Lock picking in the real world is very rare. It's best employed by someone who needs to break into a building or tool crib or file cabinet without anyone knowing they have done so, or to return a legitimate owner to their property ('non-destructive entry'). Usually when someone has a bicycle stolen, they realize the bike is no longer there.
Originally Posted by
fuzz2050
The old Kryptonites that you can open with a bic pen used a different type of lock entirely; they used a Tubular pin-tumbler, which, ordinarily are a real pain to pick using conventional tools. Despite the Bic incident, they are still pretty secure (Generally speaking, Kryptonite just got unlucky), which is why you see them on vending machines, pay phones and slot machines. The tools needed to pick these are expensive and difficult to use (usually).
Because lock picking bike theft is darn near unheard of, in around 1987 or so, Kryptonite redesigned their U-locks, putting more value towards resisting physical attack and less money in the lock cylinder. In fact, they specified such a cheap lock cylinder, it was breachable by 'self impression'. Oops.
Realistically, so long as one is not using such an inexpensive lock that it can be self impressioned, bumped, shimmed or easily drilled, the lock itself will be fine, and more of the security budget should go towards resisting physical attack (snipping, cutting grinding, torching, levering, jacking, etc.)