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South African crowd-sourced project has cyclists’ backs

A South African company, iKubu, has launched a Dragon Innovation campaign to complete a gadget that will make riding bikes on roads everywhere safer than it is at the moment. It’s called the Backtracker, and it helps cyclists become more aware of what’s going on around them by “watching” their backs.

Dragon Innovation is a Kickstarter alternative that asks web users worldwide to open their wallets to fund various projects. iKubu hopes to raise $226 000 (around R2.4 million)  through the service in order to complete the Backtracker and get it into production and into the hands of bikers the world over.

According to the project’s page, “Backtracker gives you the speed and distance of rear approaching vehicles from up to 150 yards (140m) away. In addition to increasing cyclist awareness, it also alerts cars to your presence through an intelligent backlight system.”

That backlight system was further explained in the video posted to the Dragon Innovation page: it flickers faster and faster the closer a rear-approaching vehicle gets, which should serve to make drivers aware of the bike’s presence early enough to help avoid collisions. 

If you get on board early enough (like now) you can snag a Backtracker for $149 (around R1 600), and after those early bird specials are gone, the price rises to $199 (R2 150 or so) per unit. There are an additional four options that business people, developers and bulk buyers can take advantage of.

At the time of writing they’ve raised just over $6 000, but the campaign still has 57 days to go so there’s plenty of time to get the word out.

Want to check it out? The Backtracker’s Dragon Innovation page can be found here, and we’ve posted their pitch video below for your convenience below:

[Image, Source – Dragon Innovation]

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