americanlt2

After my OnGuard Pitbull Mini fell off my bike the rubber cracked off of the lock and I decided I was done with OnGuard. It was scary to see how much bigger the rubber made the lock look. Kryptonite is more expensive but I think they are stronger locks & worth the extra money. My NewYork STD U-Lock I bought for $56 seems very strong against manual attacks. I can't imagine twisting the shackle to defeat it would work. The steel seems like a higher grade & I'm pretty happy. I live in Chicago so I need a strong lock. Bike theft seems really bad this summer. Although I suppose a angle grinder or chainsaw that the bike thief pros use would cut it? Thinking about adding the BikeRegistry chain lock to my defense as well.

robyr

In Chi-town, I would probably think that a U-lock backed up by a auxiliary chain is the bare minimum for theft reduction. Use the U-Lock to secure the bike to the rack/object, and the chain to take care of the accessories and drive components. Heck, I'd even run the chain around the rack too, just in case the U-Lock is compromised. Then again, I learned my theft lessons in Detroit... they don't care about what lock you have or how much damage is done when stealing a bike up there, because they are simply going to scrap the bike.

ryanwood

that's good info, I used an on-guard ulock for a while last winter, but I managed to break it within the first 90 days. I thought maybe I was just being really hard on my lock, but it sounds like it could be just a poor quality lock with more plastic than metal.

smasha

i've got an on-guard "beast" 5017 chain/lock. the whole setup is poorly made and >50% of the volume of the lock is plastic. crap. i've been trying to get rid of it.

i've also got a NYFU, a NY-STD and two bikeregistry chains, one with the standard lock and one with the upgrade lock (keyed alike, because those guys are awesome). these are all ace. i've also got a NY M-18W but that's so damn big it never gets used.

nothing will stop an angle grinder - some things will slow it down. depending on the bike, location, paranoia, weight concerns, etc... a NY lock and/or a bikereg chain (with the upgrade lock) are about as good as it gets... if they're used properly.

some of the high-end abus U-locks might be on par with the NY locks, but i haven't seen any in real-life.

every now and again, spray some dry-lube into the keyhole and into the hole in the crossbar where the shackle goes in.