Livre d'Or

*nods* On the subject of locks, I use the loop lock on my front tire (which is on a quick release) and loop it into the D-lock, which goes around the frame and the rear tire. Someone once stole my front tire by cutting the loop lock (with wirecutters, they were prepared), but they didn't get the frame and the rear tire, so I was pretty happy.

I do take your point about the cycling infrastructure differential. Everyone in Japan bikes and almost no one wears helmets, but that's because bikes and pedestrians are unquestionably the priority traffic, not cars. (Though weirdly, penalties for drivers of cars hitting cyclists are often quite weak.) I actually learned to bike in Japan and I think nothing of not wearing a helmet here, but I would be really afraid to do the same in the Bay Area.