[Closed] Bikes on the car in Glasgow. Safe?

Don't do it. Way too risky.

Bikes on the car in [s]Glasgow[/s][b]Anywhere[/b]. Safe?

Every good story starts with I just left them there for a minute...

I wouldn't do that in the middle of the countryside, never mind Glasgow. Minimum inside the car locked up and in a bike bag for me. Your insurance might not be valid with them on top of the car too.

I wouldn't do that in the middle of the countryside, never mind Glasgow. Minimum inside the car locked up and in a bike bag for me. Your insurance might not be valid with them on top of the car too.

This for me.

I can probably remove the wheels an squeeze them in the van. They would be out of site.

I'm usually in very wild north of Scotland so am probably a little naïve about bike safety.

I live in Glasgow. Don't leave your bikes outside overnight. Even with a good lock you may have parts nicked. I speak from bitter experience.

I'm usually in very wild north of Scotland so am probably a little naïve about bike safety.

No sh*t 🙂

Get them away out of sight and locked + double locked. Then sleep in the van with them.

Are you staying in a b and b or hotel? Put in a bike bag and take into room, thats what I did when I went to Wales recently.

Ah well if I can't fit them in the van while in Glasgow I'll have to leave them at home.
I really don't want to be two weeks through the Highlands though without our bikes.

are you sleeping in the van in Glasgow?

No the van will be in a hotel car park.

No frickin way. It's no worse than any other big city but there's a good chance they'd be nicked. you might be OK if you parked up down a very quiet residential street but anywhere busy and they'll be "clocked" and gone sharpish.

No the van will be in a hotel car park.

Have you checked with the hotel if there's anywhere inside you can lock them?

Or take them into your room?

In the room!!!!

I'll check with the hotel but I think there just going to be broken down and stowed away in the van out of site. I'll take a tarp to keep them separate from are everyday gear and keep them out of view when the van doors are opened.

I wouldn't leave a bike on the car alone whilst at a motorway services* whilst I went in for a coffee and a pee nevermind anywhere overnight.

I also wouldn't leave a bike on a car:

In a campsite
Outside a pub

ANYWHERE.

One of these can help pry the feet of any car rail etc thus no need to bother with the locks just yet:

[img] [/img]

I used to ride my single speed Fuji track bike to the gym and lock it right outside the huge gym windows, then RUN in, do my weights and RUN back out.

On one occassion someone had tried to bolt-crop the Kryptonite lock in the c30seconds that I'd taken to get to the bike. This is in a area where there are regular security car patrols and no where to hide

[img] [/img]

*It has been known for people in Transit vans etc to hang around motorway services and attempt to break into parked restbreak lorries, steel caravans of people who have popped in for a coffee/pee etc etc etc.

I think its one of those things that you assume everyone is travelling/the same as you. Same with campsites, races etc. People assume everyone is in the same boat/position. This means its open-season for those mobile thieves in the know.

The fact that it's in Glasgow is irrelevant. I wouldn't leave the bikes on the back of my car overnight in any inhabited area. They might be fine, they might not, I wouldn't take the risk.

Once you stride through reception with the first one your sorted.

TBH, I'd be wary of leaving my car out overnight 😉

Seriously, though, Take them inside with you. Premier Inn let you do this.

Leave the wheels in the car. Take the F&F's in.

And the posher the hotel the more they have to bite their lip...

I've taken my bike into a few hotels. Leave the wheels in the car and carry the frame in wrapped in a sheet.
I don't even ask and give them the opportunity to say no, just stride past reception and into the lift with my head held high!

im not long back from a trip round fairly rural england visiting several friends with the bike 'in' the car. the bike came in the house every stop regardless how 'fine' it would be.

I know this can be an emotive subject and I don't mean to offend anyone but one thing I hate as much as crims is feeding crims/feeding crime. If everyone stop relying on insurance as a magic 'catch all' it'd put less illgotten gains on thieves plates.

I've taken my bikes in to loads of hotels, in my experience the big chains won't bat an eyelid. I just ride it up to the door and wheel it through the lobby. Helps if it's not caked in mud mind. Stairs if the lifts are small and/or busy. The only comments I get are the occasional 'ooh nice bike!'

TBH I'm amazed that you are even asking if it's safe to leave bikes outside in ANY city, let alone a British one.

I've kept bikes in hotel rooms several times, just walk in and head for the lift. In the room I lock the bike to a radiator if I can, as an extra precaution.

