Theft of towed equipment?
Hi,
I’ve tried searching online but haven’t found a satisfactory answer. I’m (still!) looking at fitting our fiat ducato based panel van conversion with a towbar, principally for a bike carrier, but it would also do in future for a trailer.
However, the only options I can see involve a tow ball that’s apparently bolted on to the towbar. So what stops some ne’er do well simply shipping up with a a couple of spanner’s, undoing the bolts and refitting the ball to their own faceplate, complete with whatever’s attached to said ball - maybe several hundred quid’s worth of bikes, a trailer and a couple of canoes, or even, for some people, a caravan, ok, for the last two you could fit a wheel lock every time you stopped somewhere. But I can’t see an option for the bike rack. (And we need a tow ball mounted one, not a door mounted one, as we’re 2 adults plus 2 children, door mounts are max 2 bikes.)
Thanks!
Dave
Comments
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There are alarms that you can buy to help prevent this. I have one which is an extension to my van alarm and simply consists of a cable which you can wrap around the items you wish to protect and plug into the van alarm. It relies on the circuit being broken to trigger the alarm which would happen if you try to cut or disconnect the cable or remove any of the protected items. It is probably not foolproof but is a deterrent if it was spotted by a thief.
peedee
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We have a Thule tow ball mounted rack for our two ebikes and I've never been worried about them being taken in that way.
The Thule racks has locks on the clamps to the bikes and another lock that holds the clamping lever onto the tow ball so even if someone could take off the towball they would have to then break all these locks too, not impossible but a difficult deterrent. Also ours is a detachable tow ball that is also locked into place with a key.
Our insurance will cover the bikes when they are attached to the tow ball and rack in this way but check yours.
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Removal of the tow ball is something that has never crossed my mind, but I suppose it should have been. If you did get the bolts off then you would need to be very determined, and big, to lift the whole assembly off with bike in place. If you did need that extra piece of mind I'd invest in a Kryptonite cable and lock to attach to a point on the motorhome chassis.
I used a 10m one around an £800 satellite dish with the other end through the caravan chassis.
Colin
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Yes, we have similar Thule for our Jeep, and we take our ebikes all over on this. Never heard of anyone undoing towball from mount, but it must be a rarity.
We don’t fret too much about what’s on our trailer. We get good insurance, do all we can to secure things as best as possible, fit alarms and just get on with it to be honest. We carry several thousands of pounds worth of kit on the back of our Jeep/MH on a regular basis. Use common sense on where you park up, don’t ever leave it alone at service stations
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Cycling back down the Tarka trail in North Devon 2022 we approached a gate into a car park where some ne'er-do-well was trying to undo the locking system of a tow ball mounted Thule bike carrier (no bikes on). He saw us coming, jumped in his Ford Transit and scarpered.
We left a note on windscreen of car saying what we saw but we didn't get registration of van unfortunately.
Might be an idea to check with both your motor insurer and household/bike insurer which one is covering theft of it when attached to your vehicle. Don't forget to tell motor insurer that you have towbar fitted.
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It pays to shove the Thule inside the car when out on a bike ride. They cost enough!
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Thanks for all the replies! No, I’d not heard of it happening to anyone either, but, to an active engineer, used to asking the question “what could go wrong with that?”, it seemed to be the weakest point in the setup, just asking to be exploited!
After all, sometimes you just want to leave the van somewhere remote and go off - because that’s often where the good biking/walking/whatever is…
D
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A small weld on the nuts and bolts securing the tow ball would do it. You’ll need an angle grinder to get the tow ball off if in the unlikely event you needed to at a later date.
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