Originally Posted by
Abacus
So I took to the cable with bolt cutters. These cut through most of the cable, and I finished off the remaining strands with pliers. It took less than 5 minutes to free the bike.
OK, I should have said that you can't cut a cable with bolt cutters in the 2 seconds that you can cut a lock with bolt cutters. Certainly you can get through a cable, heck, you can get through a cable with a pair of pliers, but it'll take many minutes.
Bolt cutters will go through a padlock shackle in a few seconds. Using a disc lock or the obstructed shackle lock the OP linked to are a good defense, but if you link to it with a chain, you're back to "snip snip" with bolt cutters and they're in. Probably doesn't apply to hardened steel chain, but I can certainly cut conventional chain with bolt cutters in a few seconds.