Etsy Mania?...

[These are so cute. I wonder though where to get that nifty ipod cover?]

[Annnnnd so are these.]

And I wonder if my boyfriend views me as this:

[Hubba, hubba.]

Or this:

[Meooooow.]

Perhaps something a bit more practical...?

[The Bike Burrito]

[... Not as tasty as it sounds.]

Also:

• For those who have a sense of humor and know people who still call the saddle a "seat".
• The "The Hipster Who Ironically Lists Off Bicycle Parts on His T-shirt" shirt.
• For the fashionable lady on wheels.
• Trashion knows its time, dontcha know.
• Know your place, bike.
• Sweet mother of god, someone get me this.
• Even though the movie sucked, this leatherhead rocks.
• Probably this truest button in the world.
• I normally think bike necklaces are lame, but these are TOO CUTE!
• So my bf's vibe.
• If I remotely liked bells and horns adorning my bicycle, this would be it.
• This bag actually looks hip.
• Hot belt, bitch!

Etsy, you have impressed me, but you're oversaturated with crappy unoriginal overpriced tshirts and jewelry. Come on, now!!

Pigeons?

My bf's neighbor brought up an interesting point: what about radio frequency dependant homing signals like the ones they use on homing pigeons?

Also: link. This looks promising.

It's like they're picking my brain...

Oh My God.

They know me. I feel like they do.

Sometimes BikeForums can be redundant, but other times they're a true melting pot of ideas, especially for the project I want to persue.

Several people pointed out stuff I thought I came up with:

• "I bet it would work pretty well inside a carbon frame. Inside the seat tube would be my suggestion as well, or simply fabbed into the frames on high end carbon bikes. The device itself wouldn't have to be that expensive - it's basically just a cell phone.The biggest problem I see with this is that it would require a battery that would have to be recharged periodically, meaning it would have to be accessible somehow." RazorWind
• "...I know this may sound completely off the wall on first glance - but what if riding the bike actually charges the battery? Either through the motion of the cranks or... something... Again, it may be a little off the wall of an idea." Prendrefeu
• "Seems like you'd have to design the whole bike around it in order to make that happen, and I think the battery would need to be replaceable, as even the best rechargeables wear out after just a couple of years...The people I could see thinking this is useful would be the folks who use bikes as transportation - urban dwelling freds and fixie-riding hipster doofuses. The fixie scenesters might be willing to pay for it, but I'm not so sure about the urban freds. I have a feeling it would be hard to sell them on a subscription service that costs more than a few bucks a month." RazorWind
• "At a reasonable price it would be mostly oriented towards the commuters - but also anyone, really. I would pay a low fee per year for coverage. I mean, low fee to recover a bicycle saves time and stress if the bicycle is stolen - a lot of work, time, and energy goes into getting that bicycle just right for each rider/owner. Customization, fitting, parts... in a sense, it does become as 'valuable' to someone as a car. How low can the monthly fee be? Pretty damn low if the service business is set up on an intelligent and efficient platform." Prendrefeu
• "stash it in a water bottle, or they should make one that looks like something else, like a bikepump, or u can hide it under something like that. they could also make it so it is a feature in a bike computer, or bike gps. u could also hide it under your handlebar tape too. and for the identification chip, i think i heard u an register your bike at most police stations, so if they find it they can know whos it is by the frame number or something or other." The_Spaniard
• "put it in the steerer tube, sitting on the brake caliper mounting bolt and run the antenna through the fork.you can power it through some dyno type device." AEO
• "Depending on the size of the technology, you could drop it into the down tube with the seat post removed. The antenna would have to feed through the seat post and somehow be adhered to the under-side of the saddle. ...at least that's one option. Great until someone rips off your seat/post.Yeah, but it could be really deep in the seat-tube. There's usually a lot of distance to cover/place a transmitter between the BB shell and the space where a seatpost would typically occupy." Prendrefeu
• "Has this been attempted before? Does this service exist?Is there someone on BF who has the capital to start a company offering this service?I'd pay for it." Prendrefeu

Yeah, I hear ya Prendrefeu. But I know how people are. If you want something done, you gotta do it yourself.

And once you get the ball rolling and people want that ball - competition starts, more efficient models come out, we get progress...

And THAT is how America is supposed to work people. :D Free enterprise, dreams coming true, "the ball is rolling".

I'm gonna come back to this post and the BikeForum dialogue periodically. For now, I'll continue my research.

This would be a lot easier if I knew anything about Electronics.

A power solution?

