A slogan and song (written by John Lennon) from the early 70s had a chant “power to the people” and was used to help motivate and mobilize people. Now, there is an invention called the Smart Wheel by FlyKly that gets power from the people by turning an ordinary bike into a motorized bike. You get it powered up simply by pedaling, and then an electric motor takes over. This ingenious design started on Kickstarter with a goal of $100,000 and at the time of this article had garnered $701,239.
The Smart Wheel installed as the rear wheel on a typical bicycle
This elegant invention is an ultrathin electric motor that fits onto the spokes of a 20-, 26-, or 28-in.-diameter rear wheel of a bicycle. It also uses intelligent electronics, meaning it combines smartphone, Bluetooth, and USB technologies to enhance its capabilities.
Basically, the Smart Wheel is a pedal-assist electric motor that weighs 9 lbs, generates 250-W output power, uses a 36-V lithium battery, and has a top speed of 20 mph. A full-charge can take you 30 miles and it can be recharged from 115-Vac outlet in 2 to 3 hours. However, the battery also charges when you go faster than a speed you set, when you go downhill, or when you pedal with the motor off. The battery has a life expectancy of about 1,000 hours.
The Smart Wheel battery prototype
The Smart Wheel can be used with multi-geared bikes since the rear gear cassette gets removed together with your old rear wheel once you replace it with the Smart Wheel. This of course turns your bike into a single-speed bicycle but that’s a good trade off. Currently, the battery is measured at 12 Ah, but that may change because the company is still testing different types of lithium batteries for performance and durability. The housing of the Smart Wheel is water proof so it can be used in inclement weather and it’s resistant to corrosive matter like salt.
It’s called a Smart Wheel because FlyKly built in Bluetooth 4.0 technology to communicate with your smartphone, which you can attach to your handlebars. The product is compatible with Android (Samsung Galaxy S3/S4), iOS (iPhone 4S/5/5C/5S/iPad 3/4/iPod Touch 5th gen/iPad mini), and even the Pebble Watch operating systems. For the engineer, they even offer a software development kit.
Connecting to the intelligence of the Smart Wheel via a smartphone
Your smartphone and an app from FlyKly lets you control the speed you want to go and monitor the distance, time traveled, the location, and the route. The app also lets you share information such as routes used and distance/time for those routes. But wait, there’s more. You can remotely lock the motor, and even track it, should it be stolen. For example, if the wheel begins to move while locked, the motion sensors alert a GPS module to begin transmission of the tracking signal. It has a GSM chip with a one-year cellular service included, to start you out.
The designers are also offering a light that attaches to handlebars with the ability to attach your smartphone on top of the light and then connect both via a USB cable to keep your phone charged. The light gathers electric charge via a cable that connects to the dynamo on the front fork. The dynamo may be the weak link because it typically adds a fair amount of resistance to forward movement, which could lower the distance you can travel on a charge. The company had the first prototypes in early 2013 and plans have product for shipping by May 2014. For more information, go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flykly/flykly-smart-wheel.
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