Originally Posted by crawdaddio

There certainly is a point when one can become too paranoid in regards to their bicycle locking system.
As I said in the beginning of this thread, use common sense, evaluate the value (personal or monetary) of your bike, the level of risk of theft in your area, and use good locks.

To answer your question, in chicago, theives certainly do use angle grinders to steal bicycles. I have personally witnessed it. I have worked with police (occasionally. Believe it or not) and insurance companies as an (licensed) investigative locksmith to determine how the bicycle was stolen for theft reports/insurance claims.

According to Kryptonite, chicago is third on the list for 2008 of cities with the most reported bicycle thefts. If I recall correctly, NY and Philly were # 1 and 2.

EDIT:
In 2007 chicago was #2, right behind philly. NY fell into #3, which is pretty surprising!

http://unbreakable-bonds.blogspot.co...0-shocker.html

Originally Posted by rajman

Uh - I've had four bikes stolen, and I personally know over a dozen people who have had theirs stolen. Given that: I don't think concern about bicycle theft is paranoia. Since I have practiced good lock hygiene and used a solid lock, I have only had one bike stolen, and that was from my garage (the garage was either unlocked to begin with or forced, and the bike was unlocked in the garage).

Most of my friends who have had their bikes stolen have either used cheap locks or not properly locked up their bikes (not through frame, don't lock both wheels up, etc.)

I assume that I will have bikes stolen in the future as well, I just hope that I get good use out of the bike and bequeath a pile of worn out components to the bike thief (given the status of most of my bikes - I'm more or less halfway there ).