Hi Everyone!
I am planning a trip to Florida in the Spring and a trip out West in the summer and I'd really like to take our bikes. I'm sure there will be a few nights where we will stay in a hotel and I don't want to worry about the bikes being stolen. I have the roof mounted yakima bike rack. Is it safe to simply use a bike lock to lock the bikes to the top of the camper?
sorry is this is a no brainer....I just want to get input.
Thanks,
Karen
Probably there's no absolute certainty against thievery if someone wants those bikes bad enough. I use one of those plastic coated bicycle metal cable locks, it's maybe 5' long stretched out (has a tendancy to coil) and has the lock on the end rather than a loop and using a paddlelock. No doubt someone with a bolt cutter could make short work of it, but at least it might deter a quick snatch of the bikes from maybe a juvenile or a drunk.
The only real solution would be to make sure the bikes are insured, or take them off and into your room for the night. In my case, so long as I have the PU, my first place to stay for the night is a C/G enroute to where-ever it is I'm going to.
Fly
I have stayed at really nice hotels where folks carry their bikes right into their room. Or, the hotel may have a "safe" room near the front desk, or a service entrance.
Unless if you are riding a $50 Huffy or a *?*mart Schwinn, (not the bike shop variety), I would not leave them unattended overnight.
Desperate folks these days are commonly cutting the copper tubing from under RVs, and the catalytic converters from trucks and SUVs. Bikes on a rack, even if they could be welded to the vehicle, are an open invitation.
Can you get the locking cores for the bike trays? I would use the locking cores and a cable lock or two. The harder you make it for a thief, the more likely they will steel from someone else. I have left the bikes on top of my PU at hotels and have not had a problem, and they are not $50 bikes.:)
I would recommend the Yakima bike lock cores, which you can order keyed alike so you only need to carry the one key.
Quote from: msuclanHi Everyone!
I am planning a trip to Florida in the Spring and a trip out West in the summer and I'd really like to take our bikes. I'm sure there will be a few nights where we will stay in a hotel and I don't want to worry about the bikes being stolen. I have the roof mounted yakima bike rack. Is it safe to simply use a bike lock to lock the bikes to the top of the camper?
sorry is this is a no brainer....I just want to get input.
Thanks,
Karen
Quote from: flyfishermanProbably there's no absolute certainty against thievery if someone wants those bikes bad enough. I use one of those plastic coated bicycle metal cable locks, it's maybe 5' long stretched out (has a tendancy to coil) and has the lock on the end rather than a loop and using a paddlelock. No doubt someone with a bolt cutter could make short work of it, but at least it might deter a quick snatch of the bikes from maybe a juvenile or a drunk.
The only real solution would be to make sure the bikes are insured, or take them off and into your room for the night. In my case, so long as I have the PU, my first place to stay for the night is a C/G enroute to where-ever it is I'm going to.
We road our bikes and camped most of the way down the Oregon Coast. Not once did management object when we stored our bikes in our room when we took a motel. Bike thieves have no problems with cables etc. Ask my daughters. They lost three bikes while at college.
I use the bike lock cables. One going thru the front tires and around the crossbar of the rack and one the same way thru the back tires. I also sometimes run one around all the bike frames too. The longer it takes a thief to get the bikes freed of the locks, the more likely someone will see them. Also, it's good to park under a light.