Drainpipes; road signs; other bikes; small dogs. All have been used to chain bikes to in the hope that when you return it will still be there. Apart from just wondering if there will be any bike racks at all, I've never really given much thought to the lump of metal in which so much trust is placed.

And yet the Design Against Crime Research Centre informs me that in many cases of bicycle theft it is these very stands that have made the theft of your bike easier. Which brings us neatly round to DAC's Bikeoff scheme turning its hand to a reinvention of the wheel - lumps of metal may never be the same again.

With 408,000 bike stolen in the UK last year this is no small matter, and attempts to lower this number can only be applauded and supported. But how on earth can the design of the rack make such a difference?

It appears that it is all in how we approach locking up our bikes. The most common method involves simply attaching a chain or lock around the top tube and secured to your rack of choice. This immediately opens up opportunities to thieving little toe-rags, most commonly being able to lever open that chain or lock. While loosely attached the bike frame itself can be used to achieve this.

The new designs aim to eliminate this problem with designs that almost force riders to chain a bike in a more secure manner, without them even realising it. At the same time the designs can limit the opportunities for leverage, and one design tries to stop another common method of theft: striking a lock against a hard surface in order to break it open.

As a final step the stands have also been aesthetically designed. They look good, perhaps because they look different, and can actually go some way to enhancing the visual impact of a row of bike stands.

With these high aims and claims the Bikeoff scheme has put a number of prototype stands in place with the help of Camden Council, Transport for London and the Metropolitan police so citycycling went to compare the practice with the rhetoric...