How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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BeeKeeper
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by BeeKeeper »

I've stayed in hotels in France where you had to carry the bikes up or down stairs. With a tandem that might be a problem so I think there will be times when the bike may have to be left out side, probably with wheels seat etc removed and a good lock or two. But at least a tandem may be less attractive to a thief. :D

Thefts do occur, my brother came across two glum cyclists in France last year at breakfast, their bikes had been stolen from the hotel cellar during the night. :(
Bensons
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by Bensons »

Thanks for all the replies.

We were just discussing this and wondered how many people actually insured their bikes. We don't. We have renewed some of our bikes this year and currently have a thorn tandem £1200 ish, two new tourers £1800 and £1400, two restored galaxies £600 ish and a thorn club tour £1200 ish.

To insure them all would cost about £500 per annum. Our house insurers aren't interested in anything over £1000. We just work on the principle of being really careful and having the best locks we can buy.

I can't see how insurance would be cost effective for us really. The two tourers are only used on long days really as we have a 9 year old so the worst that would happen on holiday is the tandem and the lesser value tourer.

It is a bit like insuring pets - you throw money at insurers and whilst the value deteriorates the premium does not really.

Just wondered what everyone else does, in the worst case scenario we would have to spend £2,500 ish to replace what we have lost, but I think that might be more palatable than paying insurance premiums year on year as we think the odds on them staying with us are fairly high (judging by the last 30 years).

Edited to add that we are only really thinking of this now because we have always just done day rides together since our daughter started school - is only now that we have a tandem we have turned to thinking about touring holidays and trying to keep our bikes safe when we haven't rented a cottage where we know they are safe overnight, etc..
JackRabbitSlims
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by JackRabbitSlims »

What locks do you use please??
Bensons
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by Bensons »

Heavy ones! D locks are Kryptonite and something else, Abus gold something or other from memory. They must weigh more than 2kg which is not good. Various cables are used to secure wheels. On a day ride we would have at least a D lock and a couple of cables.

We are going to carry on as before I think and stop thinking about it.

Worst case scenario we would buy some walking boots and travel by train or bus, carrying on with our holiday whilst drinking more wine to cope with the loss of our bikes.
TonyR
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by TonyR »

Bensons wrote:To insure them all would cost about £500 per annum. Our house insurers aren't interested in anything over £1000. We just work on the principle of being really careful and having the best locks we can buy.


Taking out specific insurance is expensive - about 10% of the value per annum. There are insurers who will cover them within the house contents insurance and that can be very cheap. I do mine through a broker who advertises in Cycle but IIRC M&S are quite good about it on their policies and they are covered when outside the house throughout Europe.

Perhaps time for another pooling of names of those that will.
Bensons
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by Bensons »

My home insurance and travel insurance is direct through Axa Tony.

There is an optional cycle extension but they won't cover anything worth more than £1000 new so if we want to insure them we need to do some thing specific. I have done a couple of instant online quote things recently and been shocked at the price - the four most expensive bikes = £500 pa.

If you were to put the premium in a pot you would be able to fund one new bike in two/three years.

I suppose we could just insure the two we will take on our holidays for the next few years to keep the cost down if we decided to go down that route.
tatanab
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by tatanab »

Bensons wrote:My home insurance and travel insurance is direct through Axa Tony.

There is an optional cycle extension but they won't cover anything worth more than £1000 new so if we want to insure them we need to do some thing specific.
I too use AXA. The broker I've been using for 30 years put me with them a long time ago specifically because I can insure cycles as named valuables. The highest value machine I have on that policy is £4000. I think the increase in premium is negligible since it costs me £250 a year for building, contents and named valuables. I've never made a claim and hope I never have to.
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honesty
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by honesty »

Ive mentioned it before on here but my work do home insurance that covers all bikes up to £5000 each, anywhere in the world, with the only caveat being that they have to be locked up (read the documents to get the exact wording!!!). Up to £5000 they dont even have to be noted on the policy, but bikes over £5000 can be insured as specified items. We also do travel insurance that does cover cycle touring. If you are interested have a look here: http://www.lloydwhyte.com/documents/ or call 01823 250 739
Bensons
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by Bensons »

I phoned AXA this morning, we do have a limit of £1,000 per bike and £2,500 in total, even when locked up inside the garage at the house!

