App for asking help from community
 

I would like to have a mobile app which is free, or low-cost and has features like:

- You should register as a user
- If you face problems on road, you could just press a button, which will create an alert
- The alert is also shown on the map
- Other users nearby will receive an alert that fellow cyclist is in trouble and they may react
- You could configure the distance within you'll get the alerts
- Users' locations are not shown on the map, only the alert location

There are lots of this kind of apps, but they all are based on the contacts on your phone. Whatsapp location sharing is quite close, but anyway someone has to manage the group. And there is no possibility to filter the messages. We are trying to get something like this in use in Finland, so far no good options found.

Anyone has any suggestions?

Its called uber I think?

uber & lyft dont list if they can transport a person with a bicycle tho.
some towing companies can locate you & haul you back, but it'll cost ya.

i'm fresh out of ideas.

"Buddy, this just isn't your day ..." <locks eyes>

You need to create that app yourself.

I used to carry the phone number for the only cab company in my community that had bike racks on their taxis, but that cab company went out of business during Covid.

A depressing thought, but there are some places where an announcement that a cyclist is alone and in trouble may be an invitation to theft. Or worse.
You could have the numbers of friends saved on your phone.

Maybe a valid scenario somewhere, but in Finland the probability of this is practically zero.

Those suggested taxi or cab services are ok if you'll need transportation etc. 911 or 112 will help on case of serious incidents. But the point is to get help to minor problems. For example to get a new inner tube or a chain tool from a nearby fellow to fix your bike and continue your ride. You may be in an area where you don't know anybody to ask direct help.

If I were better Android developer, I would do this by myself...

I carry a spare tube, self adhesive patches, small multi-tool, tire levers, and pump on all my bikes. Since I use a leather saddle, also carry a waterproof saddle cover. Chain tool? No, but have never needed one during a ride in over a half century of riding.

If I see a cyclist in trouble, I usually stop but they usually have everything they need.

Last year someone needed my help. Had a new bike, wheels were fitted with tires and inner tubes, but their rims were the tubeless ready type rims and they did not have the hand strength needed to force the tire bead off the shelf on the rim. They had the spare tube and tire levers, but that was not enough. I got their tire off, but they chose to call a family member to pick them up instead of trying to fix it.

A couple times in the past couple decades, someone needed help because they carried CO2 and used up their cartridge without filling their tire. Needed to use my pump to top off the tire.

Instead of an app, if you carry a phone, a pump (instead of one CO2 cylinder) and the right spares for your tire size, you should not need assistance from another cyclist. Unless it is a serious ride ending problem, that is where the phone comes in.

If this is on a bike tour, the list of what to bring is much longer for what to bring, but I think you are only talking about a ride near home.

After my bad wreck, they tell me I was up and moving around trying to get on my bike. Supposedly I told them I just needed to get home and would be okay. Though actually I have no memory of any of it but just brief fleeting things that don't make sense. I doubt seriously I would have pushed any button on the app to send out an alert. Thankfully the two people that found me realized I'd had a wreck and had a severe concussion. They just happened to be doctors on a afternoon walk.

GPS devices like Garmin Edge already have a built in incident detection that you have to push a button to keep it from sending a alert. And Specialized/S-Works has Angi, that is a device attached to your helmet that also will send out an alert if it detects helmet forces and motions that might be a concussion. Those type things fair much better for getting you help in a actual emergency than relying on you pushing a button. Because after all, when you are knocked silly, as I was, you don't always realize when you need help.

Smart phones have accelerometers in them. So possibly an app can be made to use them to detect such events. Maybe some do. I've not looked since I use Garmin's and Specialized's Angi on my helmet. Otherwise, there is a app already on your phone to send out a emergency message. Actually several. When set up, the emergency contacts can be accessed without having to unlock the phone. You can simply call 911 (112 in Finland?) or any other person significant to you. Or text them.

