Losligato

Anyone out there hide a stash of cash (and important photocopies) on their bike? Where? How? Thanks

deanp

I'll be shocked if any one answers this.

acantor

I carry the handful of change that I will need when I return home, as well as a small cache of local currency in a small pocket in a pannier.

I keep my "walking cash" and important papers in the fanny pack I wear when I am riding. The cash is in a wallet. When I stop for the day, I transfer the wallet and important papers into my pants pocket, so that I always know where it is.

I also keep a few important papers in a second pannier.

I think the principle is to keep valuables in two or more places. If your bike or a pannier is stolen, or you are robbed, you should be able to get by for a few days. Keeping valuables in a money belt is also a good idea.

While travelling in British Columbia a few years ago, I met a guy from Europe who was biking across Canada. He was about 90% through his trip. A few days before I met him, he pitched his tent in a public campground, put everything in his tent, and left for 45 minute to pick up provisions at a nearby store. When he returned, everything was gone! All he had was his bicycle, the clothes on his back, and about $100!!

spinnaker

Canadians steal? Shocking! I'll bet the thief left a very polite letter of apology

Just kidding. This really stinks. I don't think there is a punishment horrible enough for the person that did it.

Shifty

I always put emergency cash and travelers check receipts (this was a while back) inside my handlebar. I put it all in a plastic bag, took off the bar endcap and placed the rolled bag in the bar and put the cap back on.

sivat

I've heard that putting it in a small bag in the seattube can work. Tie and string to the bag and turn the bike upside down to get it out. With a fully loaded touring bike, you'll know you'll only use it in emergencies since it will be a PITA to get at.

WestOz

Wrapped in plastic down a bar end, the seat tube, or as mentioned above, the handlebars. I like to keep some cash and importatnt papers wrapped up in the roll of toilet paper. It's always kept dry, and who is going to steal your toilet paper?

Shemp

How much good is emergency cash in your bike? I keep the important stuff in my handlebar bag, and my handlebar bag never leaves me. If someone steals my stuff, $20-$50 isn't going to get me very far without the stuff presumably stolen. If I kept enough cash in the bike to get me a couple days, then I'd be paranoid about losing that cash (and/or personal info on the photocopies) and the bike if the bike were stolen. I can see $20 for a couple meals and a phone call, but if a lot of gear is gone, what are you going to do?

maximusvt

the ladies of cycling silk recently posted in their blog something related to this...
hundred in the handlebar
personally, if I was gonna stash cash for a worst-case scenario, I wouldn't put it in my bike as the worst case scenario is... well, having my bike stolen

ststephen65

GOOD IDEA!! i always try to keep some backup cash with me but i always end up spending it. i usually try to keep a fifty handy for emergencies when im biking. if getting the money required unpacking and turning the bike upside down would def make we think twice. ive tried freezing it in ice but it just soaks everything in my panniers

Bekologist

there are some touring frames that came with threaded plugs in the bottom of the seattube, towards the bottom bracket. presumably to hide valuables. I wonder if any old frame could be tapped and capped that way? a little mud or a fender brace and no one would suspect a frame having a hidden security pocket on it. except border police intent on finding the hashish.

Rowan

It's all right if you can spare $50 or $100 to hide away...

Shemp has it... keep your stuff in the handlebar bag and never leave it on your bike if you leave it even to go to the toilet. In addition, I slide relatively small wallets down the hip of my cycling shorts, or up the right leg of my cycling shorts. I often wear light casual overshorts, and these have "sealable" back pockets where the wallet also can go.

Your documents and cards should be separated so they are in two locations. If you suffer from hotfoot, credit cards slipped under the sole insert can be useful remedies, so in true touring tradition, one action serves two purposes (although the cards do tend to break after a period of time, and probably the magnetic strip wears away)

My passport, second card, and other original documents remain in a Ziploc bag in a large travel wallet, which in turn goes in the bar bag, and my everyday stuff stays in the smaller wallet on me.

Alrocket

My Louis Garneau "Traveller 2" panniers have a velcro & strap attached fanny pack that I grab whenever I leave the bike. Has camera, passport, wallet etc, and a water bottle holder



And as for the guys hiding valuables in the bikes - I'd be more worried about having the bike stolen.

NoReg

Me too the bike is the primary target. I mean you could stash a little cash in everything you have that way if somethign goes wrong you always are going to have some resource. But that strikes me to be too much planing.

