Having already smashed its $100,000 CAD goal on the pioneering Kickstarter.com – a website which gives independent individuals and businesses a platform to raise funds for their creative projects – Vanhawks’ unique dream of the first ever peddle-power smart bike is soon to become a reality.
Although cars with ‘smart’ capabilities have become somewhat the norm, the humble peddle bike has remained largely true to its roots and avoided most of the latest technological breakthroughs in a world overran with mobile phone apps. The Vanhawks Valour, however, is about to but a stop to that.
Connecting with an app on your smartphone, the innovative Valour smart bike can provide a multitude of instructions and warnings, such as GPS directions through its tech-laden handlebars. With safety in mind, the bike’s turn-by-turn navigation uses LED indicators on the handlebars so you won’t need to take your eyes off the road. If you think that’s cool, the handlebars will also vibrate warning you if any vehicles are nearby in your blind-spot.
The bike will also keep track of your riding progress, too, and will calculate distance travelled, calories burned and even suggest routes that will avoid large inclines. In addition, the bikes and app are designed to get smarter over time as each ride will track the lay of the land and can alert future riders of route dangers - such as large potholes - and even track stolen bikes.
"We designed the bike for those who commute in urban setting," Ali Zahid, co-founder and COO of Vanhawks, Sohaib Zahid said. "Being commuters ourselves and having a manufacturer background, we wanted to create a bike that we would use everyday with safety in mind, too."
And, if that’s not enough, it’s actually a pretty decent standard of road bike, too, with a carbon fibre frame, the Valour is light, nimble and fast. As Vanhawks have now raised over $400,000 from 461 backers’ support, the project is almost certain to go ahead and you can own one of these bikes from $1,049 CAD (£580).