Bikes / security

[Grant Foster]

Hi -

I'm thinking about buying a Cali Ocean - my wife and I have a 3 year old, and I'd imagine he'd love the adventure of it all!

We have road and mountain bikes which we would likely take with us on certain trips, and there seems to be some good bike rack options. I'm wondering though, when we aren't using the bikes, and are out for the day, I guess the bikes would need to be stored inside the van? is there room for 3 bikes? I'm also slightly concerned about security, as the bikes will be visible inside the van?

Related question. And excuse my ignorance i've never been to a campsite before. if you are out in the van during the day, I guess you'd just leave most of your things behind in the awning, besides any valuables?

Thanks
Grant

 

[cundf]

You should secure to the bikes to the bike carrier. We Never ever had a missing thing on any campground in Europe! A Camper doesn't steel anything from another camper! There is no room in the Ocean to store three bikes anyway

 

[Amarillo]

You should secure to the bikes to the bike carrier. We Never ever had a missing thing on any campground in Europe! A Camper doesn't steel anything from another camper! There is no room in the Ocean to store three bikes anyway

I had someone attempt to steal my tent from a campsite.

I reckon that three bikes locked together with a least two good locks, left in an awning, would be pretty secure. Moving two bikes locked together is hard enough, moving three would be very hard and conspicuous.

The trick is to use a least two good locks of different types: the tools needed to break a hardened steel chain are different to the tools required to break a good D lock. Few thieves carry both sets of tools.

 

[owen_h]

I have a long cable that I can loop through the bikes and then the padlock to the towing eye under the bumper.
When camped up there is often a post / tree etc that can be used to lock the bike to. Unlikely to stop a determined thief but prevents the opportunistic theft.
Also have a popup utility tent that I can store 'stuff' including bikes in out of sight if away from the site.

 

[Max-Felix]

Useful bike locking info in this recent topic:

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/securing-t6-bike-rack.12896/#post-206109

I don't think most people with Calis use drive away awnings but just pack the chairs and table away in the van anyway. Other stuff - pop up tents, spare seats etc you can leave on site without worry. Most people on site are very honest!

 

[Gavinskii]

Another good tip is to cover the bikes with a Fiamma style bike cover, so if they are locked to the rack (which holds up to 4 bikes as standard) the cover for some reason acts as a "cloak of invisibility" so "wronguns" in towns and cities should just walk past the covered bikes.
If you are on a campsite, then leaving the bikes locked together and perhaps with the lock passing through the outside table and or chairs will be fine.

 

[Amarillo]

Not ideal by a long way, but two toy bikes locked to the rack with a hardened chain, and a Brompton locked by its rack to a toy bike. When Clare is home her Brompton will be locked to mine and to the rack by a hardened chain.

 

[bigmac77]

It takes quite a long time to remove the bikes from the bike rack. It's not just a case of grab them and off you go, there is the integrated locking screw on one of the clamps and you could get additional ones for each clamp if so required. Adding another form of lock, in our case we use a Knog ring master with a decent padlock, to the bikes should deter all but the most determined. Nothing is 100% but just make yourself a harder target and thieves will look elsewhere. Adding multiple locks just makes it a real pain in the backside when you want to put the bikes on the rack or remove them and you could put on the hardest chain in the world combined with the best padlock but you are attaching it to an aluminium bike rack which could be cut through in a few seconds. Also we see a lot of bikes on car roof racks or on the back of motorhomes with no locks at all.

 

[Grant Foster]

Many thanks for taking to the time to respond.

I'm still not sure there is an ideal solution? One of the attractions of the Cali is being able to go somewhere for the weekend on a whim and take the bikes with us. as well as biking, say we want to head out for lunch, a walk, whatever, I'd feel a little uncomfortable leaving £10k+ of bikes behind at a campsite (unless there were secure facilities) or locked outside to the bike rack? Would 2 adult bikes and a kids bike fit inside an Ocean do you think?

 

[bigmac77]

£10k?? Buy some cheaper bikes.

 

[T6Beach]

Many thanks for taking to the time to respond.

I'm still not sure there is an ideal solution? One of the attractions of the Cali is being able to go somewhere for the weekend on a whim and take the bikes with us. as well as biking, say we want to head out for lunch, a walk, whatever, I'd feel a little uncomfortable leaving £10k+ of bikes behind at a campsite (unless there were secure facilities) or locked outside to the bike rack? Would 2 adult bikes and a kids bike fit inside an Ocean do you think?

£10k of bikes, you have got be joking? I have an expensive bike but would never take it camping! We just have a few cheap bikes for camping trips, have you not read the threads of bikes being stolen of the racks etc at service stations at campsites.

 

[BigMan]

Just buy cheaper bikes, why would anyone take bikes on holiday that are that expensive? So many risks? Actually more to the point, why would anyone spend £10k on a bike full stop!

 

[Andyclockwise]

, I'd feel a little uncomfortable leaving £10k+ of bikes behind at a campsite

Sounds like a Kernowlad comment?

