Who likes a small U-lock?
 

Every time I buy one, I end up getting a mountain bike or motorcycle sized one so I can reliably fit it through the wheel and frame with room to lock to something.

The little ones seem like it'd be an Act of God to have enough room for all that.

I hear the small ones are more secure though, because there's no room to get a jack or something inside?

I'll probably buy another one tonight, and wanted some feedback before I do.

There have only been a handful of times where I couldnt fit the lock around the tire, frame and pole. Of those times, I was usually able to find an alternate location.

I finally gave up on the Evo Mini-5, and bought an Evo Mini-7. The 5 was just too small to be useful on a bike with 40mm tires.

I like long security chain bike locks myself, and the Abus folding link lock.

My Koga came set-up for a seat stay mounted ring lock, those are great ..
always there.. just don't drop the key while shopping..
you need to unlock it and leave it in, to ride..

i only use u-lock i can fit in a pocket.

if any of you want to sell a U-lock, i'd love to buy it. mine has character from it's abuse.

In addition to a Kryptonite and On Guard u-locks, I have a Planet Bike Mountie mini u-lock. This is about the size of my palm and weighs about a pound. Best way I've used it is to lock it around a seat stay and a bar of the thinner kind of bike rack.
There's a picture of this in the Reviews section:
http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Cyclin...ini-u-lock.jsp

fits in my back pocket... i do wish it had an extra half inch of length

With locking skewers, you don't need to go through the tires anymore. Therefore, you can get away with a much smaller lock.

+1. And I never leave it locked up outside for very long.

I use an Abus Granite Futura mini lock and love it. It replaced an orange Kryptonite Evolution series lock that weighed about three times as much. Surprisingly, I don't miss the extra room of the Evolution. I'm usually able to get my Abus lock through the front quick release wheel and frame of my bike when locking to a ring-and-post. Sometimes, I need to go a block out of my way to find a proper ring-and-post, but its usually not a big deal.

If there is any inconvenience to having a smaller lock it is more than made up by the weight savings, IMO. :)

Does anyone think nutted wheels means one wouldn't need to lock up the wheels if it was inconvenient? I'm asking because I recently bought a smaller u-lock, and I cannot always bring the cable with me and sometimes even with the cable, I cannot lock up the rear wheel with the u-lock [only the oddest circumstances, btw.]

I guess you don't care about the wheels?

Well, there are no guarantees and I guess it depends on the crime level in your neighborhood and the value of your wheels, etc... but I leave my bolted wheels unsecured all the time and haven't had any issues (I never lock up in isolated areas or overnight). The wheels on my city bike can probably be replaced for $50 each (Craigslist), so buying a $50 set of skewers doesn't make too much sense IMO. Also, I reckon that unbolting a wheel isn't much easier than cutting the cable used to secure it (granted a thief would need two tools in the latter case).

OP, where do all these U locks you're buying go?

Nutted wheels still need to be secured as any old wrench or pliers can loosen them.

I use these locking skewers, at $20 from Performance they're not bad and I leave my bike out overnight without a cable through the wheels..