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Using hidden spaces on your bike Using hidden spaces on your bike
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TRAVEL Hints and Tips Post your TIPS to travellers - all the interesting little tidbits you learned on the road about packing, where to get stuff, and how to cope with problems. Please make sure the subject describes the tip clearly!
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 8 Oct 2010
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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?
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  #2  
Old 8 Oct 2010
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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
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  #3  
Old 11 Jun 2011
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Remove the exhaust(if u have 2) and use this space:

Maybe u know about that:

And WD40's stays:
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  #4  
Old 14 Jun 2011
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that is some good tip!
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  #5  
Old 14 Jun 2011
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Tire, brake and clutch levers zip tied to the subframe. Anything long and skinny is good for that.
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  #6  
Old 1 Aug 2011
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Spare fuel / syphon pipe and wire inside handlebars.

Eddie.
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  #7  
Old 15 Mar 2012
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took me a while to spot the wd40
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  #8  
Old 15 Mar 2012
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HI Sgichev, those are some pretty cool stoarge ideas!

Please tell me you actually keep a bottle of Jameson in the container?
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  #9  
Old 15 Mar 2012
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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.
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  #10  
Old 1 Oct 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kelverton View Post
took me a while to spot the wd40
It took me even longer to spot it!!!
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  #11  
Old 1 Oct 2014
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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.
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  #12  
Old 15 Dec 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TurboCharger View Post
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.

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.
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.
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  #13  
Old 16 Jun 2015
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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.
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  #14  
Old 24 Jun 2015
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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.
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