Originally Posted by
Steve M
They can't define it, but they know it when they see it!
I was going to say the same thing. Locking a bike to itself, such that it can't be ridden off, isn't going to be perfect, but it at least prevents someone that might be tempted to just hop on and ride off into the sunset. I heard from an insurance agent once that supposedly 1/3 of all cars that are stolen are taken just because the thief needed to get a ride somewhere. This is probably outdated by a few decades at this point, but back in the day, when cars were more-easily hotwired, I can see this having been the case. A completely unlocked bike is practically an open invitation for someone to hop on and take it a few blocks away to where they need to go rather than walk. That kind of thinking is hard to comprehend for those of us that don't steal things and think it's wrong, but not everyone thinks that way.
A lot of bike theft is opportunistic bike theft and not part or parcel of any interest in permanent material gain from possession or fencing of the stolen bike, with easy targets being more subject to theft than hardened targets.
A lot of bike thefts in Scandinavia seem to be done as matter of only taking temporary possession of the stolen bike for use (as a means of faster transport at a particular moment) and then tossing/abandoning the bike after momentary use. This kind of thing can account for a huge proportion of the bike thefts that happen around schools and recreational/entertainment facilities.
Whether having a bike unlocked in a locked bicycle/storage room is to be considered reasonably safeguarded can vary. Unlocked bicycle in a shared, locked bike room may well be considered reasonably safeguarded in an expensive 50-unit doorman coop building on the UES of Manhattan or in a mid-range 50-unit Stockholm coop building full of young, middle income, university-educated professionals with pre-teen kids; but then it may not be considered so in a 30-unit building in a poor section of New Orleans or some other place.