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Down to the Wire: Less Than 24 Hours to Kickstart the BikeSpike GPS Tracker

By Ray Hu - April 8, 2013

in Kickstarter

When it comes to blog submissions, bike-related projects are probably second to only mobile device accessories here, and a fair share of these ever-trending products happen to be Kickstarter projects. The BikeSpike is easily one of the more worthwhile ones we've seen lately, and with less than 24 hours to raise the last $10K of their $150,000 funding goal, we'll keep it short and sweet: "The BikeSpike is backed by the world's smallest GPS chipset with a built-in antenna, an on-board accelerometer, and a connection to a global cellular network." The cheeky spot illustrates its anti-theft functionality:

The reference to the Allstate commercials is duly noted, and if the pricing seems a little steep, I suppose you should think of it as an insurance policy: at $7/month, it comes in at less than an AppleCare protection plan... assuming you value your bicycle as much as your laptop or phone. (Although my renter's insurance covers my bike and laptop from theft for about $13/month, the $500 deductible means the bike should be worth substantially more than that for it to be worth it.)

But if $80+ a year seems like a relatively expensive fee for a sub-$500 ride, the BikeSpike has a host of 'recreational' features such as ride stats/tracking, social media integration and a broadly 'psychic' bond with one's beloved bicycle. I was also interested to see that it is discreetly integrated into a bottle cage mount (and yes, it can be set to notify the user if the device itself is tampered with). Here's the actual pitch video:

Check out the Kickstarter campaign for more info; myriad features aside, I do wonder if the monthly-contract pricing structure is an issue for would-be backers. Any thoughts?

Via BrooklynSpoke / Tom Vanderbilt

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Duncan

11 years ago

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Agree with Marcus, this is a product only useful in the short term or if your lucky to get a dumb bicycle thief. When word gets around it's the second thing they'll attack with their 'angle grinder' after the lock, or possibly before. Another app gimmick.
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powers

11 years ago

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It's going to have to be much stealthier, and an outright purchase for it to take off.
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Toby

11 years ago

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You can get this in the seatpost, backlight or handlebar http://www.integratedtrackers.com
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Paul

11 years ago

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I'm sure I'm not the only one to sketch this out?

http://www.paulbeard.org/wordpress/2003/07/23/lo-jack-for-bikes/
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Marcus

11 years ago

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I think the location of the device might be a bit too obvious, if this were to become a mainstream product then its likely to be the kind of thing that the kind of bike thieves who are carrying around an angle grinder would find out about and attempt to remove. Surely putting it down the bikes seat tube would be much better, like some shimano di2 setups.
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