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Does anyone else use a "cheap" bike for touring

Old 03-12-18, 05:18 PM
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Originally Posted by jefnvk
Most places in Belgium and the Netherlands were good about having a secured garden or interior area our bikes were allowed, but the hotel we stayed at in Amsterdam the last couple nights refused them in any sort of private area whatsoever. They pointed at the public bike racks outside and told us to lock them up there, and there really was no sneaking them into our fifth floor room. It isn't the easiest doing research about bike parking when you are credit card touring.

So much for bike friendly Amsterdam.

In Italy, Switzerland and Amsterdam there has always been some place either inside or a garden where I could put my bike.


At the hostel in Montarra, CA, you keep bikes in an old ammo bunker.
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Old 03-12-18, 05:40 PM
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Generally we haven't had any problems getting bikes inside, sometimes it's a matter of explaining it's not just a bicycle, but that your holiday would be ruined by having your transport stolen. I was pretty paranoid in the states, there were quite a few homeless dudes on the west coast coveting my previous bike, a not too flash MTB with all the racks they'd need to carry their gear. I'm also in the situation when I've now got a major case of Grandpa's axe going on, I started out on my original 1992 MTB frame, built some cheap wheels, bought discount parts etc etc gradually swapping out bits and pieces, now I think the only common bit is the headlight!... and grandpa's axe is now a chainsaw, Rohloff (which suck BTW) disc brakes, touring specific frame SON dynohub yadda yadda. Most of which I got cheap by waiting for bargains. But I've pulled all the branding stickers off and tried to make it look as ratty as possible to deter the casual thief. Makes it harder to explain to a Japanese hotel owner that "yes, this is a 400,000yen bicycle" Could I go go back to my original bike, yeah, I think I've just accidentally overcapitalised.
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Old 03-12-18, 05:48 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by jefnvk
Most places in Belgium and the Netherlands were good about having a secured garden or interior area our bikes were allowed, but the hotel we stayed at in Amsterdam the last couple nights refused them in any sort of private area whatsoever. They pointed at the public bike racks outside and told us to lock them up there, and there really was no sneaking them into our fifth floor room. It isn't the easiest doing research about bike parking when you are credit card touring.
Ive been pretty lucky in these situations, and generally have been able to talk my way into some sort of exception. I suspect being in Amsterdam was a factor, with bikes up the ying yang and depending on the owner, just not having anything to do with an exception.
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Old 03-12-18, 06:32 PM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by jefnvk
That is where I am. Not a financial hardship to lose or buy a new one, more of an annoyance I don't want to deal with. I like it.

Yep, France this time round. But, you raise a point that I kind of have opposing feelings on. If I am taking utmost precautions at every step of the way, it is also indicative of unnecessary worry being added whenever I am away from the bikes. I didn't really feel "unsafe" in bike thief haven Amsterdam leaving bikes outdoors overnight, but I also had a sigh of relief everytime I walked out and saw them still sitting there.

But again, not looking for right or wrong or the "proper" way to do it. I appreciate the opposing views, was really just more curious about how others perceived the risks on their own!
Where I used to work, there were maybe 100 bikes parked in the racks outside. And, yes there was some theft at those racks. One guy had front low riders on his fork. And he always pulled his front wheel off of his bike and locked his bike and front wheel up to the rack. The low rider front rack made his bike more stable when standing on the fork that way. I think the reason he locked the wheel up separately that way was that his lock was too short to go around both wheels. But, realistically, a bike thief would probably look at his bike last because of the amount of time necessary to re-assemble the bike to make it rideable. At the end of the work day, putting the wheel back on the bike took him less than a minute, he did it every day so he was pretty quick at it.

My 26 inch wheel bikes, when I have 50 mm or 57 mm tires on them, I can't pull a front wheel without deflating it first to get past the brake, so that would not work well for me. But, if I was really nervous about where I left my bike, pulling the front wheel off would be the first thing I would think of doing. And ideally, take the wheel with me instead of leaving it with the rest of the bike. And in Europe where more people know what a Rohloff hub is and what it is worth, I would probably want to take my rear wheel with me too.
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Old 03-12-18, 06:41 PM
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Originally Posted by jefnvk
Most places in Belgium and the Netherlands were good about having a secured garden or interior area our bikes were allowed, but the hotel we stayed at in Amsterdam the last couple nights refused them in any sort of private area whatsoever. They pointed at the public bike racks outside and told us to lock them up there, and there really was no sneaking them into our fifth floor room. It isn't the easiest doing research about bike parking when you are credit card touring.
They wouldn't let you keep them in your room, Jeff?
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Old 03-12-18, 07:24 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by jefnvk
Most places in Belgium and the Netherlands were good about having a secured garden or interior area our bikes were allowed, but the hotel we stayed at in Amsterdam the last couple nights refused them in any sort of private area whatsoever. They pointed at the public bike racks outside and told us to lock them up there, and there really was no sneaking them into our fifth floor room. It isn't the easiest doing research about bike parking when you are credit card touring.
Our experience in Paris might help, or not. We spent about 8 days in Paris due to a doctor's appointment and the end of the TDF. We stayed at a friend of a friend's apartment near the center of Paris. The apartment owner told us not to leave our bikes out in the courtyard even when the gate and bikes were locked. She told us to store them in the apartment. We went on a ride with some ex-Oregonians who have lived in Paris for 30 years. When we went over to their house after the ride they locked out bikes in their garage until after dinner. They would not let us leave them in the courtyard.