Bicycle Generator by Instructables user dbc1218.

I was hypothesizing last night to the bf (who rolled his eyes at my frantic efforts) that what if the best power source was not a clumsy large battery (or a small unrenewable one which would have to be replaced frequently) but.. THE BIKE ITSELF.

(dun dun dun)

I scare myself with my geniousity.

Truthfully, this is a fantastic option for those who are familiar with how a Prius works. Now, I'm not in favor of the vehicle because it still needs to be improved to run either on pure fuel cell or pure electricity (forget solar, unless you live in an arid area like Arizona that can take solar power and store it for cloudy days), but I digress, running away from my point.

A Prius (and any other vehicle modeled after it) works like this (link).

"The car is capable of driving just with the electric engine (the red one in
the diagram). When you get in and turn it on, the gas engine doesn't even
start up. That's part of what makes it so great in city driving: when
you're not moving, the engine isn't idling. It's completely off.

When the batteries run low, the gas engine (the blue one in the diagram) turns itself on. It doesn't drive the wheels, though. Instead, it just turns the alternator to power up the batteries.

The electric engine is fine at low speeds, and accelerates great, but it
isn't enough to drive the car at highway speeds. Around 40 MPH, the gas
engine turns on and helps to drive the wheels.

The other great thing about city driving in the Prius is "regenerative
braking". Instead of just applying brake pads, the Prius is capable of
running its engine in reverse, letting the wheels power the engine to turn the alternator to produce more electricity, which is stored in the batteries. That both slows the car and powers the batteries to start up again. A regular car just turns the motion of the wheels into heat, which is wasted. "

I think this project has the potential for establishing a good renewable source of energy. A battery that can be powered by a bicycle - which in turns powers the tracking device so even when you aren't biking, you can keep track of it. And when the thief nabs it, he unwittingly powers up his own demise: you finding the signal and catching him!

Yeah, sure, I gotta fine tune the schematics, but the concept IS genius, right?

Right.

Breakthrough?

I haven't given up on my "tracking device for bikes" dream.

Every few days I devote myself to mindless wandering and then something will spark. An idea, a thought, a plan - a keyword: make.

Makezine is probably the best resource out there for DIYers. Sometimes I feel frustrated with the website because I remember way before when, when the zine didn't focus so much on the robo-microchip-fetishistic worship it does now. You know. When it used to throw a bone to the mainstream.

I guess now it's too concentrated and weird sometimes, but it's nevertheless an excellent resource. And I'm thankful now that they did get a wee bit techie, because it led me here: sparkfun.

See, I don't want to just buy a tracking device and pay a fee to have it monitored. I want something affordable. I want something small. I want something HACKABLE.

So this shows promise.

Also, a coworker informs me that there's lojack for laptops (how about a free version, yo? 40 bucks is too much).

If it weren't for the stunning logic that bicycles have no power sources, I'd declare this an outrage (aside from the lack of demand and price that prevents an average cyclist from getting the available yet undesirable tracking devices on the market).

I'll continue to update you. I feel I am close.

Also: bike alarm. I'm on the waiting list to hack this for my own devious means.

Search for Tracking Devices

To fit inside a bike.

Last December, my prized bicycle was stolen from a Silverlake residential neighborhood. Granted, it was partially my fault for believing that area could be safe for overnight parking when you know, cars are frequently broken into. But I thought, hell, the rent is so high here, there's no way "riff-raffs" can afford to live in this neighborhood.

Ank! - wrong answer.

Truth is, even with a steel cable lock, your bicycle is not safe anywhere in Los Angeles, even in your own home. That's the sad fact: nothing you can do can prevent your bike from being taken away from you.

Last night coming from City College, a very somber upset 50 year old man was standing in the subway station, telling people around him that his bike (along with three others, including one locked with a kryptonite lock). It shook me up because it was just so sad and I felt his pain from firsthand experience. These people naively trusted their locks, the campus security, and the world that their bikes would stay there until they came out to get them.

It hit really, really close to home. I still can't stop thinking about.

Since that fateful December, I haven't ridden my new bike at all which I'm sad to say I don't "love" like I did my first bike. Maybe it's the style of the frame, or the ugly color to dissuade thefts, but I just don't feel that spark. Actually, the boyfriend had to convince me to buy it. It was a good deal, still is, but I just don't fawn and favor it. Where is my new bike now?

Sitting as a coat rack against a wall, dusty and ignored.

