Design can not only be used to make products more theft-proof directly, it can also be a way of improving a security measure. Bike lock- up stands have become more secure through observation of how people use them, how criminals abuse them and how locking could be made easier.
80,000 bikes were stolen in London during 2005/06. 17% of cyclists have had a bike stolen and 24% of those stopped cycling altogether.
The Bikeoff Research Initiative was set up in January 2004 by the Design Against Crime Research Centre at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design to explore how the design of cycling related objects and environments could reduce the risk of theft and promote cycling.
Through practice-based design research Bikeoff aimed to catalyse, and in some cases create, cycling products and services that consider users but also abusers (vandals and thieves) and mis-users.
Know your enemy: abuser-centred design
First, the team talked to police specialists in bike crime to identify common bike theft perpetrator techniques:
- Lifting: If your bike is chained to a sign post, thieves can lift it and the chain up and over the top of the post.
- Levering: Thieves can insert tools between the bike, lock and stand to lever the lock apart. Or they may use the bike itself as a lever by rotating it against the stand. If it breaks before the lock, what do they care? It’s not their bike.
- Striking: If your lock rests on the ground thieves can strike against it with a hammer or chisel.
- Cutting: Bolt cutters of hack saws can cut through bike chains or locks.
- Unbolting: If you lock your bike by the wheel alone it can be unbolted from the rest of the frame.
- Picking: Locks can be broken open.
Facts as inspiration
They also reviewed the cycle parking at a theft ‘hot spot’ which just happened to be on their doorstep, outside Central Saint Martins Southampton Row buildings. They watched how 8,500 cyclists locked their bikes. They saw what was good and what was bad about the current facilities and found out that
- 75% of site users rode bikes with a standard diamond frame
- 87% used only one lock
- 31% locked the front wheel
- 22%locked the back wheel
- 19% locked the bike frame only
The design brief
From watching cyclists try to protect their bikes by locking them onto stands and learning how bike thieves might break them away, a set of key design priorities emerged. They needed to
- Reduce opportunities for insecure locking practice
- Support the bike from falling and the front wheel from falling to the side
- Increase security for people using just one lock
- Relocate long-stay parking to off-street sites
The results
Designers worked with a manufacturer to produce a range of bike stand designs that were less prone to crime. With Broxap they came up with three new bike parking stands that are designed to be
- Easy to use for a diverse range of bike types
- Easy to install
- Easy to maintain
- Competitively priced
The caMden stands, as they were called, named for their distinctive M shape, promote more secure locking because they make it easier for cyclists to keep bicycles upright and to lock both wheels and the frame.
The stands have been tested on the street in Camden and the hundreds of cyclists that used them showed that all three designs made them lock their bikes more securely, thus reducing the risk of theft.
Adam Thorpe and Lorraine Gamman picked up the 2007 ‘Best Cycling Initiative’ at the London Sustainable Transport Awards, which recognised the Bikeoff team for ‘... leading the world in bringing new thinking and international best practice to London’s cycle parking – showing the importance of context in design, both to reduce crime/theft and to enhance the environment.’
The end results
The M stand design is made from galvanised steel tube 48mm thick and designed for short-stay parking. Its M design denies cyclists the opportunity to lock the top tube of their bike frame to the stand, the bike cannot be levered against the stand to break the lock and the centre section of the M is high enough to ensure locks cannot touch the ground and be broken by striking.
An offset version of the M stand encloses the front wheel of the bike to stop it from falling. A butterfly shaped stand encloses the front wheel while the central section supports the bicycle frame and promotes safer locking.