Not really sure, I had it laying around for small electronics projects. Most solder should work. The heat was no problem, but it does take a steady hand to ensure you don't melt/scratch the paint on your bike.

I use the Sheldon method. I do not carry a separate lock for the front wheel. It takes about 5 seconds to take the front wheel off, so that's what I do and lock it with the rest using the same lock; thus eliminating the need to carry around a second lock. Maybe someday I'll get one of those fancy phones with a camera and I'll take a picture.

Sheldon the back wheel. Pitlock on the front.

I go with # 1 and 4. U-Lock thru the rear wheel and around the seatpost to a parking meter. If it's unattended and out of sight (but I generally keep it in sight) for just a few moments. Anything longer and the bike stays with me or is indoors. If my bike isn't welcome, neither am I. Videos I've seen, you could put 3 locks (of differing types) on a bike and it would take an average person about 1.5-2 minutes to learn, practice and master the methods proficiently enough of picking each type of lock, so 10 min to 1+ hours, you've probably spotted a real thief enough time to not only get thru the 2 or 3 locks, but get an 8 minute head start to get away. In 8 minutes, they are out of sight, pick a direction they went too, even if you could get in a car to find them.

Like these?

https://www.amazon.com/OnGuard-Mastif.../dp/B00206H7NU
https://www.rei.com/product/731893?pr...:referralID=NA

Easy picks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAGbXyNibgM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojKXychqYHc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvjp0qGPBi4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2vLtpVPqhI

I figure a $ 10-15 U-lock is just as good as the higher dollar ones based on the videos ? Sad part, 1st time I tried picking my own lock, it took me 7 seconds and the guy in the video took about 4 to pick it, actual/real time and wasn't explaining the process in a tutorial, when he had the tools in hand(s). Thieves must really be having a good laugh at the expense of bike owners ? Several locks and the thief is probably thinking you're challenging and betting whether he can get it done before you buy your Starbuck's caramel venti frappucino ? Everyone with a bike has every right to harbor feelings of paranoia. I do, I just hope I catch the thief in the event it happens and do it to him while he's caught off guard and in a compromising position so I can get in as many free shots. If he still gets up & kicks my butt and takes the bike, more power to him. But if he's left to my mercy, there aren't enough innocent bystanders around to pull me off of him should I go off that way. The other option, detain until the police get there and let that run it's course.

I posted the video links, not so much that anyone would take up bike theft as a hobby, just warning all of what we're really up against.

The whole "open a krypt u lock with a BIC pen" was long time ago. They changed it so its not the cylinder key thing anymore.

I understand that, but you can still get the U-lock with the cylinder key style just the same. The thing is that some of the bic style pens are made in different circumferences and some don't work and in that regard are probably better than the traditional key style lock ? The thief has to get the right bic pen size. The traditional key style lock that's a hair pin and a pick tool from being a theft. Some of those videos were 20 seconds of actual time picking the lock. A combination lock pick, that's a visual and audible method that is just as quick as the traditional key. So throw 3 locks on your bike, 2 U-locks and a cable with a combination or traditional key lock and I figure the thief takes 2 minutes if they pause in between the locks ? Sure the thief had to work a little more, but lock a bike up on the apartment patio or a sidewalk bike parking area and it takes a thief no time at all to get a bike with the time available. With a single lock, go into a convenience store and take a little longer to decide whether a soda or sport drink is what you want, then get behind a few customers at the register and the bike is gone when you come out, especially if the thief watches the store for cyclists. It could happen in broad day light. I know that's paranoid, yet possible.

I tried the bic pen method on my Kryptonite Evolution 4 and I cant even remotely come close to getting a pen in the key way, its way too narrower (only slight bigger around than the key).
Looking at the tumbler design I'd be surprised if some one could pick it in the streets in under 5 mins even with lots practice. The pins appear to be on the top and bottom of the cylinder and the tension wrench would need to be inserted the full length of the key way due to the fact that each of the tumblers seems to be separate piece.

Add to the fact that I generally lock my bike to crowded bike racks with the top of the lock facing down and in, they wouldn't have any easy time getting a good angle to pick the lock in the first place.

//of course my mechanical break down of the internals could be completely wrong being that I didnt feel like cracking it open to examine how it worked and just examined it externally.

That's why G*d made powdercoat.

pretty much Sheldon's method but with both wheels locked together

- remove front wheel
- position bike against pole
--------none drive side
--------crank facing forward
- position front wheel on non-drive side
------- between non-drive crank and frame
-------- front rim just crosses with rear rim
Apply mini U-lock where the two wheels meet

I disassemble my bike to components and put them in a heavy duty waterproof sack, then hoist it up into a nearby tree. It works pretty well but I hear in some bigger cities the thieves are learning to climb trees.

Yup, exactly what I do.

Why would you think that someone couldn't pick a keyed lock in the street in under 5 minutes ? The videos show these people doing it in under a minute and a video longer than a minute but less than 5 minutes, they were narrating the video while they were picking that lock. The locks that get picked by a bic pen, those videos indicate that a theft in the street or elsewhere is just as quick as if one had the actual key for it. Even if it took them 5 minutes, just yesterday, I locked my bike up on a rack and was gone for 20-30 minutes in an Apple computer store. And just from observation, the area had high pedestrian traffic, Nobody there long enough to care about whether anyone was locking their bike up or picking a lock. Just trying to get my bike in and out of the rack area was a chore, I had no problem rotating the lock to get a better angle on it and that was with the key.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y2TGNbLDMg

I assume most bike thieves aren't smart enough / skilled enough to pick locks quickly and efficiently.

If they were, they'd have jobs.

This of course excludes the "pro" bike thieves, but you're not really going to stop them anyway.

exactly. we're just trying to stop the local crack head from snatching our wheels

Or local hood rat with a pair of bolt cutters.

Again, not the types with the mental acuity to learn how to reverse-pick a schlage sc4 keyway.

So many lock threads today. I'm about to order a OnGuard5018 to go from back wheel to frame to object. On Guard STD 5001 U-Lock to go from Front wheel to frame. And OnGuard pitbull mini ulock and cable to go from rear wheel to front wheel. I don't even want to think about what a pain its going to be to secure all these locks, and I'm hoping a theif wont want to think about what a pain it will be to cut them all.

Not all locks are built and designed the same. Different tumbler designs increase the difficulty of picking a lock. If you noticed in the videos that where posted the guy picked one lock in a matter of seconds, and spent several minutes on the next lock. It still took him several minutes to rake the lock open under optimal circumstances, and Im sure he had plenty of practice before he started filming too.

When I lock my bike up I make sure to take up as much space within the lock as possible so that it cant be rotated and more importantly so someone cant pop it open with a bottle jack.