When Things Wear Out

Welp, I need a lock. Here's what happened - over the last few years I've been rocking an OnGuard Pitbull in Medium (they've since drastically updated their product line). It's the lock featured in damn near every picture of my bike I've ever put on this block, mild-mannered, doing it's job without drawing attention to itself. Considering the thing has worn out before someone successfully managed to get through it and steal my bike, I'm considering framing it.

Here it is, faithfully securing my steed.

For my needs, it was the perfect U-Lock, an ideal combination of size, weight, and security. But it lived a long, brutal life. It's been hot, cold, wet, blasted with dusty wind, and dragged through every conceivable condition and it's just kept on trucking until this past week. I was out social riding, like you do, when suddenly the rotating plastic dust cover bit suddenly decided it no longer wanted to rotate. Meaning I couldn't put the key in the lock. I'm just really glad it wasn't locking my bike to something at the time.

My poor, jacked up bike lock.

I spent a while fucking about with it, and handed it to a friend to have a try. His solution was to smash it on the ground until the plastic covering the shackle came off. So it works now, sort of. It locks. But I probably should replace it, and I haven't lock shopped in a really long time.

Still faithfully limping along

When lock shopping, let's face it, the array of choices is dizzying. Being that I live in a metropolitan area with a lot of bikes, we also have a lot of bike theft. So cable locks are laughably inadequate. I need either a U-Lock or a chain and I'm not sure which direction to go. The newer version of the lock I had is now goofy looking as hell:

I'm also not sure what the difference is between this one and their "Brute" series, which apparently features the same locking mechanism but costs $25 more. 

There's also multiple brands! Kryptonite has an excellent reputation, as do Abus (though I know next to nothing about their products). While I enjoy getting new stuff, the act of locking up my bike is such a part of my routine that it's almost irritating to have to change it up. So, I'm looking for a lock that's a good combination of weight, security, price, and durability. So I guess, into the depths of Amazon product reviews I go!