Bike thieves, man. When they aren’t snatching your front tire, they’re taking a chainsaw to your U-lock. Now a handy little device called Bike+ aims to stop them (and give you detailed data on your rides). The seven-ounce mini-computer from Wi-MM serves as a tiny brain/obnoxious screaming child if someone tries to steal your wheels, according to Engadget:
[Bike+] can be mounted with some specialty hardware (to make removal difficult) on the down tube of any bicycle. Inside, there’s a Verizon-compatible 3G radio, GPS, Bluetooth, altimeter, accelerometer, a 1,300 mAh rechargeable battery and enough flash memory to hold all your data from a year’s worth of rides.
The accelerometer and GPS allow you to track your routes and the speed of your ride, but also mean that if your bike is being moved without your permission, you can find out about it (the system will send you a text!) and use a phone app to find out where it’s being taken.
Supposedly you’ll be able to buy Bike+ in the next couple months for under $200, so would-be thieves won’t be able to hum “I wish me a merry Christmas” as they make off with your ride.
You can even set how sensitive Bike+ is, so it doesn’t freak out and start sounding alarms and sending frantic texts if your bike just gets bumped. Pretty cool, right? So cool that this technology might very well come built into Treks and other bikes in the future, Engadget says. Be afraid, bike thieves. BE VERY AFRAID.
