security while touring
 

hi i'm off to europe soon and trying to work out what the best way to stop my bike being nicked, (at home its kept in a garage)


i was looking at the chain with an anti-tamper alarm on it but will a chain be too heavy?

I feel more secure at some of the smaller hotels , formule 1 , villages etc. Anyway, from my experience they seem more accommodating to bikers as the pic shows :) I just took a tiny chain and padlock, like for a mountain bike. I took it as although it could be cut through I figured anyone tampering with it would alert the alarm and alert me!
To be honest just use common sense and crime is generally lower than in the UK I guess with the exception outside big big cities being the french riveria.



http://www.thebikereview.com/iup/get8.asp?ID=462

Did you have to book the Formula 1 hotels in advnace? I'm off to France in a week and was going to wing it, with no fixed route. Any tips for a trip to France for 3 novice tourists/
ta
JonC

To be honest. Don't bother. If there's just the 3 of you see how you go. I didn't get as far as I planned on my first day due to my bike tipping on the ferry and then heavy rain making progress a bit slower. On other days I ended up getting a bit further than I'd planned so again booking would've slowed my progress. Just me maybe. You shouldn't need to book unless you go during the school hols, same as here from mid july onwards.
From my experience anywhere there's a formule 1 hotel that has a remote chance of being fully booked there'll be half a dozen other €30 per night motels next to it! Most of them (not just forumle 1) are only "manned" from 7-10am and 5-9pm. If you arrive outside these hours you have to use a credit card (switch didnt work) to get a room.