New Idea
 

Hello, I am a student from England and for my GCSE (standardized examination), I need to produce a product which solves problems which us cyclists have. I am therefore all ears to any problems that people have with their bicycles. Like, Saddles, Handlebars or Security etc. I am a keen cyclist myself and therefore would really appreciate any problems people have. When I ask for issues, I mean things that could physically be changed or redesigned in order to make cycling more enjoyable.
Thanks!

My biggest want at the moment is a mini-pump that can deliver 80-85 psi with reasonable effort. Not sure that's what you had in mind, though. Have you developed any rough ideas so far? It's easier to comment on a concept than to throw out a bunch of random "wants".

An idea.
Using a raspberry pi Zero W and a portable power supply; broadcast a request for Bluetooth pairing that pings people or drivers for Bluetooth connection. This interrupts what they are doing (they look up) and allows you to pass by on your bicycle within the 33 foot range of the Bluetooth signal.

I appreciate this concern. I have just a simplistic mind plan which is that I can possibly connect the pump to the pedals in such a way to reinflate the tyre as opposed to carrying an external pump by hand

What would be the aim of this?And in what situation would you use this?

This would be a variation of the implementation of "V2X" or vehicle to bicycle. The "x" being the bicycle. This is the driving force behind driverless vehicles. The concept is that all modes of transportation would be linked .It also applies to pedestrians, cars, and city infrastructure. Hardware is being developed,but few companies have announced anything that relates to bicycles.

When you buy a brand new bike, it usually is quiet, no squeaks, no unusual noise. Then later, you begin to hear things that catch your attention. Some noise are intermittent and some just gets worse over time.

The owner takes the bike back to the bike shop where the purchase was made, and the mechanic simply cannot simulate that noise on the bike stand.

What if there were sensors that allow someone to analyze the bike to narrow down the cause?

Pairing request might be the wrong implementation but he has the germ of an idea. You need an app that says hey heads up, from a cell data signal. The app would also have to do something for the driver of course - maybe real-time traffic monitoring from cars up ahead, or patrol-car alerts as in the old CB radio days. Use your imagination.

For a more mundane idea that would be immediately useful and easy to implement, consider the water bottle cage. Almost all of them are great, or at least adequate, for carrying water bottles, BUT, when you don't carry one or have two cages and only need one bottle, they're pretty much wasted. And un-aerodynamic (though addressing that's been done). The simple idea is install a netting (or some such) inside which does not interfere with a bottle but allows you to drop stuff there. Keys, reading glasses, phone, rain jacket etc. While you're at it fashion a fairing to join smoothly with the down tube or seat tube. I have done this, and the utility is better than people imagine at first impulse. Which if you think about it, is a requirement of any idea that's going to work. If the netting is loose enough, the objects don't bounce out. My cages have a "bag-lady" kind of look - you can design them sleek and carbon fiber.

I've also sometimes wished for a retractable cable lock integrated in the frame. It doesn't have to be super secure, hard to cut etc, just an always-there lock to discourage someone from a impulsive steal and getaway. There have been some attempts at this but they suffer from various defects like being to obtrusive, only a feature of some ridiculous bike, and so on. Design one that is basically invisible, light-weight, and not too obvious to defeat.

Definitely the "Germ".
Look at what resources are available as far as an access point. The system to request a pairing is already available without having the cell phone user to download an app. You could tag the Bluetooth request by naming your hardware " Danger- Look up". This would be a concept that needs to be diagrammed and then fleshed out. Do you need a final hardware project or a power point presentation? I am assuming that this is like a "Senior project".

There, and pretty much universally disabled. Phones don't receive pairing requests, except in the peer-to-peer case, it's the phone that makes the request of the headset or speaker or whatever after a scan to discover it. Otherwise the phone is in a non-discoverable mode and there's no way to make a request of it. To do a peer-to-peer pairing the user first has to go into a settings menu and get the phone in an unusual discoverable mode, which then times out.

If this wasn't the case (when it wasn't in very early days) then annoying spam messages would be an issue; apparently at one point very early there was something that actually spread virus-like at a sporting event.

