why do new york city cyclists have to spend 1/5 (I am being very generous) of the price of their vehicle to protect it? if there was an "epidemic" in new york where it was guaranteed that if you bought a car that costs $500 or more it would get stolen (or at least parts stolen off of it) if it is parked on the street, do you think the police would be so lax about stopping such epidemic?

it's friggin' ridiculous. I would love to ride to work everyday... I could right now, but I would spend those 8 hours working worrying if my bike was going to be downstairs when I got off.

why don't we invent a "LoJack" for bikes?
http://www.lojack.com/
it would be super small and I would actually be willing to pay 1/5 of the price of my bike for it... as I am sure you would too.