D locks on tour - advice please

[Rabbit]

Hello all, I'm planning a Trans America tour next year and I've been doing a few practice runs fully loaded. I usually carry a Kryptonite Evolution mini D lock with me but I've found with the panniers on it's difficult to lock the bike to fences etc because the panniers get in the way. I end up putting a long cable around whatever point I've found and then putting the D lock through the bike wheel and frame, which sort of defeats the purpose really. I'm wondering if a cable lock would be better, what do people think? I don't leave the bike out of sight for long periods of time.

[andymiller]

To be honest the Kryptonite Evolution Mini looks to small to be much use either on tour or off tour. I have a Kryptonite with a D that's a smidge under 23cms and I find that this is just enough to go round a Sheffield stand and through the rear triangle of the bike (the most secure way of locking it)- anything smaller than that is too small IMO.

On tour I use a cable on its own. I find that a 2.5 metre cable will go round most trees and generally through the front and rear wheels.

These things are always a trade-off: the security of a d-lock versus the practicality of a cable. I definitely wouldn't leave the bike for any length of time in a city with just a cable. My theory is that small villages and towns are safer: not necessarily because people are more honest but in the cities you can easily sell a bike for cash with no questions asked, while in small-town America/Europe that's going to be more difficult. (I stress that this is my theory).

[iviehoff]

I spent most of a year in South America with only a light cable lock. I didn't come back feeling I wished I'd had a D-lock.

Two friends did have their D-locked bikes stolen from outside their tent in the snow in Peru, several km from the nearest building. There was of course no street furniture to attach them to, so they were attached to each other. Presumably the thieves brought some kind of a cart and loaded them on. I think my friends' lights before bedding down would have been visible from the nearest village across a valley. However they did realise that that village was a bit of a dodgy place, but it did have a guesthouse, so when it started snowing they should have gone back to stay there rather than wild camp in its vicinity. On average, safer to be in a guesthouse than wild camping, though I have heard of people having their bikes stolen when D-locked to an interior staircase inside a guesthouse.

Nevertheless it tends to support my view that even with a D-lock you still have to strain to minimise the exposure of the bike in insecure environments, so you may as well have the lighter lock which is adequate nearly all of the rest of the time. The times I was most worried wild camping there was nothing to attach the bike to anyway. In these situations I did at least, when possible, walk several hundred metres off the road, and place my bike flat on the ground semi-concealed if possible from many viewpoints by the low shrubbery. This would deter most opportunists, was my thought. On one occasion in Bolivia, doing this, I found somewhere you couldn't see me from the road, but in the morning I found I had camped by a footpath to a village, and in the morning there was such heavy foot traffic on the path it was hard even to relieve myself with any privacy.

[Richard Fairhurst]

To be honest the Kryptonite Evolution Mini looks to small to be much use either on tour or off tour.

I have a similarly sized mini lock (an Abus rather than a Kryptonite) and though it's very convenient, it won't lock to anything thicker than a Sheffield stand. It's well suited to a standard frame bike which isn't too heavily loaded, but throw panniers or an odd frame design into the mix, and it loses its usefulness.

[irc]

I've cycled much of the Transamerica route as well as other areas in the USA. Most of the time you won't need a D lock. The route is through small towns where very few people cycle apart from kids. There isn't a cycling culture and therefore no market for stolen bikes. Small town America is low risk anyway. Pueblo, Colorado is big enough to need an eye on security. I've passed through twice but stayed in smaller towns either side.

Some of the west coast towns and cities have cycling cultures and therefore bike thefts. Especially San Francisco. My tactic is to keep the bike in sight, locked with a cable lock. At night stay in a hostel/motel. Leave the bike in the motel if spending a day in town and unable to stay near bike when locked.

I'm considering one of these locks though. Get good reviews and better security than a cable lock for only a slight weight penalty (550g). Looks slightly bigger than the Kryptonite Evolution Mini.

http://www.ortre.com/store/p5/BI5_U_Lock_-_Large.html

https://rideonmagazine.com.au/locks-test-2012/

[Rabbit]

Thanks all, that's really helpful - think I'll ditch the Kryptonite Evolution for the tour and find a decent cable lock instead, something that might at least go around a post or a tree. irc thanks for the trans am advice - and the links. Richard - bit off topic but I think you run cycle-travel don't you? I used it for the first time on a two day ride from Bristol to New Forest and it was great - the only time I got in trouble was when I went off route into Bath for lunch and followed some locals' directions out. Ended up carrying the bike up and down bridges over the canal. Apart from that it was all quiet lanes and very nice. Thank you.

[raybo]

I always take a cable and lock with me on tour. I wrote an article about my reasoning and experiences.

[bohrsatom]

I think if there are two of you then you can get away with one of the long shackle D-locks. When my g/f and I go touring we take a 30cm abus D-lock and a couple of 4ft kryptonite cable locks (the variety that come included with one of the evolution mini locks). This combination is good almost anywhere but a big city - if there is a stand then you can just about use the d-lock through it and both bikes and the cable is good for going around trees at camp sites. The total weight is around 1.5Kg, maybe a bit more.

If you are alone this is a stupid amount of weight to carry and I'd personally go for a thick looking cable and hope for a dose of good luck. IMO cycle touring wisdom about locks completely contradicts what one would do in their home city. However if you plan to keep your bike in sight as much as possible then you just need a good enough lock to stop somebody riding off, and a d-lock is overkill for this.

[DMan01]

I'd generally echo the advice already given above here. If you don't really leave the bike out of site during the day the main time you will want to lock up securely is at night and then you will presumably have already taken the bags off so no problems with them getting in the way

[iviehoff]

I'd generally echo the advice already given above here. If you don't really leave the bike out of site during the day the main time you will want to lock up securely is at night and then you will presumably have already taken the bags off so no problems with them getting in the way

D-locks don't go around trees though.

[MrsHJ]

Agree with all the above. My bike is also no longer young so whilst I'd prefer not to lose it, especially on the first leg of a complex tour I'm ready to replace it now so I'd find it inconvenient but I wouldn't really be out of pocket. Even if I get a new tourer I'd still take the old one with me for some tours and my new bike will also be low key Matt colours, masked as a Dutch utility bike, until you lift it up! I've also seen the thorn bright yellow bikes and wasn't sure how successful they are in putting off thieves. And try one of those alarmed cable locks.

[Des49]

Might be kickstarter hype, but this new lock might be a good compromise:-

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... ket-48128/

[djb]

I would add that as a Canadian who has toured in Canada, the US, France, Spain, the main thing is to use common sense and observation of how long and where you leave your bike. I have always used a coil lock touring simply because it is easy to lock your bike to a tree, or picnic bench, or fence, or whatever when camping overnight, and when going into a store, I will usually just run the lock through my pannier straps and rear wheel or frame, really to discourage an opportunistic thief--but again, a general store in sleepytown is different than in downtown Chicago, or Montreal for that matter where I live.
I also use locks with combinations, don't like having a key that could get lost.
I have friends who have lugged U Locks (we call then U here) on trips, and it seemed to me like a heck of a lot of extra weight, to me it really comes down to where you are touring, what sort of environments and expectations of actually leaving your bike alone. I tend not to on a bike trip, pretty minimal anyway.