Point is: bike theft in Paris is also a problem. We are starting a tour there in June, and the owner of the apartment we are renting is going to lock our bikes in his garage while we are playing tourist for a few days.

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Old 03-12-18, 11:20 PM
  #32  
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Thanks. I never thought much about bike theft. I just have a simple cable lock. Now, you folks have made me paranoid about it and thinking about other secure measures
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Old 03-13-18, 01:22 AM
  #33  
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I used a German wheel lock and accessory cable in the US. Pretty handy, you can lock the back wheel to stop a roll-off and cable it to something to stop a carry-off. But when we were loaded during the day we never ever left the bikes unattended in towns, one person guarded while the other shopped.
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Old 03-13-18, 04:57 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by spinnaker
So much for bike friendly Amsterdam.
You think Amsterdam is bike unfriendly? Try riding into Venice!! That's a whole city that won't let you bring a bike in!


I'm sorry, but I have to wade in here....


Amsterdam is extremely Bike Friendly and to suggest otherwise is just unfair.

I think it's fairly common knowledge that where there are lots of bikes there are lots of thefts. That's life, unfortunately.

As for the Hotel refusing the bikes.....
A lot of the Hotels in Amsterdam are in buildings that are several hundreds of years old and have been adapted and upgraded over the centuries. These older hotels, especially, are very small and just don't have the space for bike storage. A lot of rooms in these hotels barely have enough room for 2 people, never mind 2 bikes.

The lesson to take from this anecdote is not that Amsterdam is bike unfriendly, more that if bike security is that important to you, then that should be a condition of your reservation.

There are hotels that will happily provide the secure space - they're typically newer hotels and more expensive.


My preferred approach to big cities is to avoid staying in them. Instead, where I can, I'll stay outside the city and hit it as early as possible in the morning. Cycling around an empty city at dawn, hitting all the sites, watching a big city wake up is a fabulous experience!


As for the topic at hand, the bike I use for touring is an old (Mid-late 90's) Trek MTB.

I got that bike because I wanted
Steel Frame (Insert backwoods smithy jokes here)
26 inch wheels (say what you like about old fashioned, but even at low speed my dynohub generates decent power.

Also, I am not mechanically minded in any way and wanted to learn about bike mechanics. I'd much rather do that on an old bike than a sparkly new one.

A part of my logic also, was that in the case of a catastrophic failure a similar frame would not be an issue to source (and cheap) and the components would be easily transferable.

Also, I didn't have the money to fork out for a "touring" bike.

It's an advantage that my bike looks like crap, but it was not my intention specifically to get a cheap bike to deter theft. I'd be very disappointed if my bike was stolen, not because of the cost, but because I've put such work into it.

Having said that, having toured exclusively in Western Europe, I have never taken any specific security precautions other than locking it. And I don't even do that all the time.

Most places are very accommodating for cyclists who wish to leave their bikes in a secure location when visiting places. Ironically (for the Americans here), the only place that I have been refused the facility to leave my bike in a visible location was at the American War Cemetry in Limburg, NL. The security guard insisted that I use the bike parking facilities which were out of sight. In fairness to the man, he promised to keep a close eye on the bike.... and he did.


To conclude, bad things happen everywhere. A bit of common sense goes a long way to preventing them.

And writing about them on Bike Forums just makes them seem more common than my experience suggests they are.

Frank
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Old 03-13-18, 07:11 AM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by spinnaker
So much for bike friendly Amsterdam.
Originally Posted by NoControl
They wouldn't let you keep them in your room, Jeff?
Nope, as @HobbesOnTour correctly assumed, there simply was no getting the bikes inside. We had quite a spacious room, but we were also on the fifth floor, the lifts could barely fit two people and the side staircase wasn't any more suited (assuming I had the desire to carry a 30# bike up five flights). The main staircase was an oddity that ran through things like a library and art display, where decorum dictated not trying to carry a bike through.

