This secure bike rack was recently pitched on Dragon's Den (think Shark Tank):

https://nextgenbikeracks.com/nextgenbikeracks.pdf

I don't see how if you cut the U-lock, you can't then just remove the entire bike easily.

Other than directly attacking the U-Lock, it looks like you could cut/remove the seatpost, remove the rear wheel and keep the front wheel & frame.

Furthermore, the front shields are virtually guaranteed to be inadequate for some users. To fit close enough to the fork, you have to design around a particular bike. Anything that fits a front suspension 2+" MTB fork will be far to wide to protect a narrow fork road bike, and vice versa.

Seems silly to me. It's a waste of space. Only allowing a handful of bikes to be stored where before you could park many more. Not only that, but you only need one lock to properly lock a bike. You just run a cable through the front wheel and into the lock. Even if you don't use a cable you still only need 2 locks. Then you have to ask how weatherproof is it? A simple bike rack can last decades. This I would be surprised if it lasted more than a few years.

waste of space

Actual Locker, in out of the weather, would be more straightforward.

You all would complain if someone gave you a hundred dollar bill.

this is how i like it:

Wold not work for bikes with rear racks.

- Andy

More clever than I was expecting, but in terms of cost per utility, not overly convinced.

and that hundred dollar bill is probably a superdollar.

1) loosen seat clamp (esp. easy if it's QR)
2) slightly lift bike while the seat post slides down into frame an inch or so
3) undo rear wheel QR and drop rear wheel out of dropouts/chain so you can pull it back and lift it up
4) lift U-lock and bar releasing the seat of the bike
5) make off with all of the bike except for the rear wheel (but the loops holding the U-lock to the bar look rather flimsy - so cut these if you also want to take the wheel/U-lock with you and cut the lock later at your convenience)

In areas with strong concerns about theft I'd be much more assured by the type of lockers used in our local transit stations. Each rectangular locker holds two bikes in triangular spaces. The locker doors have small holes so you can see if a locker is occupied but it's very hard to see details that would let you determine the value of the bike inside. They keep the bike both secure and sheltered and also let you secure some additional personal belongings as well as things attached to the bike (lights, cyclometer, bags, etc.). Credit card activated, they charge 3 cents/hour for parking.

Both this design and the lockers have issues with some non-traditional bike designs, but the lockers appear to be more accommodating than this rack design. The lockers mainly have issues with bikes that are too long to fit (tandems, some recumbents, some cargo bikes, etc.), or too tall (ordinaries, tall bikes, etc.)

It's still only as good as the u-lock is, how is that an improvement?

Set that up, loaded with bikes, in Manhattan for a week. Come back a week later it will look like a twisted piece of modern art with no bikes left. That's if the metal scrappers don't take the rack too!

Won't fit with my front rack.

Probable can't lock it with my back rack.

Certainly can't lock it with my kids seat.

I called a store manager out once when I could not lock my bike at the store with woefully inadequate racks. I was tired and cranky and needed stuff for dinner, so he got an earful. Showed him the problem, told him I will not be returning until it was fixed. I never did go back anyway. Easier to shop a bit further away with racks I knew worked.