Originally Posted by
aley
Few thieves would go to the trouble to cut a cable to steal just the wheel - if they can cut a cable and get the whole bike it's worth the hassle.
My experience with cutting cables is that it's harder than just a snip with the bolt cutters - you end up more or less chewing through the cable, which takes a minute or two. I've never tried to cut a bike cable lock, though (what I've cut has been industrial wire rope), so I don't know how different it is. I suspect it's similar, in which case it's enough effort that it's not going to be worth it to a thief unless your front wheel is something really special.
For large wire ropes we used to use a carbon arc slice torch, which would make short work of any sort of lock - but the thief will have to have a truck-mounted welder and a decent-sized air compressor to run a tool like that.
I often (1xweek or so) see cut cables lying around bicycle posts. Commonly I see thinner or cheaper cables cut, but also the thicker (15-20 mm) cables too. The cut ends always look like they were cut in a single stroke.
p.s. I use both a u-lock (NYFU) and a chain (PB something or other). I use two u-locks for my bike, and the chain for my trailer, as it is challenging to attach the trailer frame to anything else without folding it up.
If I can, I lock my bike beside another with a cable lock. This seems to be good security to me