On the contrary, the airport hotel we stayed the very final night, next to AMS, gave us an unused conference room to disassemble and box our bikes up, and locked them in there til we left in the morning

I don't know if bike-friendly is the appropriate word for the city. Moreso bike-centric.
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Old 03-13-18, 07:14 AM
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Originally Posted by Trevtassie
Generally we haven't had any problems getting bikes inside, sometimes it's a matter of explaining it's not just a bicycle, but that your holiday would be ruined by having your transport stolen.
I like this explanation.

Originally Posted by Doug64
Our experience in Paris might help, or not. We spent about 8 days in Paris due to a doctor's appointment and the end of the TDF. We stayed at a friend of a friend's apartment near the center of Paris. The apartment owner told us not to leave our bikes out in the courtyard even when the gate and bikes were locked ...
That is good information. I will put a bit more effort into making sure we have accommodations with secured parking there, if at all possible.
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Old 03-13-18, 08:17 AM
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Originally Posted by boomhauer
You can give away your cheap bike when you had enough. Maybe to a friend in need....
This is what my 70-yo friend does. Rather than fly with a bike, he buys a cheap one at his destination, tours extremely light with little more than a day pack, then gives it away, usually to a family he's met, on his last day. He especially enjoys doing that when he doesn't speak the language. His tours are seldom more than a week or two, usually over 500 miles. Not bad for an old guy.

I've been touring with a much lighter load these days as I get older, and I just may do that some trip soon.
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Old 03-13-18, 11:38 AM
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"Bike theft is a fact of life in Amsterdam. Amsterdam Police and the Cyclists' Union estimate that each year between 50.000 and 80.000 bikes are stolen. Mind you: 58 percent of bicycles are stolen from in front of someone's own house, and most bikes thefts take place during the daytime."

Bike Stolen of Missing in Amsterdam? How to Get it Back

We just stayed at a motel with secure bike storage by Schiphol Airport, and took the train to Amsterdam. It was a lot more relaxing than thinking about the bikes. The motel's shuttle took us to and from the airport, where there is a train station on the lower level.

Last edited by Doug64; 03-13-18 at 11:43 AM.
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Old 03-27-18, 11:34 PM
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hardrock

[IMG]San simeon mini touring testing bike https://imgur.com/gallery/2TDxB[/IMG]I use this revamped hardrock I just tried out of this weekend did great..all new components though
San simeon mini touring testing bike https://imgur.com/gallery/2TDxB
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Old 03-28-18, 09:43 AM
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Originally Posted by BikeREZ
[IMG]San simeon mini touring testing bike https://imgur.com/gallery/2TDxB[/IMG]I use this revamped hardrock I just tried out of this weekend did great..all new components though
San simeon mini touring testing bike https://imgur.com/gallery/2TDxB
I have a dozen or so of these frames just waiting for me to convert them.
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Old 03-28-18, 09:58 AM
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My first bike for touring was a mid-priced bike at $150 in 1970. Ten years later toured on an expensive custom frame touring bike that actually had a bad high speed shimmy. Thereafter most touring was ultralight on medium high end road bikes and occasional touring bike. I think you use the bike you have that fits the purpose, whether it’s cheap or not.
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Old 03-28-18, 10:10 AM
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About a week ago I met a guy just starting his tour from Eastern Wisconsin, he plans to go to Arizona. He said he usually buys a $100 USD bike and gives it away at the end of his trip. His bike looked like it was maybe worth about that much. He said he does a long tour like that each year.

I can see shopping for a good used cheap bike, taking time to fix it up and then giving it away later. I paid $5 USD for my errand bike, put about $50 USD worth of new stuff on it. I do not tour on it but I would trust it for a tour.

But I can't see going to a new place, looking to buy a cheap bike and then immediately starting to use it while hoping that it will last.
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Old 03-28-18, 12:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
But I can't see going to a new place, looking to buy a cheap bike and then immediately starting to use it while hoping that it will last.
That is my plan some day. Fly to Amsterdam, buy a cheap Omafiets somewhere halfway legit, and ride it around the IJsselmeer for a week before packing it up and bringing it home as a souvenir

But most bikes should be simple enough that you could fly somewhere, buy something cheap, and do a quick tune up at your lodging overnight.
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Old 03-29-18, 08:25 PM
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I find a degree of pleasure in using older equipment. It can be a real treat to find out how well it performs its original design function. Of course, I’m no young one myself so I’m equally pleased to find out I still can function well! (From time to time...)
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