First the user has to "look down" at the device - which is the exact opposite of what you want.

You could do a proof of concept with Bluetooth LE beacons and a custom app, but you'd want an audio queue or recorded message, not a visible notification.

I like the audio queue idea.
Its nice to experience a brainstorming discussion with people who offer countermeasure ideas.

You know, I was thinking about something like this just the other day, broadcasting via an app like Waze, which uses already crowd-sourcing to inform drivers about real-time traffic, cops, hazards, etc based on the usuer's GPS location. If an app--let's just use Waze as an example because it already has a lot of sharing and realtime reporting functionality built in--were to broadcast a cyclist's presence (based on GPS and communicating via cell), it could be really helpful in alerting drivers to a cyclist's presence the way it does with hazards. I'm picturing something a "Waze: cyclists beacon" app. It could trigger a voice alert on a phone from a distance, just like Waze already does with real-time alerts. Something like "Caution! Cyclists on road!"

Hmm.

Are you looking for a radical new product, or implementation of something that already exists?

To me, the development of a public use, cost effective bike repair stand/tools and spares vending machine (tubes, patch kits, maybe things like NUUN tablets, etc) that can be placed in remote locations along cycling paths would be awesome. I've seen numerous people walking bikes because they flatted and even if I wanted to help, I don't have the right size spare.

Topeak Road Morph G.

A Patent Search will tell you if any of it is a New Idea..

Amy of the "morph" type pumps that are like mini floor pumps can reach that pressure.

This.

Power could be a challenge, especially for modern credit-card type vending machines. Also not sure how tubes would age in heat?

Or just if more general businesses along trails couldn't be persuaded to carry a few items like patch kits and a couple common tube sizes.

Fortunately lucked out that the time I left all my food and electrolyte tabs on the kitchen table and discovered that only at the first rest stop, it was a weekday so the bike shop at my 2/3 point was open - got bars at pharmacies, but electrolyte tabs are rarer. Did spend a minute walking the vitamins aisle trying to see if there were something else that might work.

Or why towns that seem really proud of their tails won't put in water fountains / bottle filling stations. Even in really easy cases, for example, trail goes right next to town library that was formerly a railroad station, so one of those valve-inside-the-wall things could probably work and eliminate any freezing concern.

Something I've not yet figured out is what to shout out to someone walking a bike or tinkering with it along a trail - "you walking because you feel like it or because you're having trouble?" hasn't worked "you have what you need to deal with that?" barely. That said, "I wonder if he has tools?" is not generally what people think when they see me roll up atop a single giant tire.

I don't know. I'm still brokenhearted the ultimate banana carrier that jamisFan promised us hasn't come to fruition.

Yeah, that is what I was thinking when I specified "remote", although now I realize that probably didn't automatically convey my thoughts. You'd need something low draw enough that it could run off solar, and ideally connect to the cell network for credit cards. I suppose in all but the most remote of places, you'd generally have a road crossing at least every few miles that would presumably have some power lines running alongside, but self contained power would make it all the more attractive.

Although, I'm not certain 36" unicycle tubes would be a commonly stocked item even if the vending machines existed :thumb:

I was riding the other day and my garmin flashed "low battery". my mind was wondering or wandering on how to charge devices on bicycle (cell phone, garmin, lights) the usual is a magnetic generator, either in hub or roller on wheel, which steals watts. As I was rolling along at 25mph I thought maybe a small wind turbine generator utilizing an impeller. Not being a physics major and with no data, it seems it may be more efficient than a magnetic dyno charger?

Can we invent a device that eliminates horn-happy bad drivers?

A wind turbine is just another dynamo like the ones in hubs, except that it gets its input power from a propeller. And I'm guessing here, but I think you'd need a really big propeller to get useful power out of one at cycling speeds. Then its wind drag would slow you down that much more. I'd sooner go solar.

No, except in the case of a crosswind or during a rest stop on a windy day. Otherwise it's going to be creating more drag to overcome at the pedals for the energy produced, than a well made dynamo hub would.

Finally, a good application for your typical sci-fi swarm of nanites.

They could even leave the driver... as long as they digested the car.... and clothing.