My be off to the Centreparcs up in Cumbria (off the a66?) in the summer and was going to take the bikes
Ive heard some horror stories of bikes getting nicked
Whats peoples experiences / thoughts on the subject? Can you keep them looked inside the chalet?

take something crap and rusty with two wheels and don’t worry about it – there’s loads of other stuff to do

A mate of mine goes often, with decent bikes just keep them inside. Even Chris Boardman goes there 8)

Keep your bikes in the chalet/lodge and lock them…should be fine (saying that, I never left mine locked up at a venue…they were in use whenever they left the lodge…

We go to Whinfell (the one in Cumbria) at least a couple of times per year – never had or heard of any bikes being nicked. However as others have said, I also keep mine in the chalet at night.
It’s worth noting that the bike parks dotted around are really set up for the cheap and cheerful bikes that they hire – i.e you stick the front wheel (or back one obviously) into the stand and lock the through the wheel – which is fine if your wheels are bolted on…
If you have a q/r it wouldn’t be too difficult to just leave you with the wheel 🙂
I just take along an extendable ‘wire’ lock and loop through the frame. No one has nicked my wheels yet…
Enjoy your holiday!

IIRC rental is about £25 for a weekend for a bike. When we were there in the summer we didn’t take bikes, but regretted it as the site is quite big and getting from one side to another was a bit of a walk. Those with good bikes stood out a bit too, the hire bikes being cheap Mongoose type bikes.

yeah sorry no intention of biking on site, I was planning on leaving the family at centreparcs and heading to the Lakes for the day or head up maybe to Mabie 🙂 etc, was just wondering for the days I don’t go out, and the evenings etc. I had heard you had to leave bikes outside, in which case it would have been locked in the boot of the car!
Coming from round here I guess I hear more than my fair share of stories about the Sherwood site and scrotes from Mansfield, maybe the Whinfell (if thats what its called) site isnt so bad

I’ll be sure to say hello to Chris if I see him although I suspect he may be in France at the time for some poxy little bike race 😉

Coming from round here I guess I hear more than my fair share of stories about the Sherwood site and scrotes from Mansfield, maybe the Whinfell (if thats what its called) site isnt so bad

don’t say that…I have just come back from a xmas break at Whifell and have booked Sherwood for may to see what it is like.
General view of the local police at all sites is that “boutique bikes” are targetted. I won’t be taking mine and I am now even a little reluctant to take the daughters spesh hardrock to sherwood!

Went to Whinfell last week and noticed quite alot of bikes inside the lodges!

Evening is the problem apparently, during the day stuff is pretty safe
Keep them locked inside the chalet at night

I`m off there next month, so I’ll be taking a big lock or two for daytime use as well

We went to Sherwood last weekend and we were given a leaflet from the parc management and Nottinghamshire Police.

They said that you should make sure your lodge is locked at all times and advised keeping bikes indoors over night and that 5* D locks were available to borrow free of charge from the cyclehire for anyone.

I didn’t take my bike this time, but normally I’d take a couple of gold standard d locks anyway.

We’ve not had that type of warning before.

Been to Whinfell about 8 times now. We always take our oldest scabbiest bikes and biggest locks, lock the bikes to each other and the bike stands by day and take them in at night. The porch in each chalet is large enough and appropriately surfaced to store bikes. High end bikes stick out a mile. To be fair, never experienced any theft /ned / aggro problems at all while there but wouldn’t like to take the risk.

Took my old Stumpjumper FSR & the other half’s Myka to the Cumbrian Center Parcs.

I left them locked outside the apartment block & they didn’t get nicked, but it was on my mind a lot of the time. I took a chunky kryptonite lock and a thick cable to loop around the bikes.

I took mine as I wanted to try out Whinlatter, but I think if we went again I’d be tempted to either not bother or hire bikes.

It wouldn’t have been very convenient to keep them inside with the apartment blocks, although we perhaps would have kept them inside if we were staying in a bigger place.

Whenever we went anywhere on the site, we always seemed to walk anyway – it was only about a 10 min walk max to most places from where our apartment was. Seemed easier than unlocking the bikes, cycling, then finding somewhere to lock them back up again.

Took my stumpy FSR to longleat a couple of years ago as I was planning a couple of days out biking on my own. Only used it once on the site, to get to the spa on the other side of the park. Used two huge heavy duty cable locks to lock the bike up through the frame etc and also to my wife’s clunker.
When we got back from the spa (in broad daylight) one of the cables was cut clean through – whoever had done it was tooled up for the job as the cut was very clean, a bolt cutter job. Either us or someone else must have disturbed them.
Bikes are ok if kept inside but I would strongly advise against taking out anything worth any money on the site, even with high security locks.

I take my sunday-best bike for off site riding and keep it indoors at all times. Also take old kona HT for riding round the parc….not had any thefts after many visits to centerparcs (whinfell)….

Sorry to report:
My Stumpjumper FSR was stolen from CP Longleat during the October half term. Site management handed out leaflets from themselves and Wiltshire Police suggesting D Locks and keep it in ide. I had 2 D locks, and steel chains so didn’t get too worried.
It was locked to the bike rack, through both wheels and the frame, 2 D locks used, both 5*. Left at the Jardin Des Sport, in the bottom bike park near the lake – full daylight.
Secuirity told me that there were (at least) 3 bikes taken that day, mine, another Specialised and a Cannondale.
My wifes Giant, sons Marin were all untouched.
Only took 3 months to get insurance to pay out – and many hours on the phone to them….
They do have a storage area in the villa that was ideal for storing the bike in overnight so if you are intending to go outside the wire for a ride, then you can store your bike tehre, but take a junker for travelling around the parc.

befuddled – sorry for your loss

I’ve taken my pride and joy to whinfell a few times now. It stays locked up inside and out of sight until i get my free morning at Whinlatter though. If you take both wheels of it just about fits into the broom cupboard !