So I’m thinking a tail pack is the best way for me to transport a couple of bits and, most importantly, Xena disk alarm, chain and lock.
Anybody have a good reccomendation?
I generally carry a rucksack but there are times when this is too full for a chain plus it’s bl00dy heavy on my back!
How do you guys do it?
How heavy is the chain?
I remember trying to carry my PJ 1.2m 16mm Chain in an Cargo Tail Bag - kept sliding my tail bag side to side as it was too much weight, just made the bike feel unstable when cornering. I decided to get two alarmed disc locks instead. I keep two 16mm Xena Disc Locks under my seat, fits like a glove.
I know I would rather have a chain so that I can tie it to something, but its a massive inconvenience.
Ive not tried the Kreiga tail bags, but they seem better than the Cargo tail bag I had.
Yeah plus orange rucksack cover makes you easily recognisable 
I probably wouldn’t put heavy chain in my tailpack, it fits well but I would be afraid that it would affect the bike too much. Fortunately mine fits under the seat.
My mate uses a Kreiga for his chain, never seen it move while it’s on the bike. You could probably get a secondhand one as new one will be ruined when putting a chain in and out all the time, plus it doesn’t need to be waterproof.
That little bag i have on the back of mine sometimes came with my chain 
Kriega… Probably need the US-20 but they’re the best at what they do
Don’t carry a chain around though…
Will have a look at Kriega then
Intrigued, why do you say ‘don’t carry a chain around’?
I imagine he said not to carry it around for the same reasons I decided not to carry it around, firstly its an inconvenience and secondly, most importantly, you wouldn’t to land on your chain if you fall, or have the chain land on you.
I think Serrisan means he doesn’t carry a chain around.
I can carry a 1.5m long 16mm diameter chain in my kreiga US10 and the straps fix it down securely enough that it won’t move about. They’re not cheap though ( I got mine free with a 6 month subscription to Fast Berks - the subscription was cheaper than the bag at the time - might be worth checking what offers the bike mags have on subscritions at the moment).
It will get the inside of the bag all wet & mucky so you can’t really carry anything else in it and of course you have to take the bag with you when you leave the bike or risk someone nicking it.
Yeah, I don’t want to carry it in a rucksack for that reason…landing on it would hurt.
So what does everybody use for security say, in the west end or similar?
If I’m riding somewhere that I’ll be able to lock the bike to something, I’ll take the chain.
In the west end a chain tends to be a waste of time (plus I’ve pretty much stopped going to westminster since they brought in the bike parking charge) as there’s nothing to attach it to usually so I just rely on the disc lock & alarm/immobiliser.
Just had a quick look on the Westminster website - they have 6,150 on-street parking spaces for bikes and security consists of 45 Sheffield Stands (in 9 locations) and 44 ground anchors (in 16 locations). From the look of the picture on their website, a sheffield stand might allow 4 bikes to be locked to it if they were parked close together so that makes security for 224 bikes or a bit under 4% of the available spaces - not really good enough when you think of the amount of cash that they’re raking in.
Westminster council seem to have a grudge against bikers…hope the NoToTheBikeParkingTax campaign keeps rolling.
Councils need to get ahead of the curve with charges and fines for bikers just in case everybody decides to ditch the cars for bikes.
Imagine that, no cars to fine and nothing in place to bleed the new riders…then where would they be?
I think that’s exactly what happened - congestion charge reduced the number of cars in westminster, leading to empty parking bays. The council change car bays to bike bays, start charging and hey presto - nice little revenue stream.
I have an Oxford tail bag for touring, probably too large for your requirements, but works well for me. Don’t stick it in a tank bag as the weight once rubbed off the paint!
Kreiga are excellent. I have a US10 and a US20. They are designed cleverly so that they can be tied together and they stay on when you go really fast.
