If there is any "cloud" that spoils cycling, it is the crooks that grab our bikes, or our wheels, and pawn them to buy $10 worth of smoke. Each time a cyclist walks away from a bike, that cloud is passing over our head.

I've learned the hard way how difficult and expensive it is to lose a rear wheel. So, I always (as in always, always, always) put a premium quality u-lock around the rear wheel, just behind the seat tube, and around a beefy steel pole set in concrete. Many bike racks are NOT made from "beefy steel poles" and are NOT set in concrete. Sometimes I have to park half a block from a store, because that is the location of the closest steel pole that I knew a crook can not defeat.

And, sadly, in big cities such as Houston and Washington, you need a cable lock around a cheap front wheel, or a second u-lock if you have a expensive front wheel.

So, that means to be really protected in the "big city", you have to carry about seven pounds of locks. As much as we hate carrying that sort of load, the alternative is worse.