycle.

When I stop riding, my gear is in the tent with me.



I also don't carry anything of value with me when I tour. If thieves really want my dirty laundry ..... :rolleyes:

I think daavg is talking about the Hennessy Hammock... it's not easy to "take stuff in the tent" because in a hammock, it'll all roll down to you. Also, it adds to the weight the hammock has to bear (a consideration if you're not well anchored or already near the recommended limit). It's an interesting question because if you do have anything valuable, it better not be bulky or heavy because it's not easy to store stuff in the hammock with you. I never used my Hennessy near other people, but I still put my bike almost right under the exit and used my small cable lock to attach my "more-valuable-stuff-containing-panniers" to the wheels/frame. I figured opening (zipper, clips, etc) the panniers and rifling through them would be a tough thing to do silently from 1 foot away. I'm a light sleeper btw. Interesting question for those of us who bring valuables.

I just let them stick their head into my panniers. They usually run screaming into the night.

I was reading a post on the Hennesy and someone made the complaint about not having somewhere to store gear against theft which got me thinking about it. Where do you store your gear to prevent theft? Any suggestions to foil would be troublemakers?

Hey there! When I'm on tour, and I have to leave my bike to go shopping, I always have my bags tethered to the bike by means of a length of picture hanging wire threaded through loops of the bags, and secured to the racks. I do this for the front panniers, rear panniers, trunk bag and the hb bag. If a thief is going to thief your bags, they're gonna try to grab them and run. If they are even remotely secured to the bike in the least little way, and it means that the thief is gonna have to work at it, they are going to forget about it and move on. They don't want the attention of obviously trying to yank the bags from the bike.

Personally, I haven't had any problems with thievery, other than someone once taking the pump mount for my Topeak Road Morph off my bike. Why, I don't know, unless they had a TRM pump as well.

But anyway, just thought I'd run this by you as a thought.

I was reading a post on the Hennesy and someone made the complaint about not having somewhere to store gear against theft which got me thinking about it. Where do you store your gear to prevent theft? Any suggestions to foil would be troublemakers?

Getting back to the original post.

I Hennessy all the time. If you are stealth camping the only thieving will be from the fawna and they only want your food. If I am camping in a campground I will lock up my bike to a tree and I leave the panniers on the bike. The panniers have locks to keep them on the racks. Anything of value (passport, cards, money and digital camera) come with me in the hammock in one small package.

I have invested in a couple of Dollar Store personal alarms that are actually meant to put on door frames. They come with a base unit including an 80db alarm and a separate magnet. I leave one sitting on top of the pannier. Any movement and the alarm is triggered.

I only once had it go off. I was on a rail trail in Wales and there was no way I could drag my bike up into my site, so I left it on the side of the trail. Sure enough in the middle of the night the alarm went off. I had no idea what to do so I started barking like a dog. Soon I heard footsteps running up the trail. I went to have a look and nothing was missing. They could have had my dirty clothes anyway. Just leave the bike.

I carry a bundle of zip ties on any tour for any number of reasons but they can be useful in securing panniers to racks and 'locking' snap buckles if you are nervous or riding too close to 'civilisation'.

They will foil any opportunistic thefts just remember to keep your pocket knife 'key' in your pocket instead of the panniers.

I carry a bundle of zip ties on any tour for any number of reasons but they can be useful in securing panniers to racks and 'locking' snap buckles if you are nervous or riding too close to 'civilisation'.

They will foil any opportunistic thefts just remember to keep your pocket knife 'key' in your pocket instead of the panniers.

Good one!
Please post that on the Tips and Tricks sticky!

I had no idea what to do so I started barking like a dog.
That is classic.

I carry a bundle of zip ties on any tour for any number of reasons but they can be useful in securing panniers to racks and 'locking' snap buckles if you are nervous or riding too close to 'civilisation'.

They will foil any opportunistic thefts just remember to keep your pocket knife 'key' in your pocket instead of the panniers.


This is exacty what I meant. I was worried that someone could just grab your pannier off the bike and split. I am spending a fair chunk of change on this gear and I would be upset if someone took off with it.

Thanks everyone for your input!

Cable lock around panniers connected to bike, and then a black Bicycle cover that goea over the whole thing. That combined with my Hennessy makes me invisible. :)

I carry a bundle of zip ties on any tour for any number of reasons but they can be useful in securing panniers to racks and 'locking' snap buckles if you are nervous or riding too close to 'civilisation'. They will foil any opportunistic thefts just remember to keep your pocket knife 'key' in your pocket instead of the panniers.

I like this one better than my picture wire\locks thingy! Thanks for sharing this one!

These days you can buy motion sensors @ any DIY place. Anything moves the thing goes off. Trouble is I always stealth camp and usually in the forest, so movement of branches would trigger it off. To place it in the pannier attached to the bike is ok. For your camp area I have got around this by using fishing lines and sensors for night fishing. I think the idea is you bait the hooks and go to sleep, if you get the fish pulling at the line the sensor bleeps. The idea come to me after spending a very restless night close to some people night fishing, I got 2 of these. one set up in the front of the tent in a rectangle, and one set up behind in a rectangle. The sensor for the front rectangle lies in front of the tent and the sensor for the back lies at the rear of the tent. When the alarm goes off I know where the intruder is positioned, but by the time I am out of the bag, knife drawn and charging in the direction the person is long gone, saves on the barking Allan, neat idea though. Its important to position the line just below the knee, this way small animals dont wake you up and the intruder does not step over it without realising. I also use this for my panniers, even though I have a secure line fed through to the rack I have a tighter line connected to the sensor, which is in the pannier. It really dose not take long to set up and I only set it up now and then depending on where I am. Hope this helps