Originally Posted by froze
Sheldon Brown is demonstrating how to use a mini U, and his explaination for that is correct...BUT, what he uses is not correct! The mini U locks do not allow you to lock your front wheel; to do that you need a full size U lock; you remove the front wheel and place it alongside the rear then you use Sheldon Browns mini U bolt method to lock the bike and the two wheels.
I see no need to remove the front wheel when you can easily use a locking skewer in place of the quick release to obviate this need. It also makes locking up *much* more practical and feasible when you're parking at a crowded bike rack.