Not possible to increase any limits either. I have to say that I sort of presumed we were OK at home cover wise but to be honest it is only since we bought new bikes this year and sold old ones that we have breached the limit.

Might have to look elsewhere in April I think. Not helped by our house being really old and not every insurer's cup of tea.
Psamathe
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by Psamathe »

Bensons wrote:I phoned AXA this morning, we do have a limit of £1,000 per bike and £2,500 in total, even when locked up inside the garage at the house!

Not possible to increase any limits either. I have to say that I sort of presumed we were OK at home cover wise but to be honest it is only since we bought new bikes this year and sold old ones that we have breached the limit.

Might have to look elsewhere in April I think. Not helped by our house being really old and not every insurer's cup of tea.

I used to have that problem - living in a very old timber framed barn conversion. When I 1st brought it lots of insurers said they could not cover it. More recently I've found it easier to switch, and the company I'm with now not only covers the house (at a good price) but also has decent 3rd party, no limit on bikes (above a threshold you have to itemise/list the bikes) and they count the garage as the same as the house and bike only needs locking elsewhere (i.e. ok unlocked in the garage).

Ian
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honesty
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by honesty »

Psamathe wrote:
Bensons wrote:I phoned AXA this morning, we do have a limit of £1,000 per bike and £2,500 in total, even when locked up inside the garage at the house!

Not possible to increase any limits either. I have to say that I sort of presumed we were OK at home cover wise but to be honest it is only since we bought new bikes this year and sold old ones that we have breached the limit.

Might have to look elsewhere in April I think. Not helped by our house being really old and not every insurer's cup of tea.

I used to have that problem - living in a very old timber framed barn conversion. When I 1st brought it lots of insurers said they could not cover it. More recently I've found it easier to switch, and the company I'm with now not only covers the house (at a good price) but also has decent 3rd party, no limit on bikes (above a threshold you have to itemise/list the bikes) and they count the garage as the same as the house and bike only needs locking elsewhere (i.e. ok unlocked in the garage).

Ian


this sounds very similar to the cover we offer on the policy here. All good :)
Flite
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by Flite »

All our insurance is with the NFU, and has been for many years, since we had large commercial glasshouses that no-one else will insure.
They are flexible enough, with their local offices, to cover all sorts of odd stuff.
All our bikes are on the contents with the expensive ones as named items, at a small extra premium.

Most importantly, we have made several very large claims over the years, and they have always been helpful and paid up without quibbling.
One claim included an Ivor Williams trailer, which is what the scum really wanted, but they piled on everything else in reach, including two titanium mountain bikes!
Bensons
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by Bensons »

Well, after reading all these replies I am going to have a look around for a new Insurer as it seems much easier to insure bikes elsewhere.

My policy isn't due for renewal until the beginning of April (just checked and I pay a whopping £670 a year and I don't live in a mansion with lots of valuables specified).

I think I must be able to do much better. Even if I cancel my policy a couple of months early (and get nothing back of course) I could be better off, with bikes insured for our first trip, than I would be if i did cycle specific cover. I had completely ruled that out because of the cost.

Flite, I have an IW 510 here with a a hitch lock and two wheel locks on it and we still park our cars at very odd angles to make sure it is boxed in by them!
NickWi
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by NickWi »

My (or I should say) our Tandem spent a night at a different hotel to us the once. We'd told the Hotel proprietor we were bringing a Tandem but maybe he misunderstood, something was lost in translation or whatever but when he saw the length of it he decided he didn't have anywhere safe enough to store it,outside in his open car park locked to bollard was his only option.

So he rang up his friend in a Hotel 100mtrs up the road, and he put it in their locked store room. They obviously had a tit for tat arrangement if one of them was full or something similar, but it was the least he could do to keep a booking. At other times it's been in peoples conservatories, restaurant, hotel stores and even brought into the hotel bedroom.
Flite
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Re: How do you keep your bikes safe overnight

Post by Flite »

Bensons - our trailer was in an agricultural building with steel reinforced doors. Even the police conceded the thieves had used "massive force"
That was after they had broken the close shackled padlock on the steel gates to the yard. (the hinge bolts were welded so the gates cannot be lifted off the hinges)
All in full daylight but no-one at home, so that horrid knowledge that we had been targeted, and our movements had been watched, probably for several weeks.
The joys of living in the countryside.....
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