Originally Posted by
Andy_K
It depends on where you park the bike. Where I work I could probably get away with a cheap cable lock, but I actually use a U-lock around the seatstay inside the rear wheel. The front wheel is still free for the taking this way, but so far that hasn't been an issue.
In a less secure location, I'd probably get a locking skewer for the front wheel. Other options are a cable that connects to the U-lock and goes through the front wheel (not secure enough for city parking), removing the front wheel and putting the U-lock through both wheels (a major hassle), or using a second U-lock to lock the front wheel to the frame (a minor hassle). My view of security is that my solution has to be convenient for me, otherwise I'll get lazy and not do it.
I definitely agree with your last sentence. I want to be as safe as I can but I don't want to create a system that I attempt to use regularly, so that I end up just not doing it anyways. There seem to be a few good options.
I think something important to consider is what everyone on this thread has stated along with locking advice; location matters. Maybe along with improving how I'm looking, I really should be looking out for the best location to lock my bike. Someone on this thread mentioned that security cameras are a joke to thieves, and I bet that's probably true. So I would think that somewhere in plain sight and in the open around a lot of people would be a good place to put a bike? (also around other bikes). But also a few people mentioned specialized storage for bikes would be ideal, and I'm definitely going to investigate that more.