When I had my wreck I wasn't using a Garmin that had incident detection, nor did I have Angi, but my wife and I had been sharing location through Google Maps for many years. So when she saw that I wasn't changing location on a part of the route that it would be unusual for a stop, she was about to call me when her phone rang and the people that found me were calling her using the emergency contacts on my phone to say a ambulance was on the way and I'd be okay.

In some USA States, AAA membership will get you and you bike home for a mechanical failure.

Barry

I guess almost everyone carry at least some first aid supplies to cover the most common incidents. But, still you may encounter something unexpected. There may be help available after the next corner, if you just knew it... Or you have a puncture and you have just given your spare tube to someone else etc. There may be situations where you would need some local help, other than uber or towing or 911 etc.

It is more likely than not, that the person who might stop to help you will have schraeder valve tubes and you use something different. Their chain tool might be for chains of a different speed. Self-sufficiency really has to be the name of the game out there. There is also a big reason why there is not an app like this already: on location repair/towing is VERY expensive. That's why the only way it works is through a subscription service like AAA. A completely crowd powered (free/lowcost) platform is asking active members to be prepared to offer rides and more to people that might live many miles in the 'wrong' direction. I simply don't see it. At all.

I used to ride a relatively obscure brand of motorcycle and they had a national club with a contact list of people willing to help out others who had problems on the road. Besides their contact info, it included a list of abbreviations about what kind of assistance they could provide, e.g. Can provide a place to work on bike, have a trailer to pick up your bike, can provide a place to stay, etc. Being on the list was voluntary but had quite a few contacts in just about every state. I never had the occasion to use it, but it did provide some piece of mind when I took road trips.

I would think for cyclists, you could do something similar within a fairly small geographic area, i.e. a city and surrounding areas.

In the military they teach you to use the first aid gear that was carried by the person you are helping, that way when you get hurt later, you still have your own first aid gear for the person that is helping you to use. I would never give my one and only spare tube to someone, but all my friends already have a spare tube. Except two of them, they have switched to tubeless, if they needed a tube they would use their phone instead to call for a ride home.

Bike touring, I carry two spare tubes because on rare occasions you can have a catastrophic failure that will make a tube un-patchable. But for my rides near home, only carry one. But I carry some self adhesive patches for those times that you can't find what it was inside the tire that re-punctured your tube.

About a year ago, this thread was started on the touring forum on what to carry as an ID in case you got hurt.
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1...ut-id-tag.html
After reading comments on that thread, I got some small plates made with my info that I put on my watch band. If I am found on the side of the road unconscious, that has my name, birthdate, and in case of emergency phone number.

Maybe this?
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e462cfe3d3.jpg

No chain tool for me either, but I do carry a quick link so I can get it back together to get me home. I have had a chain break once in the past on a ride.

Phone a friend?

I got the point. Sorry for asking and wasting the bandwidth...

I have not carried a quick link on a day ride near home, but I do carry a spare or two when bike touring. But then I am carrying a lot of spares and tools, etc. Seven years ago on a tour I had to dig out my cassette lock ring tool. But would never dream of carrying that sort of thing on a day ride.

Almost nobody has an S&S coupled bike, but one of my bikes has couplers. And one of the couplers started to loosen on a ride. I now carry a wrench to tighten them. But this is an issue for less than one percent of the biking population.

I don't think it'd be a waste of bandwidth if you would only drive the conversation. Part of the issue is that you are leaving us too much leeway in imagining what this thing is for and how it is intended to be used. You need to actively control what you wish to talk about and not let it stray if it takes the conversation too far from your intention.

Giving examples of situations it might be used for and whom it is to notify that will bring aid to someone could help greatly. And aid should be more defined. In my case, I only see medical emergency service as the only type of aid I'd ever need.

The only issue I see is that some of the newer flat resistant tires are so thick and stiff that you can barely get them back on the rim in a warm garage, on a good day. Thankfully tires like this (i.e. schwalbe marathon plus) leak slowly enough that a couple of CO2 cartridges can help you limp home.