The Shape of Future Bike Racks

East Lansing may have artsy bike racks, but Singapore's got a new crop of simple yet functional ones.

On November 23, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) announced three initiatives aimed at combatting bike theft: (1) placement of signage near bicycle racks to raise awareness of theft risk, (2) the launch of an enhanced bicycle labeling system, and (3) the pilot of a new bicycle rack, the Lock Lah.

Available at nine locations across the island as of November 7, Lock Lah's innovative design includes a bay that protects a bike's front wheel from the prying hands of would-be wheel thieves and a lengthy and laddered loop to which a cyclist can lock the rear wheel and frame. A still captured from the video available here gives you the idea:

Conceived by an Indonesian team—LASALLE College of Arts students Joanna Christie Lie and Yanti Agustin and Toyota technician Inigo—the Lock Lah won the 2013 Bicycle Bay Design Competition organized by the SPF and NCPC. The trio received S$10,000 (about $7,670) for their effort, but the real reward had to be seeing the design fabricated and installed as part of Singapore's anti-theft campaign.