So I'm taking a survey. What is the best lock out there? Or combination of locks? For convenience? For the weight? For ease of use? What are ppl using out there?

flat black unreflective spraypaint.
doesn't show up on the radar like a stealth bomber.

huh?

krypto nyc lock for short trips/lock ups. fugghedaboutit chain for longer. both together for long lock ups in bad parts of town.

Fug chain for almost all situations. Through both wheels, shackle around one rim. Evolution mini and a wheel cable if you live where you can get away with that sort of thing.

NY lock is good if you really want a U, but to me it's so heavy I'd rather just have the chain around my waist than that thing in my bag. NY Fugghedaboutit U is about as good as welding your frame to the rack, but definitely too much weight. Think like a hiker, put the weight on your hips.

bulldog mini with a krypto key cable...I live in a relative crime free area, and the bike comes inside with me most places.

Aaron

Light wire lock and a good insurance.

The "Search" function, and just get a krypto that feels good.

Krypto combo u-lock: **** carrying keys around.

Since I got a good pair of wheels, krypto chain around the back wheel and frame to something and a mini u around the front wheel and downtube. that chain has come in handy alot more than I though it would. You know for things like warding off trolls under bridges and whipping teadogg in the basement of Yojimbos. Or helping groups of people lock up. its all the same

Kryptonite Mini Evolution through the frame/front wheel/whatever and a pistol grip pump trained on anyone who gets within 5' of the bike (or rather, I never let it get out of sight ... the lock is just to prevent someone from hopping on and getting a head start).

I use an ON-GUARD U-lock (front wheel/ frame, car wacker) and a cable (rear wheel).

I put an Onguard brute mini through my rear wheel and frame and a locking qr on the front wheel. I'm thinking of getting a chain though for longer lockups.

My bike doesnt stay outside or out of my site (except inside the office, in which its chained to a stairwell that only very few people have access too) for longer than 2-3 minutes at a time, so I just have a Masterlock U-lock cause it was cheap, but still provides some protection.

i have been known to carry the fuggedaboutit and ny lock at the same time. but thats cuz im you know. hardcore. and stuff. yeeeeep. thats me. hardcore.

NYC chain and/or mini-u.

2 x mini-u tc bulldog. For both hands.

krypto mini and anti-theft skewer

i use a 4 dollar suppppppper light combo lock i got at walmart.
it also helps to have a bike that looks a little rusty and badly painted.
it also helps that i spent a total of $30 on it so if it does get stolen im only really losing some centimental value.

"centimental?". . .no pun intended right.

onguard bulldog mini U with the casing cracked off - bare metal showing.

onguard bulldog mini U with the casing cracked off and then covered in electrical tape. then orange IRO paint ground into the tape. oh, and then a krypto cable around the wheels.

I've left my bike downtown like this a few times. no problems thusfar. KNOCK on f'in WOOD.

i never ever lock my bike. you guys are so cynical and untrusting. they're not gonna steal your bike. even in nyc. locks are over-rated. why carry the weight?

Onguard BruteMini and a Krypto cable. The only complaint is that the key for the brute mini is ****ing huge (like the black plastic part at the end that hooks to the key ring) and jams up the flow of my keychain. Better than losing a bike, I guess.

Last I checked (week ago, maybe), the BruteMinis were on sale at Nashbar for like 25, that's when I got mine.

"The Best" really needs to be asked as "The best for what purpose?"

If someone is locking up a $2,000 bike, and leaving it unattended for nine or ten hours (something that I would never do), they need heavy-duty locks. The massive Kryptonite New York u-lock or the OnGuard Brute u-lock. Or, for folks who want to carry around twice as much weight, yet get nothing extra in security, get the most expensive, and heaviest, chain locks from OnGuard and Kryptonite.

But, the "best" lock for a ten minute stop at the corner coffee shop may be the one that is easiest to carry and to use. I bought an OnGuard Bulldog Mini TC u-lock yesterday. Its "TC" "thin case" on the crossbar makes it OnGuards lightest, slimmest u-lock. Correctly installed around the rear wheel and a steel post, the TC leaves no room for leverage type tools. That leaves cutting...forty minutes of sweating work with manual tools, and power cutting tools are not (knock on wood) used by crooks in my neighborhood.

I continue to see many bikes locked up with ONLY a cable lock. A cable lock, no matter how expensive, no matter how heavy, can be defeated by a skilled crook in seconds. A cable lock is a sign saying "Free bike right here".

And, most of the bikes I see are not locked up correctly. Only the front wheel is attached to the lock. Or, the lock is around a flimsy rack held together with two "easy off" bolts. Learning the correct place to lock up, and learning the "Sheldon Brown" locking technique is just as important as buing "the best lock".