 

[Grant Foster]

I'll let others judge whats better value, a £60k van with a sink or a top end road/MTB, but perhaps we should keep those opinions to ourself!

 

[teeboy]

We have a tow bar mounted bike rack - this has a locking mechanism for each bike. If I am leaving the bikes at the campsite - I take the bike rack off, then lock all the bikes back on the bike rack, then lock the bike rack to a tree/fence or something - not perfect but would certainly be a pain in the @r$3 to take - especially if you don't put the bikes on the rack in a neat way

 

[T6 CFO]

We have a tow bar mounted bike rack - this has a locking mechanism for each bike. If I am leaving the bikes at the campsite - I take the bike rack off, then lock all the bikes back on the bike rack, then lock the bike rack to a tree/fence or something - not perfect but would certainly be a pain in the @r$3 to take - especially if you don't put the bikes on the rack in a neat way

Much the same and for odd occasions picked up a pop up utility tent to use as loo and to hide the bikes in.


Mike

 

[Serendipity]

I've just bought one these Kryptonite chains https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/K...m---130cm-With-EV-Series-4-Disc-Lock/EVX4?s=1
with the intention of either locking the bike to the rear rack or looping the chain through one of the van's wheels and locking to the bike frame. I can confirm that the chain is narrow enough to pass through the holes in my Ocean's 'standard' wheels.

 

[Suomi man]

I think your best bet would be a tow bar mounted bike rack. Bikes can be locked on to the rack, and you can add a hardened steel chain for instance (there are specific models for bikes). Covering the bikes is a great idea too. The oportunistic thief wouldn´t stand a chance, and you would make life hard for the dedicated thief. Most high-end bikes are stolen after having been followed up, people who steal them usually know what they are after, so if you don´t stay for too long a period in the same place (camping or not), I´d say you´re relatively safe.
I´m an avid mountainbiker too and know how dear an expensive good bikes are!

 

[Amarillo]

£10k of bikes, you have got be joking? I have an expensive bike but would never take it camping! We just have a few cheap bikes for camping trips, have you not read the threads of bikes being stolen of the racks etc at service stations at campsites.

We have a £3,000 tandem, I have a £2,000 touring bike and we both have £1,200 Bromptons. If they are too expensive to use, why have them!? Simply use good locks and insure them if you cannot afford the loss.

 

[Tronic]

Like you we enjoy our road bikes and mountain biking. I totally understand your predicament as we have the same problem. Firstly I wouldn't even put our best carbon bikes on racks due to security plus the added problem of the clamp rubbing on the precious carbon while in transit. I've got a couple of canvas bike bags which we use, I take the front wheels out of the bikes put each wheel in a wheel bag, wrap the rear mech up with bubble wrap and place all in the bag, no need to dismantle the bike any further as all that is on view is the saddle pocking out the top. You could remove the seat post if you want nothing visible.

With the back seats fully forward the bags fit in a treat.

I personally would leave them locked in the car, when out the car I wouldn't leave them unattended.

If you have to leave them unattended I'd buy the biggest motorbike chain lock I could find.

I assume you have them individually insured as a precaution.

Cheers, R

 

[Alibee]

We take decent bikes camping (although not £10k's worth) and I rarely stress about security. I have a long cable + big lock but have only used it a couple of times in multi-story car parks during overnights. When on-site they just get thrown into the drive-away awning and no one knows they're there.

Not sure I would take something camping that was going to be a source of stress. Defeats the point!

 

[sbmcd]

We use an Atera tow ball mounted rack, when we are off-site with our van we remove the rack and leave the bikes locked to the rack which cannot be fitted without the key. Most campsites away from towns are very safe, if you park in towns with bikes on any rack they are vulnerable, you can only try to make it a difficult as possible so the tea leafs go elsewhere.

Our bikes are circa £1.5k mtbs, not very expensive but worth stealing.

In our many years of touring in Europe we have never had a bike stolen.

 

[Radio-active]

If you leave your bikes in an awning on the site you can screw in a dog lead holder into the ground and put the chain through it, obviously not impossible to get around (more secure with a blob of weld to complete the triangular top) but more difficult for the casual thief as you will need tools, you will never pull one out of the ground!

 

[Speleo62]

We recently did the Isle of Wight randonee (100km round the island) so had our £2100 x2 road bikes on the back.. we took off our strada altera rack and Locked do it to a fence post then had the kryptonite D lock and another cable lock on them plus the carrier locks. We were nervous leaving them at the campsite while we did a bit of sight seeing but I would challenge anyone to try and steal them.

 

[Jonathan Duke]

We recently did the Isle of Wight randonee (100km round the island) so had our £2100 x2 road bikes on the back.. we took off our strada altera rack and Locked do it to a fence post then had the kryptonite D lock and another cable lock on them plus the carrier locks. We were nervous leaving them at the campsite while we did a bit of sight seeing but I would challenge anyone to try and steal them.

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Nice Roubaix. Have the same one myself. Is that the equivalent Ruby behind?