Originally Posted by
Squeeze
Our kids have cheap cable "word locks" with four-digit words to unlock them. I figure someone could probably cut through those locks with nail clippers, but I doubt bike thieves target kids' bikes or schools, and I think it's a good habit for them to always lock their bikes when they will leave them unattended.
In grade school my kids just had cable locks I had cut and looped at a hardware store, ~-$2-3 each, and luggage locks w/ settable combos. In middle school my son started using a larger cable (still made at the hardware store) w/ a gym locker combo lock. For high school, w/ my bike, I gave him an actual bike cable lock w/ settable combo.
One of my daughter's friends had her totally crappy magna bmx bike stolen off the elementary school rack this summer (their daycamp was at the school), even cutting the cable lock to get it. I can't imagine the bike was worth as much as whatever boltcutters were used on the cable. People gonna do what they do I guess.