chaadster

Also, for the record, I had a ulock broken and a bike stolen in the early '90s.

I've also been locking up $2k+ bikes in big college towns since that same period, and after a couple of thefts, have a pretty good handle on making better risk assessments. I don't go nuts with the locks, but rather try to choose smart lockup locations in well-lit, high traffic areas. I also avoid the 'student ghettoes' and long lockups as much as possible.

While there are lots of little things to consider that may mitigate risk, they're not sure-shots, so in the end, when you lock up and walk away, you need to be satisfied that you did your reasonable best, and ready to lose it, whether that means to replace it or go without.

When my trick, custom Yo Eddy got vic'd from inside the restaurant where I worked, that was a big hit; I had more than $3.5k into that. But you know, I replaced it with what I could, kept riding, and while I think about that bike periodically, it's just a bike, and I've had lots of happy miles on other bikes in the couple of decades since on other bikes. I would say things turned out damn well.