Canada is almost totally electronic. You don't need cash hardly anywhere. You can use a debit card to buy everything you need. Our banking rolls out about 10 years ahead of the US. That's what having 5 banks vs 1000 does for your. Cheap fees are not part of it... I remember going into LL Bean a while back and finding the only way a customer could do a debit trans was to withdraw cash from cash machines. At the same time in Canada you could use debit in just about any store or hotel. Moral is, don't carry much cash.

oystercatcher

Not sure if a debit card is the same as a bank atm card

Here in the usa you are much safer doing merchant transactions
with a credit card rather than an bank atm card. The reason
is if the credit card is stolen or the number is stolen and you
report it you are only liable for a small amount. However the
contract regarding an atm card is different and if the card is
stolen the bank assumes no liability for any misuse or theft.

Recently in southern california, arco gas station customers had
their atm card information stolen and their bank accounts were
raided. From the news story the police dont really know how
it was done.

Canada may be different, but I still encourage everyone to read
their bank atm card contract carefully and not to use it at
arbitrary card readers which can be easily hacked.

goldfish

if i were to hide it in/on my bike, i would go for either the seattube, handlebars, or put it up the seatpost and cap the bottom of it so it doesn't fall out.

also, does this make anyone else think of the beginning of Easy Rider? Where he slides the money into a tube and then puts it inside his gas tank?

Chris L

My first impression on seeing the thread title was "troll".

Either way, I simply don't leave cash on my bike. Whatever cash I'm carrying at any given time stays in my wallet which stays with me at all times. On any tour, that is the one item above all others that I definitely don't want to lose.

TheWalkman

Keep you wallet, papers and cash in your handlebar bag and don't let it out of your sight.

If you do want to stash something on the bike, stick a $100 travellers check in the usual places (seat tubes, handlebars, etc.) so if the bike gets stolen you can at least get the check refunded. That way, should your bike be stolen, you're not adding a hundred bucks worth of salt to an already open wound!

jibi

I have a "secret" pocket sewn into the inside of my cycling shirts which exactly matches the outside seams, of the centre stuff pocket.

I can keep a few things in a ziplock plastic wallet in there, photocopies and paper money. Nice and flat.

I considered having things hidden about the bike frame but if you get the bike stolen then it is all gone.

They are unlikely to take the shirt off your back. Are they??

george

FlowerBlossom

It probably depends on where you are traveling and how remote you are going to be.

In general, I'd never leave cash on the bike...the bike is usually much too different from everything else out there...it's sometimes nothing but a beacon. If it got stolen or the bags on it stolen, I'd be SOL.

I have a small, waterproof shoulder bag/purse that doubled as a carrier for the camera, keys, small waterbottle, tourbook, cash, etc. It has a zip-close and a large flap over the top to conceal the zipper. The outside dimensions of the bag was a tad smaller than the inside dimensions of my handlebar bag. When I was on the bike, it fit nicely into the handlebar bag, and, I always had in my field of vision. When off the bike, I had it with me but didn't look like a tourist (except for the lycra shorts, helmet, and funny looking shoes ).

For my trip this summer, I had a back-up copy of my passport waiting for me in my email account in the form of a PDF file.

If I was to go somewhere known for pickpockets, I'd probably wear the extra cash + passport under my shirt or shorts, wear something bulky to conceal the lumps, carry the photocopies in the tourist book, and not let go of the tourist book.

Monoborracho

If you carry extra spokes (I tape mine to the seat tube), you can keep some dollars in the seat post and fish them out with a spoke.

Michigander

When I'm MTB touring I wear a regular pair of shorts on top of my bike shorts so I can carry my wallet and some other items.

Shiznaz

I would reccomend cramming the seat tube full of quarters. Or if you have oversized tubes you may be able to get away with Canadian one and two dollar coins. YMMV.

Bacciagalupe

Traveler's checks. Not that expensive, full replacement if they ever get lost or stolen.

Copy of the passport is good too. But I've heard lately that US passports are nowhere near as valuable as they once were, so I wouldn't be too paranoid about it.

If you are concerned, just get a small money belt or under-the-shirt pouch, and put the TC's, some cash and passport in there.

Rowan

You had better rethink that if you want to travel just about anywhere outside the USA! You won't get into Australia or New Zealand without it. Which, I think, makes your citizenship claim about the most valuable thing you've got when travelling.

I lost my wallet in Australia (as an Australian national) when travelling from the far south to the far north. I was without it for several weeks, and I had no spare card, no driver's licence, no birth cert... no thing. I was stateless, nameless, homeless and penniless (because I couldn't access cash at the bank... without identification). Not a nice situation to be in. Just as well I was travelling with my partner at the time.