I always do a mini u-lock on the rear tire and 6' cable through the front tire. That was, until my onguard mini seized up and I had to bang on it for 10 minutes to get my bike out. I hope their warranty system pays off : /

total misconception. There are loads of nice areas that are low crime. You should see the bikes locked up at my neighborhood coffeeshop. Typically they run the gamut from $150 beaters to several thousand dollar racers. Rarely does anyone bother with Hal style locking in my neighborhood.

Downtown is a different story. You need to actually lock wel in some locations, and others have a dozen unsecured brooks saddles.

I was super annoyed this weekend because someone tied to Jack my crate from my bike, breaking it in the process at the train station. . Probably salvageable, but I decided to get a woven basket instead of a crate. Apparently my $20 Marshall's find attracted way too much attention. It looked awesome on my bike.

The BART stations al over town are theft magnets. The worst one is in upper middle class suburbia, and not my nearby stations. But I think I am going to stick to parking on the street from now on.

Yeah CompleteStreets that's why I mention pink in color nail polish remover 10 minutes soak-time, 5 minutes of digging with a sharp knife. Seems clear remover takes almost twice as long and more digging. Get it at any nail, beauty or tattoo shop. The only place I would add a ball bearing along with crazy glue is the Allen-head that holds the double-leg kickstand w/fenders that area becomes tight. I have over $400 worth of B&M lighting on the Cannondale the glue, just gives and extra 15-20 minutes piece of mind works for me. Wind to your back always.

Thanks for the link - I think the Abus 6500 may be my next bike lock!

I currently lock my commuter with a U-lock through the rear wheel and triangle, and as I also must give +1 to tractorlegs and cazzzzidy for their cheap bikes option. Even so, if I could afford to easily replace my bike, I would probably buy something nicer. Fortunately I usually only commute to/from work, which is on a gated, guarded facility and I don't even lock up there.

What I really wanted to talk about is locking up with a rear rack. Usually you can find some kind of sturdy, narrow pole and you're good to go, but some of the bike racks I've encountered don't allow you to get your rear wheel and rack inside to properly lock anything but the front or rear tire, which obviously is no good. I encountered this yesterday and locked up on the end, but was thinking "what if the ends are already occupied" Since cable locks are so easily defeat-able, any good suggestions for alternatives?
Example pic: https://www.theparkcatalog.com/products/zoom/434-6033big.jpg

^ good question. Our library has these too.

I this was my only choice, I would use a chain like this one: Robot Check

The chain would lock the front wheel and frame, then cable the back wheel.

In my case, I would recruit the gf, we would do a romantic O' Dark Thirty Yarn Bombing mission on the top bar of that bike rack, so that it's nice and cozy snug.

During daytime use I and/or gf could then lift the front wheel of our bike/s up and over that nice, cozy snug, AND SOFT, Knit Stormed upper bar, Then, set bike/s down with nice and soft upper bar sandwiched behind the fork, above the front tire and with down tube resting on top of the top bar of rack.
Then proceed to use your std. size u-lock (sorry minis won't work, neither will short wheelbase, tight geometry bikes) to lock front wheel, top bar of bike rack, and downtube, inside the lock shackle.
Run cable to, or use your mini u-lock to secure back wheel.

I don't know about lugging around such a heavy chain, but it definitely sounds better than buying a new bike. I'm also not so sure that fashionable knit wear is the answer for me, but carrying a bit of swim noodle might do the trick. Of course that might not work out too good with fenders...

Thanks for the tips!

Whatever lock you use, never, ever leave your bike on the street overnight.

If the ends already have bikes locked to them on one of these "wheel bender" racks, there's only one way to securely lock the bike to the middle portion of the rack:

Lift the front wheel about three feet above the ground, lifting the wheel over the horizontal tube of the rack. You can then rest the bike on top of the rack. The portion that will be resting on the rack is where the down tube meets the head tube. This will allow you to lock the frame (and front wheel) to the rack. If that's too much hassle I recommend locking to the nearest street sign instead.



Alternatively, you can just lock one wheel to the rack, but be prepared to say bye-bye to the rest of the bike.

Thx streets - I like that the pic you posted has the bike well locked and shows it working with fenders, which I thought might be a problem. I think this is where HvPnyrs "O' Dark Thirty Yarn Bombing mission" for a regularly visited rack comes in to play to protect the frame.

I ride a recumbent, which is a bit difficult to lock. When I know I'm going to be using it for errands (not very often, I just take a U-lock (Kryptonite) with me and lock it to something, never just to itself.

I don't bother locking my bike at work, which is nice. I work for a small company where everyone knows my bike, and one has to have a badge to even get into the parking lot.