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By Nathaniel Salzman Best of the Web, TechnicalMarch 21, 2013

Kickstart it: GPS Tracking for Your Stolen Bike

bikespike

There are some interesting intersections between the worlds of bicycles, motorcycles, cars and scooters. A great many products and services intended for one can easily be used by the other. In particular, a lot of bicycle-friendly tech and accessories can be just as useful on a scooter. For example, take this GPS tracker currently seeking funding on Kickstarter: the BikeSpike.

bikespike-1

The concept is pretty straightforward. Disguise a mobile network-enabled GPS locater with built in accelerometer tech as a nondescript water bottle holder. Charge it, stick it on your bike, register it with your mobile phone and a whole world of security options open up to you. Once armed, if the unit changes locations, you get an alert and are able to take action both social and law enforcement related, hopefully recovering your stolen two-wheeler. Tucked away discretely in a scooter’s under-seat storage or glove box, the BikeSpike could do the same for a scooter.

Theft recovery is just one of the BikeSpike’s interesting features. Using its three-axis accelerometer, the BikeSpike would be able to detect a crash or topple, alerting key people on your contact list that you might need help. Granted, you probably want to leave your mother off of that notification list, but having familiar help on the way should the worst happen has some significant appeal. Additionally, it features some bicycle specific features like incline and calories burned. It’d be pretty interesting, actually, to see how many calories my Elite 250 is burning while hauling me around Chicago.

bikespike-2

So while not a full-fledged product yet, the BikeSpike has definitely got potential. The creators are hoping to raise $150,000. A pledge of $149 gets you a BikeSpike unit plus a 12-month data plan. Not a bad deal, frankly. But unless they meet that $150k goal before April 9th, chances are none of these will get made. Herein lies one of the advantages of Kickstarter, at least in my opinion. If I pony up $150 for one of these, but the funding fails, I get my money back. If it succeeds, I get a cool GPS tracker for my scooter. Eventually, anyway. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully…

Via: Gizmag

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Nathaniel Salzman

Nathaniel Salzman is a Chicago area designer, writer, maker and journalist. Nathaniel founded ScooterFile in 2012 and serves as Editor-in-Chief.

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