Using hidden spaces on your bike
 

Following on from the travelling tips thread I thought I'd see how other people had managed to use the hidden spaces on their bikes for carrying tools or parts or secret stash of money in case you get robbed.

Photos would be great too if you have them.

For us, we have two main places although not very secret:

1. Under the front seat of the GS I have screwed in the Oil filter wrench so that it doesn't take up valuable toolkit space.

2. Under the rear seat I can slide a long tyre lever for the extra difficult tyre changes.

My next idea in the planning is alongside the panniers, attach a couple of metal skewers that we can use for cooking meat, vegies over a wood camp fire.

I know some people attach documents or copies of documents in water proof zip-lock bags to the inside of fairings on the GS, if you've done this or other tricks what are your experiences?

Take the plastic bungs out of the ends of frame tubes and use the space to store spare/stove filling petrol pipe. Works on the XT600E and Bonneville.

Andy

Remove the exhaust(if u have 2) and use this space:
http://media.snimka.bg/8781/023818213.jpg
Maybe u know about that:
http://media.snimka.bg/8782/023818477.jpg
And WD40's stays:
http://media.snimka.bg/8781/023818241.jpg

that is some good tip!

Tire, brake and clutch levers zip tied to the subframe. Anything long and skinny is good for that.

Spare fuel / syphon pipe and wire inside handlebars.

Eddie.

took me a while to spot the wd40

HI Sgichev, those are some pretty cool stoarge ideas!

Please tell me you actually keep a bottle of Jameson in the container? :thumbup1:

I recently saw that Best Rest sell little tubes with rubber end caps for talcum powder to zip tie to the sub frame. Great idea. Might try that with filter oil.

HI Sgichev and welcome to the Hubb.

I had to reply as I was looking at the very same promotion tin of Jamesons and thinking along the very same lines. I also thought that it might need lining with an old inner tube depending on what is stored inside.

Its good to carry a couple of spare final drive chain links on one of the cables (clutch cable) just in case.

Cheers
socks

Run spare cables alongside the originals, in the event of a failure the cable routing is already the same and the repair takes minimal time.

Spare rear sprocket behind the number plate.
Make a container out of 15mm foam pipe lagging and gaffer tape - stuff it up the swing arm. Good for a stash.
Stash behind the armour of your bike pants.


Welcome to Two Bikes Running

If you are going to carry spare parts etc strapped to your frame or bashplate or whatever, don't use cable ties. To be honest this is so obvious that I would be embarrassed to have learned this the hard way even if I hadn't have been advised about this first, which I had.

Cable ties work great for tidying loose cables together. In any application where they're under stress they will eventually slacken off and then break. If you're attaching relatively heavy items to your bike like sprockets, and then riding on bumpy non-tarmaced roads, this will happen quite quickly, even if you use multiple cable ties. Instead use wire (and pliars). Fencing wire was suggested to me, and you'd think lockwire would be a good bet as well. The added bonus is this makes things marginally more difficult to remove, and therefore steal.


Re: doubling up your control cables. If you fit new genuine cables before you go you should get a very long life out of them, far longer than the average trip. Cheaper and less hassle to just carry a repair kit, or (just a couple of pushbike brake cables and some solderless nipples, which you can even make yourself if you're that way inclined and too cheap to buy for about a pound each). If you get one of those kits that come in the little round tins that fit in your jacket pocket, you should probably have room to stick in a chain split link or two.

Making the best of what would be useless space. Very nice!

The space inside the Wee's fairing ahead of the tank is begging for sort of internal tank panniers. Still thinking about it, but probably involves stuff sacks and cargo nets.

Andy

If you go to rynok (open air bazaar/market) in Ukraine/Russia and similar, they sell long stainless skewers with twists in them that are common for shashlik (BBQ). They are cheap, maybe 20 ruble or so. Folks just make a fire in a tin box, between 2 logs, between piles of bricks, next to a concret pad for a sign/light etc+ some rocks, whatever and put the skewers across the fire. Simple.

Oh, and I have seen a metal shopping cart turned on its side over a fire to make a shashlik-BBQ rack. The plastic shopping carts don't work so well... clever.

my old school bmws had a big central frame tube, i used a piece of PVC pipe, to create a waterproof container for cash and travellers Cheques remember those?

Charles

I never udes any hidden spaces. The biggest risc is your bike might get stolen so there is no point hiding money or something like that in there too. Rather hide money in a hidden pocked of your rotten looking trousers or jacked etc.
http://afrikamotorrad.de/?report=en_transafrika

I keep 50 dollars or so hidden in the bike, just in case. But mostly, I think it is essential to keep your passport, funds and a credit card, maybe the title of the bike too, hidden on your person. I think the back pocket on riding jackets is pretty good for this, as it is not that obvious. When I woke up in hospital, separated from all my belongings, I was really glad to have my license, passport and some cash to pay for the ambulance and a bus back to where the locals had stored my bike. Ride safe!

Rtw
:palm:

Cable ties are very good and work perfectly. BUT !! You have to use thick, quality ones and use more than you think you need. Then they are VERY good. I've held sprockets and levers to subframes for years. If you look close enough at a modern motorcycle, there isn't much which isn't held on with zip ties..

But you're right.. Wire is better. But again, you need quality or it just snaps at it's creases.

It took me even longer to spot it!!!:taz:

I have 3 pieces of different-gauge wire in my handlebars which is about as much as will slide in with a bit of work.

