Strawfoot
Flagstaff, AZ, USA
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Bumpyroad wrote:am I the only one that sees some irony in somebody paying a brazillion dollars for a 1 1/2 lb. bicycle then needs to drag along 50 lbs. of locks/chains/etc. to lock it up while riding?
bumpy 
No such thing as a 1 1/2 pound bike and we don't carry bike locks while riding. Our bikes are mountain bikes that weigh between 23 and 27 pounds. They are locked when they are sitting on the bike rack that is on the back of the camper. This allows us to stop at restaurants and not worry about losing them.
Why do people think it is convoluted or complicated to lock a bike? Some people are thieves. Some people are very good thieves. when my friends bike was stolen from our campsite in Austin, it was locked with a cable lock, leaning against the camper. The thieves took it while we slept, just inches away. They had seen us riding our bikes during the day and knew they were valuable bikes.
A couple years back I visited a friend in Sacramento and during the early morning hours, a person tried to steal my bike from the bed of my truck. It was a good neighborhood but my highway patrol friend who I was staying with said he suspected the young Russian paperboy, who delivers papers early, before anyone is awake. I was so cautious that I ran cables through my bike frame to my Yamaha generator, then also ran my quadra-chain between the two. The thief had cut all the cheap padlocks holding the cables in place and even cut a hose leading from my generator to my propane tank. He pulled the bike halfway out of the bed of the truck but could not cut through the quadra-chain. He gave up and left.
There are several different kinds of locks a person can use to protect their bikes. Most can be defeated in less than ten seconds. My quadra-chain was tested and found to be the most difficult lock and chain to open. The thief hired by a bike magazine to test locks said he couldn't even scratch the quadra-chain. All other locks took him only a few seconds to open or cut.
If you purchase a $90 bike just to cruise around the rv campground, maybe you feel like a $5 lock is adequate. I purchased bikes worth over $2000 each, to ride serious mountain bike trails all over North America and spent about $100 on each lock.
Good thieves know a good bike from a cheap bike. They swap parts out between stolen bikes to make it difficult to catch them. They are always on the prowl, just like a good car thief. Insure your property and do what you can to deter thieves. In most cases here, your bikes are worth less than your deductible and you will have to pay for a new bike yourself.
Here a few more pics of bikes and even a VIP rider. Guess who?
click link to see VIP rider
 [/img]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii266/strawfoot2002/meandGWBLR2.jpg
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Bumpyroad
Virginia
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one question Strawfoot, so you never ride your bikes anywhere, park them outside of a restaurant/store/etc. and go in? you never carry a bike lock? but OK, a 23 lb bike and 50 lbs of locks, etc.
bumpy
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beemerphile1
NE Ohio
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Strawfoot wrote: Good thieves know a good bike from a cheap bike.
There are no "good thieves".  Knowledgeable, efficient, fast, but not "good".
Tim
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quabillion
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beemerphile1 wrote:Strawfoot wrote: Good thieves know a good bike from a cheap bike.
There are no "good thieves". Knowledgeable, efficient, fast, but not "good".
Very true!! There isnt.
But if I were to hire some crook to test my security, I think that I would want the one who is the best at not being caught, quick, efficient, and knowledgeable.
I mean, we can all guess pretty well what the stupid crackheads are gonna take and how they would go about it, but a professional thief's mindset is beyond the grasp of most normal folks.
Perhaps they are doing it to pay the mortgage. 99% of all things done in this world, good or bad, are done to pay a mortgage.
So maybe the world would be a better place if everyone just fulltime RV!
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hershey
Albuquerque,(fulltime) NM, USA
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I never lock our Huffy style bikes in the campgrounds we stay at unless there are a few kids around. Then I have a small 1/4" cable and master lock that goes thru the bikes and our Baby Q. It would be a snap to cut that little cable but it indeed does keep the kids from joy riding our bikes.
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bill h
el segundo
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Strawfoot wrote:
Here are some pics of the chains and locks I use to secure both my bikes and my Yamaha generator.
