Looking for a way to track your bike mileage and pedal power as well as ensure your bicycle doesn't end up in the hands of a thief? Well, Connected Cycle believes its bike pedal innovation can do both those things, and much more down the road, and so do a lot of bike enthusiasts, given intense funding support the company's Smart Pedal is getting on the crowdsourcing site Indiegogo.
In just three days, Connected Cycle's funding effort raised nearly double its initial goal of $50,000, hitting $97,189 with the support of 808 sponsors and there are still 27 days left in the Indiegogo campaign.
The next 'stretch' goal is $250,000, which the company says will support greater capabilities and innovations in the pedal and smartphone app that is the heart of the tracking/anti-theft foot pedaling device.
"We expect the campaign to get very high as we had a lot of interest for the product. As we are confident that we can get much higher, we will put new features available when we get over higher goals," states the developers on the funding project page.
The prototype debuted earlier this year at the annual CES show in Las Vegas and grabbed massive media attention.
Smart Pedal was initiated about two years ago by founders who kept having their bikes stolen and decided to develop a monitoring system for bike sharing operations.
"But we really wanted to develop a solution that we could make available for all bicycle riders like us," they state in the project description. The pedal took one year of research, prototype development and testing and currently features an energy generator with a chip and special algorithms for tracking and activity.
Basically it's a very easy to install bike pedal and a smartphone app that can work on both iOS and Android devices. The key element is what's called an "additive coded screw" which is part of pedal's anti-theft system. Only the bike owner can remove the screw, states the funding site. If someone tries to steal the bike, move the bike or take the bike, the pedal alerts the owner through the app and if the bike is taken, the app provides a tracking system so the bike can be found.
"Our smart pedal is the worldwide first bike pedal that helps prevent theft attempts and automatically records all your rides paths and statistics, without using your phone battery," states Connected Cycle. The pedal works on any adult standard bike and the developers claim the app doesn't hinder or drain a smartphone battery.
"The route and statistics are recorded without draining the life of a smartphone battery as the pedal has its own Internet connection via a cellular chip system and integrated SIM card," explains the site.
According to the project timelines, once the crowdsourcing effort is completed Connected Cycle will initiate pre-series production and further testing with shipping expected to start by December.