Thanks for all the advise. Definitely won't be on the car.
I'm glad I started this thread. I was worried but likely would have gone ahead and thought it'll never happen to me.
Then probably gone home three bikes lighter.

Thanks

Where will you be staying when in Glasgow? I have a room in a secure storage place just off the M74 near the city centre.

You're more than welcome to store them in my unit provided I'm around to let you in/out.

Thanks very kind offer but our plans need to be flexible.

I am considering leaving the bike further north with a friend.

No one done this yet?

Och
Eye
T'
Nooooo!

I too wheel my bike into Hotels. Some s****y ones I've stayed in have offered secure storage and some just offer yo the service lift round the back. Even touring/overnight stops covered in grime and no ones ever refused me.

HTH

Bonus of bike in the room is you can use the pedals as bottle openers.

Bonus of bike in the room is you can use the pedals as bottle openers.

And just sit there and look at it from different angles.

There is an art to the look of this is more normal than the most normal thing you have seen while wheeling bikes or carrying ice axes into hotels. Next time I will push my luck and ride out of the lift...

Some s****y ones I've stayed in have offered secure storage

Me too, but for my benefit rather than theirs, they don't want me to be too cramped in my room. Of course I'm often fixing it in the room or *ahem* cleaning it in the bath...

Oh yeah..... [i]*cough*[/i] washing off winter salt....

[img] [/img]

😆

Yeah, I have used the shower too once or twice, but hey... smells nice the day after.. better than I do TBH.. 😆

Think it was the crown plaza at Geneva airport where one of the staff commented how awkward my luggage looked (32kg easyjet bike bag days in a cheap bike bag) at which point I agreed and asked them to send my bags up 😉 walking away from the desk without your bags is a bold choice but does work 🙂

You mean some people have to carry their own bags up to their rooms? Ugh.

At the moment no, in Jakarta they are about ready to help you piss...

When I cleaned my bike in the shower it was after a couple of months riding with wet lube in dusty conditions, and it was covered in thick black gunge. Made a hell of a mess of the bathroom, I spent longer cleaning it and myself than I did the bike, to avoid getting some sort of levy applied to my bill.

I'm slightly confused that you are staying in a hotel, but the bikes are on the outside on the van - what's in the van that you can't just put the bikes inside it?

FWIW I've stayed in hotels/B&B's etc and left the bikes on the rack, secured with locks and cables - usually parked next to a lamppost or the like, and put the cable around.

Never leave the bikes unattended, did the stupid thing in Fort William a few years back, left the bikes on the roof of the car d-locked, cabled etc...came back to see the car parked 3 up from mine, bike racks ripped off the car bikes gone, luckily mine still there but made me thing twice.

Now whenever we travel someone stays with the car, quick service stop one goes for coffees or food while other stays with the car and keeps an eye on the bike. Its surprised me the amount of people that stop and look at them then move on when they realise me or my OH are sat in the car watching.

I would say majority of theft is opportunist. So, leave your bikes unattended and the longer they're left the chance increases that a thief will come by and take the opportunity to have them...

Apologies again. I disagree about 'the longer' timescale. Thieves are very opportunistic and something like a big shiny bike with a known logo in large letters across its downtube is an immediate draw. It wont take long as they are everywhere in major cities and honey spots casually on the lookout.

Again Ive no professional experience just observation and growing up surrounded by a fair few back in Huddersfield. Some of them you could class as workaholics in a theft sense. The authorities would probably refer to them as prolific.

All IMO but as I said earlier I wouldnt lock any valuable bike to street furniture or lock n leave a bike on a bike rack out of eyeshot for even 10secs.

[img]

http://c8.alamy.com/comp/BHX488/manchester-city-football-club-shop-at-the-eastlands-sport-city-complex-BHX488.jp g" rel="nofollow" >

I take it their printings not very good then?

They seem to be able to still print money at city

You could lock the bikes in the bike racks inside Glasgow Central, which is slightly less a bad idea than locking them to the car roof.

cubist - Member

I take it their printings not very good then?

That's the first thing I noticed too! Very Top Gear-esque.

When I booked at the Premier in Inverness, I asked about bike storage and was told to put them in the room. The receptionist said she would make sure we had a ground floor room to make things easier. When we arrived to take up the booking a few months later, I wondered if anybody would have remembered this promise but I was being too cynical, we were given a room near but not too near to the car park door.