I remember when my wife and I moved from one apartment to another, I had my bike locked to the balcony, and for some god only knows reason, she packed the keys to the locks! I had 'no choice' but to go out and but a Gerber multi tool for almost $100 that I had been eying for a few months, and then she apologized for making me buy such a thing. (It was one of those 'kryptonite' chains, not the u bolts, and it took about half an hour or so with the tool to 'saw' off the other plastic, then untwist part so the braids were seperate and then the wire cutters in the knife were easily able to eliminate the braids. )