back to article Samsung peddles tyred Smart Bike concept

Samsung has started peddling a smart bicycle prototype. The self-propelled two-wheeler includes a battery, rear-facing camera, WiFi and Bluetooth routers of some sort and “laser projectors”. The latter devices let the bike shine bright red lines on the road, the better to warn motorists of riders' presence. The lasers will …

COMMENTS

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  1. Tommy Pock

    Sigh.

    Another solution in search of a problem.

    It's 2015 next year; we demand our hoverboards.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "..a new concept of safety."

    I'm sorry?

    OED: "The condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury"

    I'm intrigued. My concept of safety is in alignment with the definition in the OED. How wrong we all must be. Having your phone turn your lights on for you *must* be a complete paradigm shift. With that same logic, sticking your phone in your car must make driving safer.

    Oh, wait...

  3. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    My eyes bleed

    The bike is both hideous and dysfunctional. No bolts for accessories? The color of a dull cloudy day? Little tech stubs sticking out that will snag weeds or clothing? Disc brakes for rain without waterproof electronics?

    What I'd like is a lightweight bike with electric drive, electric regeneration, and short travel suspension for rough roads. I don't want a heavy electric cruiser with a 20 mile range. A 1/2 mile range would be perfect for rolling hills and traffic lights. If even half of the power lost to braking or downhill wind resistance could go to acceleration, it would open up a lot of new areas to cycling for me. It would break the barrier where brining more food and water is such a burden that it doesn't extend a day's ride anymore. I'll clip my phone on that anywhere I like.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: My eyes bleed

      "What I'd like is a lightweight bike with electric drive, electric regeneration, and short travel suspension for rough roads."

      or - htfu.

      :)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        Re: My eyes bleed

        Rule number 5.

        Velominati.org

    2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: My eyes bleed

      electric regeneration

      Hub dynamos are pretty impressive nowadays. I suppose they could be configured to charge only at speeds above x or on downwards slopes. You don't lose much energy braking on a bike and you can't recover anything from wind resistance - you could put on a windmill I suppose, but really a fairing and letting the dynamo charge is you're best bet.

    3. stu 4

      @Kevin

      I've been using electric bikes for 7 years now. I have 3 - a high power off roader, a folding commuter and an every day one.

      What you want is readily available. My regular every day one was originally a Cytronex bike (based on a Trek 7.3x). In the 7 years I've replaced the controller and battery with my own ones giving me more range however.

      It weighs in at 19kg including the battery. It cruises at 15-16mph with no pedaling - pedaling obviously reduces the current used, and I can average 16-17mph usuallly when out riding (i.e. including hills, etc).

      Range is around 20 miles of regular use.

      There current range is even lighter at around 16kg I believe (though they use tiny 4AH batteries so you get about 10 miles regular use).

      regeneration is a waste of time with an electric bike:

      1. you should rarely be braking

      2. there is very little momentum and therefore very little to 'regenerate'

      3. the most common technology of frictionless brushless motors don't lend themselves to it

      4. it's just not needed.

      If you have an existing bike, you can covert it with around 8kg of kit (battery, controller, hub motor) for around 300 pounds.

      1. Caaaptaaaain kick arse

        Re: @Kevin

        Range presumably depends on body weight ?

        1. stu 4

          Re: @Kevin

          I'd imagine range does depend on body weight.

          Sorry, was my detailed reply not enough for you ? next time I will endevour to post a full graph of range vs body weight, perhaps adding in humidity, temperature and the colour of my hat.

      2. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

        Re: @Kevin

        There is a good amount to be regained on rolling hills. Speeding down a paved hill doesn't get you very far up the next hill because wind resistance caps your speed to 40 - 50 MPH. On a winding dirt road you're riding the brakes to maintain control. If there are lightweight hub motors that can do this now I'll buy one and rig it to a custom high-current LiFePO4 pack.

        As for htfu, I'm talking about 8+ hour rides in mountain forests and countrysides where there's no access to food or water. California has some decent hills.

        1. stu 4

          Re: @Kevin

          Wish I hadn't bothered replying now. I thought you were serious. what a load of mince.

  4. Shannon Jacobs

    Where's my exercise bike hooked up to streetview?

    I feel like bicycling through virtual Paris in the spring, eh?

    1. Ralph B

      Re: Where's my exercise bike hooked up to streetview?

      Over here or here.

  5. Lionel Baden
    Flame

    WTF !!

    The lasers will switch on when your smartphone, a Samsung of course, detects that light has become sufficiently low

    Yes because a £500 smart phone is necessary to measure light levels !!!!

    Fucking Idiots

  6. AMBxx Silver badge
    Big Brother

    They must be joking

    >> Samsung's also imagining that by gathering data about rides, thanks to a phone's GPS, it will be possible for governments to figure out where cyclists go and either build them bike paths or make bike-friendly traffic arrangements.

    So they're tracking us and sending the data to the government?

  7. Richard Taylor 2
    Pint

    I met

    Steve (not Seven) about 10 years ago. A very engaging (if loony - in the best possible way) chap. Where's the bicycle icon?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    WOW Samsung! How innovative!!

    Not.

  9. John Robson Silver badge

    Magnetic "connection"

    Either that magnet is so strong that the phone will break when I try to remove it, or it's weak enough that the first time I stray off a velodrome it will jump off and smash under the wheels of the following truck.

    rear view is easily accomplished by high tech things called "mirrors", lights are easily powered by a hub dynamo, and many will aurtomatically turn on when weather conditions suggest it would be useful (it's not a requirement to have lights/reflectors on a bike until sunset in the UK, even if the weather is really dark - it is a good idea though!)

    Ride logging is easily accomplished using a £30 logger (or any smartphone/tablet)

    What I would like to have is a box which takes:

    - GPS signal from the sky

    - 2*external HD camera connections

    - ANT/Bluetooth (probably two versions for HR or cadence sensors)

    - Simple relay based cadence sensor (wired)

    - External power - preferably dynamo driven, USB is acceptable

    - SD card for video/gps logging

    This would activate when power was applied, and shutdown when power went away (leaving enough in the supercap to keep date/last location for GPS quickstart and enough to flush data to the card)

    Record in 5 minute segments, with no dropped frame, GPS/HR/cadence data applied as subtitles or an associated XML file (or both - the format isn't that far off, and SD card space is cheap)

    When running out of room delete the oldest data.

    1. Michael Thibault
      Alien

      Re: Magnetic "connection"

      >Either that magnet is so strong that the phone will break when I try to remove it, or it's weak enough that the first time I stray off a velodrome it will jump off and smash under the wheels of the following truck.

      Or there's a pair of neodymium magnets, with appropriately-positioned poles in each of the bracket and the phone back that, when lined up (and possibly constrained by nesting rings) means that the phone can be released only with a twist about an axis centered on the bracket and mount point on the camera back. Nature doesn't do twisting like that. Not anymore, anyway.

  10. Lamont Cranston

    I don't think it takes a genius to work out why I don't have a smartphone on my bike's handlebars.

    I assume the Samsung devs live somewhere with perpetually clement weather, smoother-than-silk roads, and no traffic?

  11. Caaaptaaaain kick arse

    What a load of old S*!T

    I want the bike from the Hair Bear bunch!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Clearly they think that smartphone batteries are too good and need draining quicker than they already do.

  13. joed

    the ultimate black box?

    all the fancy/useless features aside the integration of the safety video feed is nice - surely the potential of a lawyer knocking down on the door of some hole a-hole driver can make will make them think twice before cutting you off on your bike commute (and force to follow traffic rules thus increasing the safety even more).

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