There seem to be three different kinds. Would you plsease share any reccommendations, comments or info on them?
Bill and Susan
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JoeChiOhki
Keizer, Oregon
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quabillion wrote:beemerphile1 wrote:Strawfoot wrote: Good thieves know a good bike from a cheap bike.
There are no "good thieves". Knowledgeable, efficient, fast, but not "good".
Very true!! There isnt.
But if I were to hire some crook to test my security, I think that I would want the one who is the best at not being caught, quick, efficient, and knowledgeable.
I mean, we can all guess pretty well what the stupid crackheads are gonna take and how they would go about it, but a professional thief's mindset is beyond the grasp of most normal folks.
Perhaps they are doing it to pay the mortgage. 99% of all things done in this world, good or bad, are done to pay a mortgage.
So maybe the world would be a better place if everyone just fulltime RV!
The only thing I'd like to see on a Professional Thief's mind is the high caliber bullet passing through it when he gets caught.
On the note of bicycles, I don't have any place "inside" a pickup camper to store my bikes, so they're usually locked to the bike carrier or they're in the cargo trailer covered up and locked out of site, out of mind.
What I'd like to get is a lock cable set through the bikes that is actually energized with a low voltage current that when its cut, trips an alarm inside the RV.
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Strawfoot
Flagstaff, AZ, USA
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bill h wrote:
There seem to be three different kinds. Would you please share any recommendations, comments or info on them?
Bill, I'll repost the close-up picture and tell you which one I prefer.
The lock on the left is the St. Pierre Quadra chain and lock. It was made in Italy and is no longer available. I liked it because the free end of the chain just fit into the lock and then you pushed on the key to slide the cylinder into place to lock it. It was easy to do with one hand.
The middle chain is the same companies chain with a panzer lock. This lock is very tough and could handle a 9mm round and stay locked. It requires two hands to hold both ends of the chain in place before sliding the locking cylinder into place.
The On-Guard "beast" chain and lock are fairly new. A lot of motorcycle owners are using them. If you notice, the chain is hexagonal, ultra-hardened reinforced steel, and is 14mm thick! The heavy fabric that protects the chain, works better than the plastic on my other two chains. They get cold and split in places. I asked them to send a 7' chain length because I have to fully secure my generator to a custom generator tray I had fabricated to fit into a receiver on the back of my fiver. I think the On-Guard retailed for $175, but I got it off Amazon for $89.
Bumpy, I have finished rides at a restaurant on a few occasions. I slip the chain off the front chain rings and lean it against the front on the restaurant, where I can see it from where I'm seated. As a former state 440 and 880 champion, I feel confident any would-be thieves would not get more than a step or two down the road before noticing a lycra-clad 6'2" 190 pound crazy man leaping onto their back. I captured 24 out of 27 perps, in foot persuits while working as a police officer in Omaha during the 80's. Only a couple months ago I was withdrawing cash from an ATM outside the Flagstaff mall and a shop-lifter dashed out the exit and passed me by. When the store manager followed him out a moment later and I figured out what was happening, I pursued both the young male and female fleeing the scene. I caught the woman (grabbed her by the hair) as she ran down the soda isle of the Safeway grocery store, and after placing her into the mall's security vehicle, I spotted the man and ran him down about 1/3 of a mile later. I think it was my 5th or 6th thief I've helped apprehend as a civilian.
So I agree with Beemer. there are no "good" thieves. Some are just more successful, for now.
Strawfoot
* This post was
edited 10/13/08 06:40pm by Strawfoot *
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paulonius
Athens, GA
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Oh great! Now my wife will have another job to do guarding our sissy bikes all night. The woman has a tough time of it. I guard the "refreshments".
Paint your bike shocking pink or glo in the dark orange. I am just so glad to get to where I am going without damaging my unit, surviving the crazies on the road, I cannot even think about thieves---until now. heheheeee....
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BobMary8101
Lake County FL for the winter
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I wish somebody WOULD steal our two Wal Mart specials, I really would like an excuse to get those two single speeders from Camping World. I really liked 'em and only $89. apiece.
Bob
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