After researching how almost all bike locks can be defeated by arm length bolt cutters or a hammer sized bottle jack (or power tools) in under a minute, the only secure way to lock your bike is a small ulock with a lot of stuff inside it's 'U' area so a bottle jack can't fit.

I'll post my standard reply about the Kryptonite insurance system. I looked into it when choosing my U-lock. You better read the fine print very, very carefully and only after that decide if it's for you (as with any insurance). From what I could tell:

- the insurance is only available in maybe 3-4 countries when I checked. If you happen to live in one of them, you're good to go.
- the fine print is nowhere to be found on their web site. Judging from some posts here, it seems you have to produce the broken lock for inspection to be able to make a claim. If the thieves took the lock too, you're out of luck.

Around where I live, pretty much any homeowner's or renter's insurance has better coverage and less hassle. It seems the Kryptonite insurance is more of a marketing gimmick.

Kryptonites are very good locks. Depending on where you shop, you will have other equally good brands available. I chose an Abus Granite U-lock in the end. It has served me well.

--J

famous last words, along with "i only went inside for a minute" and "it was in my apartment." if you're not sitting on it, lock it.

a lot of companies make poor quality locks. the only locks i'd recommend are the better kryptonite locks, the better abus locks, and the bikeregistry chains. as mentioned, the "insurance" that comes with some locks is a bit of a marketing gimmick, but towards the higher end they are very good locks nonetheless.

http://www.streetfilms.org/hal-grade...-bike-locking/
http://www.streetfilms.org/hal-and-k...-bike-locking/
http://www.streetfilms.org/hal-grade...final-warning/

watch those - even if you're not in NYC, you'll learn something that you can apply to locking your bike. most of the world's bike thieves do NOT live in NYC ;)

I get by with a Krypto Evolution. Yes it's large. I carry it in my backpack, strap it to my rack, stow it in my pannier, stuff it into the waistband of my pants or just hang it off my handlebars.

I try not to leave my bike out in the big city for more than a couple of hours at a time without checking on it at least every hour.