In my opinion, a strong U-lock is the best.
I always used a heavy, plastic-covered wire loop and a heavy padlock.
One of my neighbours used to ride a decrepit. rusty old bike to the station every day and locked it with an ordinary chain and a padlock. One night he came home and found that somebody had stolen his lock and chain but had left the bike. I thought the thief had a good sense of their relative value.
Once at university, I saw a rather nice bicycle locked to a post with a heavy chain and padlock. Unfortunately, the owner had only passed the chain through the front wheel. When I passed by again about an hour later, I saw that someone had unbolted the front wheel and walked off with the rest of the bicycle, leaving the front wheel still chained to the post. Or maybe the thief brought his own front wheel and rode off.
A nasty surprise for somebody after class. Stil, if he planted the wheel in the back garden, fertilized it, watered it, and was patient, maybe he could have grown a whole new bike.
I hoped at the time that the whole thing was just a prank by the bike owner's friends, because there was indeed something comical about only a wheel being chained to the post. But I never found out what the story was.
Do you have a bicycle orchard, Didge? It sounds like a good way to make money.
No, but we have a few old bikes (a tandem and a pair of racing bikes) that we can no longer ride. I must try and find them a new home. They fret so when they can't get out on the road.
Give them to sons, daughters, grandchildren?
It's a good idea but none have been interested. I might stick them out on the footpath with a "Free to a good home" sticker and see what happens.
Well, they will probably disappear, but you will have no guarantee about the good home.
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