I typically lock my front wheel and frame to a post with a U-lock. I have a QR rear wheel, but I don’t typically lock it with a krypto-cable (attached to the lock, which I own) unless I’m feeling really paranoid.

I don’t leave my bike overnight near train stations if I can avoid it. In the suburbs, near a bus stop, sure, because the theft risk is lower.

Since I have not used the bike since summer, the Bic pen thing has not been an issue, but I need to ship it back for a new one soon.

I generally have an intentionally fairly shitty bike (secondhand, around $100-$150 seems to be normal for me), so I figure it’s not a huge theft target. I also don’t tend to leave it out of sight for long — I ride more for pleasure than commuting or anything, so the bike might stand outside a shop for 15 minutes but it won’t stand on the street for 8 hours or anything.

I usually get something kinda halfway decent, bike-lock wise, but not a Kryptonite. My last lock was a pseudo-Kryptonite (solid metal D-shaped, but a different brand) and the one before that was some kind of chain type lock, I forget what.

I put the lock through the front wheel and the triangle of the frame, and attach it to some relatively permanent object: bike rack, fence, at a pinch a tree or rubbish bin.

My bike’s never been stolen, but I attribute that more to the fact that I don’t ride it much and don’t leave it standing around for long and never at night, than to the fact that I lock it well.

Seriously, I always just used a Steel Cable or Chain lock as Theft isn’t real prevalent here and there are lots of other unlocked bicycles around.

As I was once told, Any lock can eventually be defeated, the trick is to make yours a less inviting than every else.

When I was riding at UIUC, I locked up with a thick kryptonite cable, through the frame, rack, and front wheel. There were enough unlocked bikes (and always enough people around) that no one bothered with the locked bikes, if the lock was worthwhile at all.

I’ve never used a U-Lock, and I don’t think I would, even if I had one: as the article mentions, it’s too bulky to carry around.

I did take my bike seat with me when I used to park outside of the main campus areas: it stayed a quickrelease because I wanted to be able to put it on/off when packing for mountain biking trips, rather than an allen wrench.

However, in general the strategy seems sound, it’s just not something I’ve ever found myself in need of.