jefnvk

Oh wait, the chain actually plugs into the wheel lock?

The bikes we had, and from what I generally saw, the wheel lock and the chain were two separate systems.

himespau 

I like the chain plugging into the lock except that doesn't do anything for your front wheel. A rear wheel lock and a U that goes through the front wheel, frame and post would cover most issues. A BB superglued into all your allen bolts would take care of a lot of the rest. Haven't ever gone that far, but have considered it.

goraman

It's an older bike , locked up on a Florida campus by a young lady.
The wheel will be and old steel one bolted on.
A chain through the frame and rear wheel will probably be ok where she is at.
A young lady is not likely to spend more than a minute to lock and unlock.
She will most likely leave the chain there at school and use it when she is there.
It's not perfect but she is not going to lug around a couple heavy locks.
She can leave this locked to the rack all year and lock her bike when she gets to school.

A cable lock is useless don't waste your money.

tnburban

Have one in school now. Bike stays outside all the time August thru May.

We went with an old Schwinn I found on CL. I actually sold one of my older road bikes to pay for his bike and some books and software he needed last fall. Fairly unique paint job which I think helps deter theft, and overall ugly bike, I doubt anyone will think about stealing it when there are probably hundreds of more generic can't really tell them apart bikes around.

himespau 

To be fair, I used a 15 year old schwinn woodlands mountain bike when I was at college. The battered paint, bolted on wheels, hardened foam grips, and yellow, cracked dork disk with a mile of seatpost showing may have had as much to do with it not being stolen (tires slashed 3-4 times on different racks along with every other bike on the rack) as the u-lock did. Left mine out August to December then march to may (didn't trust the snow plows not to taco the wheels).