In Greater London last year, around 80,000 bicycles were stolen and fewer than 5 per cent of these were returned to their owners. Across the UK, half a million bikes, with a value of more than £113m are stolen every year, according to Halifax General Insurance.
Now, a Bloomsbury-based design project at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design on Southampton Row, is hoping to crack the problem. The Design Against Crime Initiative started to devise thief-proof parking facilities for bikes back in July 2005. Now, after exhaustive research and experimenting, the team is about to reveal the fruit of their labours.
The ‘Holborn Gateway Secure Bicycle Parking Research Project’, is funded by Transport for London and Camden Borough Council. To test their weird and wonderful ideas, the researchers have created a secure cycle bay in front of the college, a known ‘hot spot’ for bicycle theft according to the Met police. Over the course of the project, research fellow Adam Thorpe and his team have studied footage of thieves in action to expose the weaknesses in existing security models.
During the design process, the team called on several groups for their expert opinions. On Friday 9th February, members of the Camden Cycling Campaign visited the college to test the prototype stands armed with bikes of all shapes and sizes.
Most of the designs aim to protect bikes which only have one lock because very few cyclists use multiple devices. By providing additional protection for at least one of the wheels, these avant-garde stands can delay thieves long enough to save your bike. One prototype stand includes an “n”-shape loop which cyclists can squeeze their front wheel into.
Another model, which sports large dangling chains, is proving a particular hit with the larger wheeled style of bike. Crucially, the chains secure both wheels, and pass through the D-lock, which secures the frame to the stand. If he has any sense the thief will give up before he even opens his tool bag.
According to TFL, over 300,000 cycle trips are made in the capital every day but security remains one of the major turn offs. In a drive to improve the situation, several borough councils have already joined forces with TFL to install 10,000 on-street parking spaces.
But as the thieves grow in confidence, the Design Against Crime Initiative is hoping to give cyclists the upper hand.
In the meantime, TFL offers cyclists a number of tips to avoid bike theft in the capital:
- If you leave your bike in a public space, make sure it is left somewhere where everyone can see it – people will also see if someone is trying to steal it.
- Don’t leave your bike in the same place every day. It will be noticed.
- Make sure the lock catches the bike frame as well as the wheel and the post. If it only goes through the wheel a thief may steal the bike and leave the wheel behind. Lock both wheels in this way.
- Use a bike stand if there is one. Grills and gates can be cut with bolt cutters and if you lock up to a short post, determined thieves may unbolt the sign and lift the bike off the post
- Locks can be picked, so face the lock to the ground so it can’t easily be turned upwards for picking.
- Make it impossible for a thief to smash the lock open: Fill the D part of a lock with as much of the bike as possible and never leave the lock lying on the pavement, where it could be sledge hammered!
- Take with you any items that can be removed without tools – wheels, lights, pump, computer, panniers, seat post and saddle.
Cyclists are also advised to register their bike model, make and frame number with the Immobilise National Property Register,
www.immobilise.com. Without this information, the police don’t stand a chance of recovering your bike.
