Originally Posted by
Sixty Fiver
Yep... because every bike thief carries a cordless saw and has no problem destroying the rear wheel which is valuable and makes riding the bike away so much easier.
Given that thieves will steal parts off a bike, such as wheels, seat & post, bar/stem/controls, etc, it's not a huge stretch for them to want a whole bike minus one part. In my city, the police set up a bike-theft sting a while back, and the thieves chucked the bike into a pickup truck and drove away, so I don't assume the ride-away factor either.
Getting through a rear wheel with hand tools is a pita.
Yeah, takes about a minute of vigorous work with a hacksaw in my firsthand testing. Let's hope the thieves are all out of shape
In the bigger picture, this is one of the benefits of having a dedicated rain/commuter road bike, it's not backwards to throw a respectable lock in the trunk bag and ride it to the store. For my road-racer, I might take a pocket-sized light cable just to step into a convenience store, but if I need something heavier than that, I'm on the wrong bike.