Described as a brain for your bike, a new Kickstarter project is taking cycling into the digital age by combining a bell, light, navigation device and safety accessory all in one neat little gadget.
Created by an international team of cycling enthusiasts, the Shoka bell has been developed to make it easier and safe for cyclists to get around cities. The aim of this urban cycling tool is to make bike riding both safer and smarter for everyone.
Besides its many other remarkable features, the Shoka is no ordinary bell as it provides eight different ring tones depending on the situation.
When cycling you can select the ring tone you prefer using a thumb-size joystick. Choose a friendly warning buzz for pedestrians, or a more assertive alert of for a car that hasn’t seen you.
Additionally the bell is responsive to ambient sounds in your surrounding environment, and adjusts the volume accordingly.
The Shoka bell can help you find your way around town as it also acts as a navigation device.
By connecting with an app on your phone (using Open Street Map), and by analysing data based on the braking patterns and bell usage of other Shoka users, the device can help you cycle safely to your destination.
Shoka can also help keep your bike secure as it has a built in alert system if your locked bike is disturbed.
After locking your bike you can remove your Shoka bell by releasing the magnetic clip, while leaving the base securely attached to your bike.
If your bike is moved or disturbed the Shoka base will send you an alert via the main bell within a 250 metre radius.
In addition to the above qualitites, the Shoka is also a light, with eight front-facing LED lights that can adapt to your cycling speed, automatically adjusts brightness.
The Shoka also has a battery life of 200 hours on a single charge, meaning you only need to charge it every few weeks.
Daniel Falus, SukYeon Jung and Andras Juhasz are the three co-founders behind the Shoka bell.
Based in Singapore and Budapest, this trio of cycling enthusiasts decided to bring together their knowledge of digital startups, urban infrastructure and innovative business development to fill a gap they had spotted in the market for a modern, all-in-one cycling device.
The Shoka bell project is running a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter throughout August.
The project has already gone beyond its initial Kickstarter target of 75.000 US dollars, and currently has more than 136.000 dollars pledged.
Expected to retail at a price of 159 US dollars, you can already reserve your own Shoka bell by pledging 99 US dollars or more towards the campaign.