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Theft of items in saddle bags

5K views 17 replies 16 participants last post by  Archangel 
#1 ·
An acquaintance at work told me that he had gone into a local restaurant and when he returned to his bike he found one of the saddle bags had been unbuckled and his rain gear and some other items were gone. I have never personally had this problem and maybe foolishly assumed that people do not mess with bikes (in part because they never know when the biker will return to his steed). I wonder how common it is now for thefts like this to occur, right in a public place and in broad daylight.
 
#2 ·
That sucks....:thumbsdown:
Well with the economy as it is...I have been putting a carry bag inside my saddle bags, then when I am by myself and have to leave the bike unattended for very long I pull the carry bags out of the saddle bags and take them with me.

You can use those cheap little bags they give away for free, they are just nylon...put them inside your saddle bags and pack your things inside of them, if you need to take them with you, just pull one corner up, zip the bag, and pull it completely out of the saddle bag. Getting that **** back in takes a few minutes, to move the stuff around until you can get it back into the saddle bag again, but I don't worry about losing my gear!

Usually if I travel with someone else, one person stays with the bikes at a time...that way we don't lose anything...;)
 
#5 ·
Depending on where I am (and I'm a loner most of the time) I carry my helmet and jacket with me. I'd hate to be somewhere off by myself and get my helmet taken.

One thing about somebody taking or even touching somebody else's bike.. they never know who's watching. That's what keeps most of us honest, that we don't know if we're being watched or not.

If I leave my bike, if at all possible I want to sit in the restaurant where I can see it. Also I have locking saddlebags, which will only keep an honest person honest.
 
#7 ·
No-one has stolen anything from my bags (yet), but there are no guarantees in life. I generally don't lock my car because a) I don't usually care if they steal any of the **** in there, and b) because when I used to lock my car, someone broke the window to steal a radio. I still lost my radio, but also a window in the process. If someone steals any of the **** out of my bags, it's a few dollars to replace it, and I don't lose any sleep over it. Now, if I have something I really care about (like a camera), I bring it inside with me.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I always park my bike in sight of where I am going to be if possible. If thats not I take anything valuable with me. If you do a lot of touring or frequently have so much valuable gear with you do yourself a favor and buy hard locking baGs, or a cheaper option, get some of those zip off bags. If you go to steal **** out of my bags all your gonna get are the free-be state maps you get at rest areas a 2 liter of mountain dew and a tire pressure gauge.
 
#9 ·
I park my bike in a quiet, dark parking structure in a fairly "active" downtown area. I've never had anyone get into my bags, but admittedly I have one of those microscopic locks that tweezers could probably open by just sticking them in and turning. But for some reason by just having them there on the buckles, it is enough that nobody simply can open them up without "some" effort.
 
#12 ·
Glad I got lockable bags. But I've never heard of anyone going into someone else's bags (esp. if they had to unbuckle them).

Anyway, Karma will ensure that that person will end up trying to use that rain gear in the rain but that rider will have something not so good happen. Maybe he'll feel like he did good by having some rain gear in a storm (that he stole) and then as he's putting it on, an 18 wheeler will splash him and drench him and his bike and then the bike won't start and the rain gear will blow away to due a freak high wind and he'll still be wet and stranded too.

Dennis
 
#14 ·
I haven't had anything stolen but it is always on my mind. I always kept my jacket, chaps and helmet in my bags during school and I was always afraid someone would steal them out of there. I would be out quite a bit of money if they did. At work I always bring all of my gear inside with me.
 
#17 ·
LMAO, I love that.

About people touching bikes, why is it some people seem to think it's OK to try your bike on for size? Would you climb into someones car just because it's not locked? This really gets me, my bike sits very upright since being lowered still with the standard kickstand and these idiots could topple it over. And I'm sure they would be kind enough to notify me if so, "RRIIIIGGGGHHHHT".
 
#18 ·
I have came out side of work and found 2 different people messing around with my bike and they found out very quickly not to touch my bike.
My work would have a cow if they found out any one was messing with others cars or bikes for that matter.
I was nice I took care of it quietly well mostly that is.
 
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