Cycling UK Forum

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.