The folks who claim that it is "easy" to open a top of the line Abus, OnGuard, or Kryptonite lock, have never personally done so, or they are simply lying...opening the best locks from those companies takes a good deal of time, skills, expensive tools, and experience.

In the "real" world, crooks develop an aversion to spending time in jail. So, when they steal bikes, they target bikes using cable locks, and the $5 chain locks and $10 u-locks sold at Wal-Mart. Such locks can be opened in five or ten seconds.

In contrast, a skilled crook, with expensive tools, and lots and lots of practice, is going to need five or ten minutes to open a top quality lock...a time span that permits an on-looker to call the police or the owner of the bike to return, ballbat in hand...

But, I would not lock a Trek Madone to the same post for eight hours a day, five days a week. If a crook sees that an expensive bike is at the same location everyday, all day, sooner or later, he may be tempted to take the risk and invest the time and effort to steal that bike. The owner of that bike may not lose it the first month, or the second month, but eventually...

Folks who must leave their bike locked out of their sight for more than an hour or two in an urban location need to have a "trashmo" bike...a bike that is too old or too ugly to steal, yet rides as nicely as their best bike.

My favorite "trashmo" bike was a 1984ish Trek with a pro quality frame and fork, and pro quality wheels. A previous owner had spray-canned it an ugly green, and it had big dents, and lots of surface rust. It looked like it was worth $5, yet it rode as well as a new bike costing $1,000....great to ride, but no chance of it ever being stolen.