Everytime I look at it, I feel guilty. I can't even ride it around the block because I'm just so scarred by what happened before. The sensation of paranoia takes over me and my boyfriend's words come back to haunt me: No matter what you do, you cannot prevent your bike from being stolen.

So I sit here and I think, "God, why can't there just be this taboo on stealing someone's transportation?" I mean, it's heartbreaking, like someone's only car that they depended on to get to their work.

I've resolved to continue a search for a tracking device for a bike. I've come up with the following searches:

Memoryc.com
Pegtech.com - This is only available to Law Enforcement for bike theft sting operations.
Chinavasion.com - This looks a bit shady.
SurprisingGift.com
SpyHawk
Zoombak - I've heard hit and miss stuff about this. Inexpensive (relatively compared to others) tracking services, but it is not real-time and can actually promise more than it delivers.

Makezine also posted on a DIY tracking device, though I'm not sure how a Boost mobile phone can be incorporated on a bicycle, but it's probably cheaper than anything else out there right now.

The problem with this search boils down to several detterants:

Price
Availability
Usefulness
Effectiveness

It SEEMS like a genius idea: a tracking device to a bike would mean even if it got stolen, there's that chance you can find your bike and nab the guy who took it. But when you look closer at it, it's riddled with faults.

First of all, a GPS tracking system is expensive. Like at least 400+ USD. Second, the subscription to live tracking which is what you want (versus taking a GPS and logging it where it's already been - utterly useless if the bike is stolen with the GPS on it) could come out to 400-600 a year. So we're talking at least a $900 investment for say, a $600 bike.

For a practical, everyday, hardworking but not necessarily rich person, this price is ridiculous, especially now when layoffs are common and minimum wage is the median payroll.

So let's say we shove that factor aside and price is not an option, especially for someone who invested in a quality bike, doesn't have other financial commitments to tend to, and has a fairly well paid job: the availability for a bicycle tracking device is not there. It took me several hours of hunting on the web to find fairly good choices, but it's not like you can go into a bike shop and casually mention, "oh can you wrap up a GPS tracking system to go? I'm on my lunch break."

It's just not sound economics since the demand isn't there because the price is so high.

If we shove that factor aside as well, then it comes down to usefulness. You shell out the cash, you install the programs, you attach it discreetly to your bicycle - but guess what? It doesn't work!

Who's to say you'll even get your money back? If you will get your money back? Will it really prevent a bike theft or lead to bike recovery?

And of these tracking devices, very few I think could be retrofitted to a bike for minimal discovery, just because they're -well- huge.

Why can't it be simple? Why can't there be some sort of electronic microchip inside the bike?

The most you can do right now is this:

• Get a quality lock. Probably two.
• Do not leave it outside, overnight, anywhere, no matter what sense of security you have about the place.
• Learn how to lock your bike correctly.
• Get a bike license from your local fire or police station. Fee should be relatively low.
• Know your serial number, write it down, keep it safe. Trust me, I wish I did this for my first bike.
• Know the make, model, color of your bicycle, down to the wheels.
• Do not let anyone "test ride" your bicycle you don't know well.
• Write your name and serial number on a rolled up piece of aluminum from a soda can and stuff it inside one of the handlebars. Nifty cheap trick.
• Take pictures of your bike and inventory the parts, their receipts and prices, just in case it is stolen.
• Get renter's insurance. It can probably cover the theft of your bicycle and help pay for a replacement.

This advice only enhances the safety of your bike. It doesn't necessarily prevent the theft. Given enough time, any bike can be stolen, but if you put enough deterrants on there, the thief might go, "Aw, hell, forget this fixie, I'm gonna steal that Mountain Bike instead."

Recap:

• Cable locks are only good if you live in a town of 100 people or if your bike is super crappy that no one would steal it, even if you advertised: "Steal this bike. Please. I have cancer."
• By themselves, u-locks aren't perfect. And not all of them are created equal. But they're harder to break than just cable locks.
• My boyfriend recommended that American Lock be used instead of a kryptonite u-lock to lock the New York Noose Chain. Sturdier, much harder to break, and well, American.

I'll keep my eye out eternally because despite its cons, I think tracking devices for bicycles should be available to the public at an honest price, that work well, that can be concealed and not removed easily, because if we want bicycle commuting to work and for automobile traffic to go down (as well as pollution, weaning gas dependency, establish a better relationship between drivers and riders), we have to give the same assurances to a cyclist that we do to a motorist that their bike has the same chance of recovery as a car, as well as the same protection.

Enough ranting for a day!

See you at the Critical Mass tonight.