I'm pretty obsessive about my bike. If I have my back turned on it for a minute, it gets locked. When I swim, I take it through my club and back to the pool area. Then, even though parked only 10 feet away from where I'm swimming I still feel compelled to put a lock around it.

I was in Starbucks and even though the bike was just outside the window, my back was turned on it while I was ordering so I still locked it.

I never park my bike unattended outside for any length of time. At work, it lives in my classroom. At home it goes in a locked garage.

Do you think I'm ok just carrying a little cable and paddlock and leaving my heavy U lock at home? What experience do people have leaving bikes unattended and locked for very short periods of time and having them stolen?

If I'm taking very short trips I generally just use my U-Lock through the front wheel/frame and a small cable lock through the rear wheel/frame. Longer stops I will use my OnGuard chain and my cable lock in the rear. I mainly go with the 'better safe than sorry' saying.

I don't know Davis. Where I live ANY lock is sufficient, lots of people leave bikes unlocked. Assuming bike theft isn't a huge issue there, a cable lock should be fine for the short periods you leave yours unattended.

I would use the U lock on it when its parked outside for a quick run like coffee or something. Depending on how safe you feel it is, freelocking it might be a pretty good deterrant, as no one can ride off with it - the most they could do is try to take a wheel (assuming the lock isn't through one of them/both of them) or try and throw it in the back of a truck.

I too lock my bike as habit. Better safe than, "Oh s***! Where the **** is my bike!"

a couple of months ago i left one of my bikes against the glass window of a dining hall for 5 minutes and i came out and it was gone. now my bike is ALWAYS locked with at least a u-lock. the convenience just isn't worth it.

I've heard Davis has a huge bike culture, but for the most part they're just laying around unlocked. Is this true? My friends visiting from SF were dumbfounded as to how you could even think of not locking a bike up, but there were so many floating around that they thought it was the just the norm.

wow... here is no way I'd leave my ride for 30 second unlocked here in boston... yesterday I worked an alleycat checkpoint and and locked my bike with a U-lock to a fence just so I could stand 30 feet away from it in a park and talk to others without having to watch it like a hawk...

You find a lot of rusty, yet functional, xmart cruisers parked unlocked here. The thing is that you have 30,000 students who go back and forth to school each day and probably travel less than a mile. For convenience sake, it might make sense to get the cheapest POS bike you can find and just park it. If it gets stolen, you can get a another one at the thrift store or one of our many "bike junkyards" for less than what you'd pay for a bike lock

Note: If the thought of "bike junkyards" makes you want to plan a trip to Davis, FYI I have never actually found any frames or parts at one that I'd actually want to use

Essentially, rusty xmart cruisers are the biggest part of the bike culture around here. If you want to see nice SSFG bikes, you have to go to downtown Sacto.

Fastest I've lost a bike to theft was about 3 minutes. Parked it in the back yard of a house I was working in. Seven foot solid fence around the yard. A couple of minutes after I was inside I got nervous and went back out to lock the bike. Gone from a yard with an unlocked gate. The Irvine, CA police said I was 3 blocks from the High School and theft of unlocked bikes was endemic. The officer was sure someone had seen me going into the yard before and just kept checking until I felt comfortable and left the bike unlocked.

Now, even on group rides, I carry a U lock and lock up when we stop for anything.

i hate irvine and irvine cops

I am comfortable locking up with a cable lock it I'm just going into someplace for a minute and the area is not bad. It's way better than nothing, it's sort of the security equivalent of removing the keys from a car's ignition. Yes a pro bike thief could come along in the three minutes i'm in starbucks with a bolt cutter or something but the odds are pretty slim.

As your attorney I suggest you keep doing what you're doing, it seems to work. If you're bike gets stolen that one time you deviate from your routine, you'll want to shoot yourself. One thing my dad taught me a long time ago was to use the right tool for the job, aka, use a u-lock. My rule of thumb with locks: no matter what, if I have a bag on my shoulder, I have my ulock, cable and toolbag.

The only bike I have ever had stolen was the bike that I left on the side of house unlocked.

Davis? I think you're fine with a mini U-Lock for the front wheel/frame, and nothing else.

I'll also second what MrCjolsen said about getting a cheap, ratty bike for riding around town.

from neon yellow mountain bike i got in the fifth grade to the the falling apart sears 3-spd cruiser i rode in college to my current bike i've always used a u-lock and haven't had one stolen, before the 5th grade i got mugged for my bike a few times and unlocked bikes had been stolen from my parent's garage a few times, better safe than sorry

I second that. Leaving your bike unlocked in any situation is a terrible idea. So is storing them outside at night.

get a mini u lock people in nor cal only steal front wheels dude as long as it isn't qr and it you still worry get a 4' armored cable the bulldog and the akita from onguard are a great combo and are lighter than a full size u-lock

I had my cyclocross bike stolen in broad daylight, with a u-lock. The thief was a pro and just unbolted the bike rack.

I won't be locking up any nice bikes in my future...

I doubt a theif will unbolt a parking meter entire handrail or a street sign

I saw an episode of 20/20 about 10 years ago about theifs that would install their own sign on the street but you could lift it up and slide the lock down and off ya go. I realize that the chances of this happening to me are sooooo slim that I shouldn't worry about it, but I always check anyways like a nerd.

I recently moved to a city and learned very quickly that the savages that live around here steal pretty much anything and everything. They typically leave the frame and rear wheel if it's locked up, but they'll steal the seats, brakes, skewers, front wheel, handlebars....etc. They're brutal. U-lock and a cable to lasso around the front tire is the way I do it... even if my eyes are off the bike for 10 seconds. I'd rather waste 20 seconds per lockup than 4 days of work to pay off the stolen bike.

I took a look through the campus police report book once and saw that, besides "drunk and disorderly " , the most common item was bike thefts, and many of the report times were around noon, when students would park outside the campus hall to get lunch.

Bike+public place with lots of traffic+no lock = certain theft.

chances are small, but if a serious bike thief happens upon your bike locked with a cable, and its something he thinks he wants it'll be gone.
you'll be fine with a cable till it gets stolen, you know what i mean?

Here bikes are extremely safe. Bike theft is pretty rare and i could probably never lock up. I know of guys that leave their NJS whips unlocked outside their work all day long. There's a shop where about 4 riders work..anytime of the day you can go see 3 or 4 sick rides unlocked there. The other day i walked past there on my way somewhere. Just to look at the bikes right..there was two NJS framesets sitting outside there with their bikes. Totally safe.

Im so paranoid about someday moving back to the states. Ill probably use 8 locks if i go back to CA.

If the bike is going to be out of my sight for a second I lock it. My bike lives inside at my work, but even then I lock the rear wheel to the frame in case someone decides to get cute.

I need to look into a real lock. This thread makes me afraid.

A lot of signposts have breakaway bolts or rivets just above the sidewalk. It's in case they get bent or knocked over; the public works people don't have to dig them out and repour the concrete. So no, you're not just paranoid.