Bike Security is something that I take very seriously and something that I will be spending progressively more on, in the near future as my circumstances are likely to change.
At the end of the day, peace of mind is something that I struggle to put a price on, so even though "experts" say things like spend 10% of the value of your bike on a lock, I'm more likely to spend 20 to 30%, knowing that my locks should outlive my bike and when I get another bike, I can then pass over a lock or two to the new bike.
I'm not going to talk about Pitlocks or Pinhead locks or stuff like that, but just the sort of lock that people considering D-Locks/U-Locks or chains would be considering.
As my primary lock, I think the D-Lock/U-Lock can't be beat and for that, there are only two companies that have caught my attention, those being Abus and Kryptonite.
It appears that Abus use a higher grade of steel, so that their top locks can be thinner and lighter than Kryptonite's, however, that can only go so far.
If you didn't care whatsoever about weight and you need some length to your D-Lock/U-Lock, then I suspect the best lock is the
Kryptonite New York Lock M18-WL, however that beast weighs 2.76kg or 6.1lbs.
The second best D-Lock/U-Lock with length probably comes down to the
Kryptonite New York Lock-LS or the
ABUS Granite X-Plus 540.
The Kryptonite New York Lock-LS at 26cm long weighs 2.06kg/4.55lbs and the Abus Granit-X Plus 540 at 30cm weighs 1.656kg/3.64lbs.
So due to the weight consideration and the much better carry option, I have chosen the Abus Granit-X Plus 540 as my primary lock and carry it on my bike.
However to date, I have a safe place to park my bike at work and my bike isn't worth much money at the moment, so I make do with just one lock.
Soon though, I will be investing in a second lock, as I am going to spend a considerable sum of money to upgrade my bike and will at times have to leave it unattended in an unsecured spot.
When that happens, I will likely be adding the following lock to my collection:
New York Fahgettaboudit Mini
I will be using this lock to lock my rear wheel to my frame, so that it can't be ridden away and then using my Abus Granit-X 540 to lock throught my front wheel to my frame, then to a fixed object.
The New York Mini weighs 2.06kg/4.55lbs and will nicely fit into the trunk bag on my rear rack.
The alternative to the New York Mini is to get a longer lock that would allow me to lock my rear wheel to my frame and them to a fixed object, but such another lock might be problematic for ease of transport.
I don't find the above total weight penalties excessive, to me that is the reality of using your bike as transport and then leaving it unattended for a while.
Obviously if I am just going for a ride where the bike won't be left unattended, I ditch the locks and avoid the weight penalty.