Not sure about that ... How many people have been robbed with some form of pacsafe, vs how many kilometres people have done? If your idea is correct, there should be a fair few people with pacsafes that have had them slashed or broken into, because there are a lot of people riding a lot of km with them on.

Anyone who uses pacsafes out there, how many thousands of Km have you done vs how many times have you had them broken into? If we can collect some form of survey data then maybe we can have an idea of how likely you are to be robbed while having some form of pacsafe. (even by asking, negative data is likely to be over-represented, as anyone who has had a problem is far more likely to be screaming about it than the hundreds of readers who are pacsafe users who have not had a problem)

I will start ... 85,000km vs 0 bag break ins. (pacsafe cable)

My feeling is that its a visual deterrent which is more than enough for 99.5% of the time someone is curious about whats in your bag.

Perhaps I have not read enough trip reports in my life, but I have never heard of of anyone with a pacsafe having the bag broken into at all, let alone anyone in that position who suspected it was broken into BECAUSE they had the pacsafe on it. There's a million theories out there, but only one set of real world data. I am not saying no-one with a pacsafe has ever been robbed, but I certainly have never heard of any. Perhaps they will come to light in this thread, in which hopefully they could provide some opinion as to the causes. It would be useful information for us all.

p.s. I know a guy wh's brothers uncle's dentist had a pacsafe ... doesnt count. Lets keep the data first hand please

I've used soft bags for both my big Africa trips, and never had a problem with thieves.

I did once dally with the pacsafe idea, when I was backpacking, but like other people have said here, it seemed to take so much time to get stuff in and out, I lost patience with it.

On my bike trips, the only security precaution I've taken is to thread a bike lock through each of the pannier handles and the grab rail, to stop any opportunist taking them.

I think using common sense, and trusting to the Gods of the road is the best way to stop being robbed. In tens of thousands of miles in Africa and the Middle East, the only thing I've lost is a bottle of water, and the only attempt I've encountered to steal anything else was a pickpocket at Rosso, which is a hellhole anyway.

Other than that, every time I leave the bike, I take the tank bag with me, and if I'm leaving it for more than a couple of mins, I make friends with a kid or a security guard and ask them to look after it, or take the panniers with me too.

Good luck in finding a solution that works for you,

Birdy

This is the pacsafe cable. As I mentioned earlier, its about 95% more convenient than the full pacsafe mesh bag, but doesnt offer slash protection. It does however stop someone either taking the bag off the bike, and does stop them opening the bag.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/...9faca5ce_b.jpg

Also as mentioned earlier, i dont use anything on my top bag because its always with me in the evenings. And the two side bags, which are secured with the pacsafe cables, stay fixed to the bike and are rarely opened ... 2-3 times a week.

Securing your luggage is never fail safe and can be very cumbersome.
The following procedure so far have worked great for me. Never leave your bike loaded with full luggage unattended or out of sight.
This is very easy when riding two or more together.
When I am on my own I always park my bike right next to a shop entrance where I can keep an eye, the same goes for stopping at eating places. In most cases there are an outside eating area and I choose the the table closest to the bikes or if inside I want to be by the window with the bike parked outside and if all else fails I just get a take away and eat it outside by the bike.
If direct line of sight is not possible and I need to go inside a building for a longer period I take it all of and keep it with me or at a safe place. It is a small inconvenience compared to loosing part of your luggage to theft esp in a strange country.
Security is mostly only a problem in cities and larger centers.