I can imagine that if you do that sort of thing around a very busy object, such as a station or a hotspot for tourists, then the city authorities will step in.

I can imagine that if you do that sort of thing around a very busy object, such as a station or a hotspot for tourists, then the city authorities will step in. But if you chain it to a post somewhere in a quiet part of town, or if there are already a thousand bikes chained there, they're not going to throw a fuss.