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Looking at doing a few weekends away on a budget due to my wedding looming.
I am very cautious about where I leave my bike and normally and never really like leaving in the car on show for obvious reasons so what other options are there?
Looking at a few trips to Coed Y Brenin/ Kirroughtree and Afan. The first two don't have the same reputation that Afan does for bikes going walkies after leaving them for a few mins.
Ride to the pub, lock it to a table outside and sit at that table?
Camp at a camp site not the trail?
Even at a campsite you hear about people's car being broken into and bikes taken.
I rode with a group last year at Coed Y Brenin who locked all their bikes in a Sprinter van then went for beer and came back to find the doors crow barred open and all the bikes gone.
Taking the bikes with us is an option but relies on good weather to spend the evening in a garden which is Wales doesn't seem to happen very often!
You may be better finding a cmpsite more family friendly away from the imediate area, may be safer. At least your aware of the problem! I remember last year someone on here left bikes on their locked roof rack in the centre of Betws-y-coed and were surprised that they had gone in the morning!
Come to Scotland and camp in the middle of nowhere, leaving your bike in a bush. Problem solved.
I personally leave my bike either on the boot rack and locked to the tow hook, or in the car itself.
Chain several bikes together in your tent. Not theft proof, but it would be a fair job. I've also chained my righteous chariot to my bike rack. Again not theft proof entirely, but the rack is bolted on and weighs a freakin' ton!
Get a crate of beer and drink at the campsite, better still, have a BBQ aswell, job done 😀
Mine stays in the car, I can lock it to the rear seat anchor point. Not invunerable as car could get nicked but that is harder to do.
Related question, is it best to have a bike shaped object under a dust sheet or a realy nice bike on display with a realy big lock also on display?
Insurance and a big lock
When I've been with a bunch of us, about 1/2 doz. we locked all the bikes to each other in a big heap in the middle of a family camp site and covered 'em with a tarp. I can't imagine all the locks being broken without the thieves being disturbed.
APF
we leave them in the car then bring them into the tent at night (2m standing room euro-palace tents ftw), but I can see the weak point with the car option when it's a very bike heavy campsite.
if the scroates are willing to break into a sprinter van (which I assume was not windowed) then bikes simply aren't safe on that campsite so I'd go to a different site and tarp over the bikes in the car.
I reckon covering the bikes is definitely worth doing.
Does your car have ISOFIX child seat fixing thingies in the back? You could run some chain/cable through them (or maybe even pass a d-lock directly through) to lock the whole thing in place.
I'd have thought a car would probably be more secure than a van, as once the deadlocks are in place the doors aren't coming open without a real fight and the apertures are smaller for getting the bikes through.
It is always a worry though! When we stayed in at the Rosetta caravan park in Peebles, we locked all the bikes to each in the back of one car. It was a busy campsite too, which probably helps.
veto camping in south wales until they sort this.
second AlasdairMc, wild camp, even cheaper on a budget, leave your car somewhere and ride a mile down a fire road into a forest(even if you have too much stuff you can shuttle it on your bike) then camp up in said forest and have a peaceful time. it'll be so bloody dark in a forest that nobody'll find you and your bikes hidden behind a wall of trees.
I use a couple of those screw in things that use use to attach dogs leads to. Screw them right into the ground, put a chain through them and the bike and lock the bike up. Because the chain passes through them they can't be unscrewed and if you screw them right into the ground it would make bending open the top section tricky. Not 100% safe but it's better than nothing.
We usually lock the bikes together and then using a wire-rope, wrap around a large tree.
Also if on a rack, secure to towing hooks and any other assorted metal work.
When we camped at Cwm Carn (what a hole), we locked our bikes to each other and the seat clamps in the back of my mate's astra (the bits that the seats clunk into when you put them back up)
+1 zokes. I lock mine to the thing that clunks the seat into place. Seems perfectly placed for a cable lock.
Dont know about the others but Torrent Walk, nr CyB, used to have a shipping container for locking bikes in overnight.
A) Choose a campsite a long way from towns/villages/known trails.
B) Lock bikes into car.
C) try not to make it obvious that you have bikes in the car.
You can't stop everything, but camping in a village/town (like castle douglas) and leaving the bikes is a big risk full stop. I'd rather get some bottles in and sit round the campsite personally, can go to a pub anytime.
Take beer with you.
If you have alloy wheels on your car of a design that you can get a d lock through, then lock your bike(s) to the wheel of the car by threading the d-lock around a spoke of the alloy wheel and attach to the bikes. The bikes in the way stop the car wheel being taken off and it makes for a (seemingly) secure anchor.