Pannier security when they are back at camp?

[mark1150]

Inspired by one of our fellow riders concerns about leaving his expensive panniers behind at camp while out for a trail ride, it's got me thinking as to What do you do?
I know that if a thieving Bast$%! really wants it he''ll have it no matter what, but I'm thinking that stuff like ours would be the prey of an opportunist thief, I.E. not equipped with bolt cutters, hack saws etc, just pick up and run.

For now, I've thought of two possible solutions, which could save the kit being taken from the tent in such a scenario,they cost next to nothing and I'm sure that faced with an obstacle the would be felon will move onto a softer target.
And if you find this amusing could you please share a viable alternative??

Both include one of those Dog spikes which are available everywhere from pet stores to market stalls, the ones with the cork screw, auger /twist in shaft, and a length of steel wire or cable lock, a tack weld and pad lock.
First get someone to tac weld the ring that you would attach the lead to in normal use which allows the dog to rotated around the axis, should only cost a couple of quid.
This is important as if it's free the spike could be unscrewed hassle free, although the thief would still have to carry two panniers together , as they'll both still be tethered via the cable.
The idea being to secure the spike, say within the vestibule area of your tent, and secure the luggage to it via the steel cable and pad lock.
Hopefully by the time the scrote has struggled with it, ( he'll either have to take them outside, [very hard on a shortish cable] and rotate the whole lot, cable, panniers etc to unscrew the spike, or he'll have to go equipped; in both cases someone should notice and raise the alarm.
The second method just involves the spike or spikes as one or two are involved, in this one.
Simply drill a hole through the pannier base**, and pass the spike through ,lock the pannier and Robert is your Fathers brother, in this case they will have to make a proper din breaking into the pannier and devaluing their prize to boot, in order to get the spike out.
For one spike method, use as described above and cable the two cases together.
So both light weight, and compact so no problems there, what do you think, good idea or the fruits of a mad mans mind?
**The hole can be fitted with a blind grommet when not in use, and aid drainage should you get a pannier full in a water crossing etc.

dog spike.jpg (7.95 KiB) Viewed 2283 times

And one last thing, What if its hard ground?
You'll already be carrying the equipment to get over that one, Tent peg and mallet to give you a pilot hole.

[Sleepy]

I normally chain all three (panniers and topbox) together, maybe with some stuff inside, can still be taken I s'pose, but not easily....

[desert storm]

It's not something i'd even considered before (now i'm gonna be paranoid about it, hmy: ) but both ideas seem good - can't think of anything better that's easily carried.
Sadly, can't fit this on the bike ....

wolf9.jpg (38.57 KiB) Viewed 2283 times

[V_King]

for my soft panniers i use packsafe



imho, if you connect all three panniers together with a cable and a lock, it would be hard to drag them all together and would look really obvious, that something is not right.

but why would you remove all panniers in a first place? :huh:
you have all the bulky stuff in a side boxes, which can stay with a bike, and in a top box you have an inner bag, which easily pops out with all essentials and boxes stay safely attached to the bike

[mark1150]

for my soft panniers i use packsafe



imho, if you connect all three panniers together with a cable and a lock, it would be hard to drag them all together and would look really obvious, that something is not right.

but why would you remove all panniers in a first place? :huh:
you have all the bulky stuff in a side boxes, which can stay with a bike, and in a top box you have an inner bag, which easily pops out with all essentials and boxes stay safely attached to the bike

My fault, should have made it a bit clearer, and suitably edited, they would be removed for trail riding.

[Lancastermick]

If it's possible to get a reverse screw spike as well as the normal one, then surely they'd have to dig them out to remove them? :huh:

Personally, if I'm travelling, I just take it all with me. The trail rides are slower but the piece of mind is worth it.

An alternative would be to leave them with the campsite owner of chain them to a tree.

[Paul C]

Mark, I thought the same thing. I didn't have time to get a dog tether before the Boil so ended up leaving the panniers on the bike. Not a problem for a road ride. The same issue is mostly the reason why I'm not camping at the Thetford run at the weekend: I want to ride the lanes as light as possible and don't want to leave all my gear in a field somewhere.

I thought I could use my "D" lock through the dog tether and use the pannier-frame locks to lock the panniers to the D shackle. They'd be really close together and make unscrewing the tether very difficult. I hadn't considered screwing through from the inside.

[doctorzippy]

How big a problem is theft of panniers from a tent on a campsite? :unsure:

I've travelled all over for years and left my panniers as well as other "valuables" in my tent and never had a problem, nor have I ever heard of anyone having such bulky items nicked from a tent. Most tea-leaves seem to be interested in small highly valuable items if thieving from tents - radios, phones, CD/DVD players, etc. I doubt they'd be interested in lugging around a very heavy and locked aluminium or plastic box on the off chance that when they finally get it opened it contains more than my dirty underwear!

[mark1150]

How big a problem is theft of panniers from a tent on a campsite? :unsure:

I've travelled all over for years and left my panniers as well as other "valuables" in my tent and never had a problem, nor have I ever heard of anyone having such bulky items nicked from a tent. Most tea-leaves seem to be interested in small highly valuable items if thieving from tents - radios, phones, CD/DVD players, etc. I doubt they'd be interested in lugging around a very heavy and locked aluminium or plastic box on the off chance that when they finally get it opened it contains more than my dirty underwear!

Paul PM sent,
the Doctors comments, for me the problem isn't as financially disastrous as it would be for Paul, mine would cost at E Bay prices £150-£200, where Alloy BMW items are 3 maybe four times the price, plus I never thought I'd be woken up in the middle of the night with an alarm going off because some pikey scrote nicked the Cat off of my truck but it did.
The whole idea of the security is as much for peace of mind as anything else, plus why give them an opportunity to take them easily anyway?
For the sake of a couple of quid I'd rather A) Hold on to them B) Frustrate the scumbags efforts.

[ipswichbiker]

The trouble is its not just the contents of the panniers that might be valuable the actual boxes themselves are pricey...

Sorry im just adding fuel to the fire. You beat me to it there Mark.

Another reason to pack light.