BikeSpike: Tracking Your Bike With GPS

KickStarter Friday: BikeSpike is like LoJack for your bike, but better

If you are the owner of a great bike, you know the concerns about protecting your investment from being stolen. You purchase a really good lock so that you bike will be there when you return. But sometimes, that may not be enough. There needs to be something else you can do to protect your investment using technology. A coming product called BikeSpike may be exactly what you need.

This week's KickStarter project is BikeSpike and provides you with a small GPS device which you can track with your smart phone. All this is done with technology we are aware of and use today. With the provided wireless service, BikeSpike can track what is going on with your bike. With the generated information, you can see where your ride has been. But it is the security features which look to be the most valuable with this.

With the coming Android or iOS app, you will know that someone is tampering with your bike. And if they are able to break the lock and ride away, you will be able to track them with BikeSpike and know their location. This information can then be shared over existing social media or with the police as part of your efforts to recover your bike.

For some who steal bikes, they will try and remove the BikeSpike from your bicycle which will not be easy without special tools. For the most diehard of thieves, they will make sure that they have them. But just like the LoJack for cars, most will not even think about a tracking device on your bike.

The BikeSpike, with the built in GPS and accelerometer, will be able to detect that you have crashed and send you a message to your phone over Bluetooth. If you do not answer the message, it will send text messages to those you have listed on your smart phone to contact as part of BikeSpike. This is all done through the provided app on your smart phone and provides added value to what this can do for you.

For those who taking biking very seriously, this is an investment in your bike. And those who ride in San Francisco's Critical Mass on the first Friday of every month, they will agree with what this can do for you. The BikeSpike is estimated to arrive in October this year and will be very popular. Early backers got a break on the price, and it is hoped that they will open up pre-orders soon. The pricing for data plans or the BikeSpike has not been announced.