That's exactly what I meant re semi-pros. Those guys, and rekmeyata's rack attack folk, aren't going to be bumping your Medeco and putting your rotweiller to sleep with a blow dart tipped in rare south american frog venom, but they do come in fully equipped with a few tools to expeditiously handle the situation they plan to handle. They're not rookies, they're certainly a serious threat, but you can effect your destiny to a degree. Don't get me wrong -- you're still going to get stung by the MANY semi-pros. Remember I'm still wearing out my corner of thread responding to pallen's two extremes of the complete opportunist/rookie and the omnipotent Jack Bauer pro where you have no vote in the matter. A goon with a manly pair of bolt cutters is a force to be reckoned with, but you can do some reckoning on the margins by making your bike a less attractive, more inconvenient / risky target. You don't need to run faster than the bear, just the other guy. Many bike thieves are followers of the Josey Wales "A man's got to know his limitations" philosophy; throw some limitations their way and maybe it helps, because there are so many other riper targets out there it is easy for them to move on.

Anyway, I'm arguing silly shades of grey off in a tangent. Usually I come here to get a chuckle out of watching others do that. The laughs are on me this time around.