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.