Others have mentioned a siphon hose which is a good idea too. I've never needed either the wire or a siphon hose (although I have run out of gas from even the 20-liter tank and I have fixed electrical faults during trips).

I like to imagine that the wire is in there tight enough to reduce handlebar vibration since it has a different natural vibration frequency. I have no proof that it actually works, but I'll imagine it anyway. The handlebar vibes on my thumper are less than a couple of my twins.

It should be possible to put both a wire and a siphon tube in a handlebar.

I had some heavy duty cable ties for my last trip, made of a material that stretched, came in handy.
I have a DL650 & strapped a puncture repair kit to the fairing frame close to the front R/H indicator.
I also had $500 tucked in the lining of my lid, right at the back. Plus I carried 10,000 pyb in each knee tube & also a money belt and waterproof pouch.

On bikes like the BMW G650x range you're going to be struggling for hiding/storage places as everything is so compact.

Under the bash plate is an easy one but had to reach in a hurry.

An inner tube will fit under the faux tank (xCountry), and of course you can fill the handle bars.

I've done the same.... Sparekeys under the air-filter, some small spares under the startercover and money inside the cocpit. There is even place for two tubes under the seat and one beside the battery :thumbup1:

I've got a spare key wrapped in black electrical tape bolted to the frame. I had to hog out the hole a bit for the fastener. I used a bolt that holds a cable retainer. I can remove it with a 10mm wrench in about 5 minutes and is completely camouflaged.

Spare keys
 

Anywhere on the bike is risky for the ignition key, I leave mine at work with instructions to FedEx them to me in an emergency. But then I haven't toured in really remote places.

Pannier, top box and lock keys can be stashed quite securely anywhere where it requires both the bike key and tools to get at i.e you have to remove the seat first. The more time it takes to get at the keys the better.

But be careful... Couple of years ago I met a couple of guys in the Tarn Gorge, France on BMW 650s and we were discussing secure stashes. One of them asked me to find his spare key. I wasn't familiar with the bike but soon spotted one small panel secured with a single bolt. "Obviously you wouldn't put it behind that!" I quipped. He had!

If travelling with a friend/partner then give them your spare, and if they are riding take theirs. That way if one of you loses keys the other has a set.

Most bikes don't have secured wiring. So if you lost your key it's not hard to start the bike by putting the right wires together. On the F650 it's green and red.

I have a combination lock "mini-safe" that I lock onto my bike in a hidden spot (depending on the bike) when travelling.


It is big enough to stash a small roll of bills ($500) and I keep a key to my panniers in it as well. Then, in the panniers I have spare ignition keys etc.


Its hard to see and hard to get into, but if someone is REAL determined, well, then nothing is going to stop them......


I saw somewhere recently someone had bolted a small pelican case to their licence plate bracket, then the plate to the case.


Might make a good place to a small air compressor and some patching supplies. maybe a tool or two. I am going to look into it and see if its something I can make work for me.

Plenty of secret space inside the left hand trim panel on a varadero, a small tupperware box fits in there and even bigger if you move a couple of brackets out of the way.
Underseat storage could be great but is ruined by Honda moulding D-lock brackets into the undertray. This is pointless as there is also D-lock starage built into the luggage rack, so I cut this out and sunk in a deeper tray made out of carbon fibre. There is now room for my emergency spares kit, puncture repair kit, tyreman pump and bungee net.
While changing the air filter once I found a 17mm spanner INSIDE THE AIRBOX, no kidding. It wasn't mine and must've been left in there from the last dealer service, about 2 years. So that's not a bad place to store something lolol

Inside the fairings on my versys I keep tubes in case I have a flat that cant be fixed with plugs.

Under the rear wheel arch on an F800GSA...
 

If you look under the rear wheel arch of a BMW F800GSA, there is a panel removed by a single screw. Put your hand up and toward the REAR of the bike, there is a nice little space that snugly fits a Spot Trace.

The signal to/from the Spot Trace seems to work really well, there too. Mine is happily recording rides and alerting me when my bike is moved.

Rachel

In a beemer spare key could be located inside of rocker cover or alternator cover. For a slim key there might be space.

In oilhead wngine guear consist of two alu sheets layered together. Key between them would be in a safe place.

Has anyone ever used the Brief Safe?:blushing:


https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Conten...rds=brief+safe

If you go away for a few days there is no need to waste money buying such itemsdoh

I thought about putting spare keys, some $ and maybe a credit card in my airbox (wrapped up in ziplocks). I have a DR650 so it's kind of easy accessible by unscrewing a few bolts and it's covered by the side panel.

Then I will probably stash some $ somewhere in my riding pants, maybe in the hip protector pouches.

I think for keys and even some cash I am ok with the airbox, if someone steals my bike then I won't need the spare keys anyways and well the cash is just another stash.

Cash and credit cards I try to have them all in different locations, so if I get robbed I still have some somewhere :)

---
motophil.ch
moto.phil on FB

Brief safe, is it for real, mind boggles, what happens when you get to customs. please buy one and let us know.

I haven't tried this so not entirely sure if possible. On old BMW airheads the battery is fairly big and easily replaced by smaller modern gel equivalent. Could you use shell of old large battery and place the smaller gel battery inside but use the surplus space as a hidden storage area? Would look like a regular battery if done properly with the connections wired up inside the shell.

You would have to make sure the internal connections are rock solid as a failed earth is a common fault on bikes and rectified by cleaning up the earth connection, which would be a fools errand if the real earth connection problem was inside your fake battery case.