Securing a bike when touring

[Firmo]

I've been dithering for too long with this and am still no further forward, so I'm putting this to the BearBones jury.

I'm riding 1000km through Spain (Seville > Santiago) over 8 days. I leave next Saturday (10-May).

I want my bike to be as safe as possible so I can get a good nights sleep while I'm in the hostels each night.

At present, I have a heavy duty D Lock by Kryptonite, several cable locks (and extension cables). I toyed with the idea of buying a combination padlock, but I know cables can be pretty easy to get through by a dedicated thief.

At the moment, I am thinking about taking a D-Lock and an extension cable. It's gonna be heavy, but I'm scared that if I compromise on weight, the bike might go missing one night.

So... If you were me. What would you do?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Is there no way you can take your bike inside the hostels? Maybe into a courtyard, outbuilding, etc.

[Matt]

Avoid Portsmouth

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/most-t ... outh/01298

[Firmo]

I can't say for definite whether I will be able to take the bike inside or not. I don't have any planned locations I will be staying in, so asking hostels prior to getting there isn't really an option.

[InspiredRamblings]

Ona previous tour I took a proper lock, but won't do that again. For the Camino de Santiago last year I took a very light cable lock like this one. It won't deter a purposeful thief, but will deter an opportunist passer by. I also stick the bike in a high gear, and use some cord/band around the handlebar to hold the front brake on (which helps it stay propped up against walls as well).

Every hostel I stayed in on the Camino had somewhere secure to store the bike (eg courtyard, garage, outbuilding, garden), apart from one place. Even though they were brand new, had a huge empty kitchen, they didn't want me to take the bike in and made me lock it in the main square outside. But, this was a TINY hamlet on the side of a hill and they were very sure that there would be no-one passing by. The bike was there the next day. The hotel I stayed in when I got to Pau at the start also let me take the bike up to my room.

The trickyness comes staying in cities, and in campsites where you want to leave the bike for the day and head off to do something. But I'm not sure its worth the weight of a big d-lock... I am contemplating taking something a little bigger when I head off this year, but at most this would be a cable extension with a padlock of some sort. I'd really rather not though, and will try just to take my combiflex as above.

[Ray Young]

Personally I would err on the side of caution and take a good cable lock if are going to worry about it being stolen, why risk spoiling the whole trip for the sake of a little more weight. On my three month tour of Europe my bike was nearly stolen in Amsterdam in the first week, a local shopkeeper (and fellow cyclist) spotted it being tampered with and chased the guy off. My very next purchase was a decent lock.

[voodoo_simon]

If you can't take the binge into the room, then what about a wheel? Will stop then riding off

In the past when vee brakes were about, I disconnected the brakes so if someone did ride off with it, it would hurt them

Likewise, maybe undo your quick releases?

Other than my silly suggestions, I've carried a d lock with me when I've used my Bob trailer. Heavy but almost worry free!