Bike touring- What to do with bike at museum

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
simonhill
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Joined: 13 Jan 2007, 11:28am
Location: Essex

Re: Bike touring- What to do with bike at museum

Post by simonhill »

Angstrom wrote : "other tourists are seldom thieves"

While I generally agree in the bike at museum context, there are plenty of tourists/travellers who prey on other tourists. This is particularly a problem in places like hostels but also happens in tourist hot-spots. Some despicable tourists fund their travels on theft.
axel_knutt
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Joined: 11 Jan 2007, 12:20pm

Re: Bike touring- What to do with bike at museum

Post by axel_knutt »

RobinS wrote:how many people at a tourist attraction want to steal a pannier full of dirty clothing

Thieves are opportunists, they steal first, think later. If they've stolen something useless they'll just chuck it away. We had a brown paper parcel taken from my father's car, it was my cousin's bedlinen that we'd collected from the laundry for her.
“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Angstrom
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Joined: 21 Nov 2018, 6:57am
Location: Montpellier, France

Re: Bike touring- What to do with bike at museum

Post by Angstrom »

PH wrote:
Angstrom wrote:BTW the campsite I had my tent gone through was in rural Aquitaine, while there's obviously high and low risk areas I don't think anywhere is immune.

I agree, of course.
It's amazing that although we all know that we could be severely injured and even killed on our bikes, we accept that risk with immense consequences, whilst the simple idea of being robbed of panniers and clothes, with a ruined holiday, with a likelihood very low in some places makes some people hesitate to enjoy all the benefits of taking it easy and indeed visiting those museums and other tourist locations with bikes being left alone with a lock.
"A cycle tourist doesn't have a track record. Just memories". Jean Taboureau
francovendee
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Joined: 5 May 2009, 6:32am

Re: Bike touring- What to do with bike at museum

Post by francovendee »

I live in and have extensively toured South West France. My take on this is that in rural areas theft is fairly rare but... I've noticed that locals invariably lock up their bikes when visiting a supermarket. These aren't high value bikes and the lock could easily be broken. I guess it's to discourage a casual thief.
I always lock up our bikes when visiting any attractions unless there is a place to securely store them. Many cities have car parking that has secure storage for bikes at a reasonable charge.
July and August can be the worse for crime.
Queens Park Pete
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Joined: 7 Aug 2020, 8:08pm
Location: Brighton

Re: Bike touring- What to do with bike at museum

Post by Queens Park Pete »

Neil Wheadon wrote:I've asked this question quite a few times 'Has your bike ever been touched' and only once has someone had their panniers stolen and that was in Italy. They left their bikes in a lay-by, sat over the rise, had a picnic and heard a vehicle pull and and pull away with their stuff. You also hear anecdotal stories but like anything on the internet it gets magnified. In leading tours for 17 years with 70 trips, we lost one childs bike in Somerset.
You just have to lock and hope and 9.999 out of 10.000 you'll be fine.
As for locking in a crowded place think this one through. You lock your bike, walk 100 metres and this 'drat left the computer on' so you run back and remove it. Has anyone ever challenged you?............ No
Neil

I was in the Grande Rue in Dieppe a few years back, sitting astride my bike whilst my daughter went to buy croissants nearby. I was shortly surrounded by a group of about 7 "trainee photographers" with an older guy waving a reflective screen asking me to pose for him. My daughter yelled out to me from about 30 feet away. She had seen what was going on- one of the "photographers" had gone behind me and had both hands on my panniers. Some high volume Anglo-Saxon vernacular cleared half the street (teacher's lungs and voice projection) and my bags survived. I now routinely loop my cafe lock through my pannier handles and rack!
By contrast, I had a run of occasions when I kept leaving my padlock key in the lock when dashing into the shops in the middle of Brighton. Never went missing, but then another one went with a D lock through a metal railing!
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Audax67
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Location: Alsace, France
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Re: Bike touring- What to do with bike at museum

Post by Audax67 »

Wheel it confidently out of the museum, pretending that it's yours.
Have we got time for another cuppa?
djb
Posts: 434
Joined: 24 Mar 2013, 9:27pm
Location: Canada eh

Re: Bike touring- What to do with bike at museum

Post by djb »

Audax67 wrote:Wheel it confidently out of the museum, pretending that it's yours.


this made me smile, because when I resaw the thread title, I was thinking of some sort of similar joke, so touché monsieur.

hey, did the lady and her husband ever go on this trip?
I havent been keeping track of UK travel restrictions and such being in Canada.
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