I agree about its design, but it's not necessarily designed to lock the bike to. It's pretty standard in some European countries to simply immobilise the bike

I agree about its design, but it's not necessarily designed to lock the bike to. It's pretty standard in some European countries to simply immobilise the bike by locking its rear wheel to the frame (some bikes come with a simple integral lock for this purpose). This absolutely wouldn't prevent many modes of theft - but in some places, bike theft isn't such a major industry as it seems to be (anecdotally) in some cities (and in the US).