I bought a seat bag over the weekend and decided to go on a "lighter" bike ride, which means that I did not have my pannier on my rear rack. My pannier has a special spot for U-Locks, but since I didn't have the pannier I used a bungee and secured my U-lock along with my 4' cable (neatly folded) onto my rear rack. I was at a stop light (I was about to cross a 5 lane busy street), and when the light turned green I peddled into the intersection and suddenly I couldn't pedal and my bike stopped in the intersection. I quickly jumped off, saw my U-lock on the ground, picked it along with my bike up and ran to the sidewalk. I saw that one end of the bungee cord was hanging down and wrapped around my rear sprocket (between all the gears in the back) at least 2 full revolutions and the other end was hooked to the rear rack. Despite getting my hands greasy, I carefully unwound the mess, tossed the bungee (the metal hooked end was totally straight!). I lost my cable lock somewhere along my route. I rode slowly, shifting all my gears from throughout the range to make sure everything was fine. I re-rode my route to see if I could find my cable and I didn't. Oh well. I ended up putting my U-lock in the deep back pocket of my Jersey/Jacket and made it home.
My bike is scheduled to get new brakes/adjustment this Friday so I'll have them check things on the rear of the bike to make sure it's all fine.
So, I have to think of a better way to carry my locks. I know Kryptonite has mounting brackets. I now have 2 bottle cages on my bike, so not sure where it would go. If I'm not going to stop on a ride and don't need to lock it, then I don't take the lock, but today I knew I was going somewhere where I'd need a lock.
Thanks.