Where are you touring that you need so much protection?

A bike can be stolen from anywhere, but you are always playing the odds, in safer areas you don't need much of a lock and in the less safe areas you need either (1) a really good one or (2) to go elsewhere where the risk is less.

When I toured Florida Keys with a friend, he was really worried about theft of his titanium bike. He carried a massive chain, in the photo.



Most trips I have just carried a light duty cable and padlock. But there are occasional places where I did not feel it was safe so I kept going instead of locking up my bike. Or, if traveling with someone else, one watches the bikes while the other goes into the store.



When touring I use bolt on skewers instead of quick release, I feel better about leaving a wheel unlocked. I use ones that take a 5mm allen wrench. And besides my other tools I also have a 5mm allen wrench packed with my spare tube just to make sure a flat does not strand me. I skipped a photo.

My titanium bike is not my most expensive bike, but it looks very expensive. I paid over $100 for a Bordo 6100 link type lock. I prefer combination locks so I do not have to worry about a key being lost. They come in two lengths, I got the longer one.

Before I bought the Bordo, when I toured on my titanium bike, I carried a better cable, as in the photo below. I think that cable is 1m long (~~3 ft).



If I am going into a restaurant where there is good visability out the window, or a convenience store for only a few minutes, I might use a skier type lock,one that is only designed to slow down a thief. It is very fast, I keep in in my handlebar bag where it is handy.



But it is all about situational awareness. When I toured Iceland, they have almost no theft there, I often did not bother with a lock. Even in the crowded campground below, I did not bother to lock it. My tent is the gray one slightly to the left of the center of the photo, my bike is behind and to the left of the tent.



You occasionally hear of theft of a bike on a tour, but the best thing you can do is try to avoid the areas that look less safe.