I gave up the car and took up cycling literally to stay alive. My profession, as a writer, involves much sitting down for long stretches, and I was putting on weight at a rate that concerned my physician. So I took up bicycling and haven't looked back.
Talking about my ride-in-town-clothes bike:
(The learning curve in order to develop such elaborate cycle security measures would be a bit off-putting to me though.)
No, you're missing the point. Bikes of the class that encourage riding in street clothes, like Dutch city bikes, come with security built in, the same way they come with mudguards, chain guards, a rack, a stand, a hub gearbox, platform pedals, an ergonomic saddle, all fitted as standard. The ring lock is as much part of the irreducible minimum city bike as all the other "comfort" facilities". It works very quickly, much more quickly than a curly cable or a U-lock. It's just that Dan making a meal of his bike security recently which gives you the idea there's something elaborate about it; there isn't.
The novel but very effective Swiss n'lock stem lock (more precisely, steering tube unlock) I now have on my bike I fitted to save me bending over even as far as a ring lock or a U-lock requires. It cost €9 more than I paid for my Abus Granit 54X U-lock. It's about twice the price of a mid price ringlock.
There is nothing elaborate to fitting it. It fits like any stem.
There's no learning curve with using either a ring lock or the n'lock. You turn the key and take it away with you, just like a car.
So, I have identified a potential desire for a town bike, with fat tyres, platform pedals, mudguards, Rohloff (of course!), chain guard or belt drive, lighting, luggage carrying capability, and so on. But then again, what about a folder? That would enable me to combine utility cycling with mechanised transport for ventures further afield, and without the need to leave it unattended and therefore security! Or what about trying to get Mrs Relayer on the back of a tandem? LOL And so it goes on .. 
The truth is, I ride one bike at a time. The other bikes that I haven't given away or sold are in fact very similar to the Utopia Kranich I ride daily, also fully trimmed Dutch city bikes with hub gearboxes and sporting pretensions. (Utopia is a German custom bike maker, but the frame of the 1936 Locomotief Crossframe Deluxe that they developed for the Kranich is Dutch, and the modern balloon-capable frame is built for them by Van Raam in The Netherlands.) But those spare bikes aren't in the stables out the back or in the garden shed, they're in the loft, three floors up because it is dry and heated with the house.
I have willpower. I consider buying a new bike only once a year. (Well, okay, at most twice a year.) I'll have you know that this is a feat more difficult than eating only one peanut.
That's essentially what I'm doing on the Thorn conference. The Raven Tour (or even maybe the Sport Tour -- I've had good luck with a Trek on which the designer missed the aim of a Dutch city bike by a mile, which has geometry pretty close to making it an ali Thorn Raven Sport Tour, but on the other hand I'm getting on a bit for nervous, nippy bikes) is perpetually on my shortlist. But, in practice even more significantly, Andy Blance is a Calvinist when it comes to specifying components: he always knows the best components that last the longest for the least money; I've never seen him make a fashion victim choice, or fit a boutique part when a common, good-vslue commercial part would do the job better. So I never buy a component without first checking to see if Mr Blance either specifies it or has an opinion on it.
Every year near Christmas I consider what's available and make a shortlist. What has actually ended up on my shortlist for several years now is
-- the Thorn Raven, already mentioned, because it is unlikely that I will ever make any tour longer than a couple of days, and that a credit card tour for sure, as I have no patience with camping and need electricity to charge my comms equipment; the reason I haven't bought a Raven is that I'm an artist and I know I'll wince every time I see welded tubes rather than brazed or lugged ones;
http://www.sjscycles.com/thornpdf/ThornRavenTourBroHiRes.pdf-- a Utopia Phoenix semi-recumbent, more than a little unsuitable to the hills of West Cork, not to mention the steep hill on which I live, but included for the novelty; this one has been on my list since it was the Scooterbike, before Utopia took it over and reengineered it, simply because it is different (I did briefly own a Giant Revive but it went because at the time I was clearing out all my derailleur bikes in favour of hub gearboxes;
http://www.google.com/search?q=Giant+Revive&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvnsfd&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=lcvlT_3MK5SChQeV8c3CCQ&ved=0CFgQsAQ ); I haven't bought a Phoenix either because it would be a silly bike in my surroundings, and it is WELDED;
http://www.utopia-fahrrad.de/Fahrrad_Html/Kapitel_Html/84_Phoenix_107.html-- a Utopia Kranich, in sunflower yellow or mellon yellow;
http://www.utopia-fahrrad.de/Fahrrad_Html/Kapitel_Html/80_Kranich_103.htmlDuh. I already have a Utopia Kranich, in green with gold coach lines. Mine has the perfect spec for me (very progressive rim hydraulics instead of disc brakes, Rohloff, fattest possible Big Apples, all components triple-tested and mainly German). There is no way to justify a second one, merely in a different colour.
-- I used to have the Pedersen on my shortlist but the Kranich was specifically chosen for its low stepover, and the one thing that distinguishes the Pedersen is the highest standover of any current bike; I'm not sure it will be practical in my everyday use;
http://www.pedersen.info/en/Pedersen_en/Models.htmlI love cycling, but I feel there is still an ocean of truth out there waiting for me, I don't think it's a hierarchy but there are gaps to fill in; and I definitely need more bikes, and storage for same, to get to cycling utopia 
There may be "an ocean of truth out there"; there usually is. But I'm not sure that, at the stage of cycling the people on this conference have reached, it can still be mechanical. Once you have a top bike, like a Thorn Raven, widely acknowledged as the best for purpose or best in class or, as in the case of my Kranich, with what's "best" about it not even specified because insiders are supposed to know, there essentially isn't anywhere for you to go, except maybe to some novelty like a recumbent or a folder. Sure, a guy like Dan, who bought the derailleur version of his Thorn fancy, can aspire to a Rohloff, or maybe a Rohloff as well. But we hear from the fellow with the two beautiful identical tandems that they ride the Rohloff one by preference and keep the derailleur-equipped one as a spare; we hear from a regular that he's thinking of selling his Look. In fact, I'm surprised not to hear more confessions like mine, that somebody made a shortlist and found at or near the top of it... a bike that he already owns!
Still, if making a shortlist keeps you out of the pub...
Andre Jute
