I can still call it N+1 because I haven't actually ordered it yet 
(I am waiting for the Sabbath dealer to get back to me after sending in my measurements).
I actually already have one of those very thin cable combination ones with the alarm on it, I have used that to lock my Fuji up at cafe's and pubs so far. But it would be so quick to snip the cable and make off with the bike that I don't rate my chances of getting out there to grab it before they rode off. I was wondering about additionally deploying a Sneaky Tactic like a reusable cable tie round the rear wheel and frame that they might not even notice until they tried to ride off ....
I am planning on insuring my new bike, but the cover would only be valid if I was using a gold standard (soldsecure) lock around a solid fixed object. This might even preclude the use of the small sized Krytonite as that wont go round many posts aswell as the frame.
Is this using a cycle specific insurance policy that demands a certain standard of lock?
I changed to M&S for 2 reasons - they cover bikes up to £4K in value as standard (when we got the tandem, I nearly had a heart attack at the premium Cycle Guard wanted to charge us!) and they don't make any specific demands on the level of lock (I use a cheap ABUS cable lock on audax rides). Here in London, I wouldn't dream of locking up a bike with the cable lock - but there is a very high chance of someone being around with bolt croppers. I also would not leave computer, lights, Carradice etc. on the bike in the central London - but outside a cafe, where I was only going to be for twenty minutes and could see the bike from the window, I would leave them on.
It's a balance of the risks - outside a cafe somewhere, what are the chances that a person is going to walk past equipped with bolt croppers? There's plenty of other cyclists around, and it's usually possible to position the bike so you can see it from the window.
It is more about stopping the opportunist. Most bike thiefs will operate in specific areas, at specific times when they know there is opportunity to steal bikes - unless they are looking through the AUK calendar and cross-referencing route sheets for controls and times, then it would be unlikely that a bike thief would happen to be in the area where there are 20-30 nice shiny bikes at one time.
However, my experiences and thoughts are only from the three 200km rides I have done so far - I might carry a bigger lock if I were planning on sleeping somewhere for a couple of hours? Or I might not. At the end of the day, I have to take M&S at their word (I did ask specifically if there was any requirement for the quality of the lock and they said no, as long as it was locked to something immovable).
