CydeKick Helps Turn Pedals into Power

Increased environmental awareness. Annoying traffic congestion. Vehicle maintenance headaches. All of these represent incentives to find alternate modes of transportation. Now, Spinetics, Inc. is pushing their own nifty invention aimed at making bicycle travel—and smartphone usage—even more convenient.

Spinetics has developed a bicycle generator and battery, dubbed the CydeKick. It consists of a generator that attaches to the rear gear of the bicycle, and harnesses the kinetic energy from the rider’s pedaling into electrical energy.

If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. For many years there have been headlight attachments for bikes that convert pedals into light. The difference is that in this older technology, the energy dissipated instantly; there was no way of storing it. This is the new offer of the CydeKick. It works much in the same way a car battery works, using kinetic energy from the wheels’ motion to charge a battery, which can thus store that energy to be used at a later time.

Where it gets interesting is what riders can choose to do with that power. There is a standard headlight and tailgate on the CydeKick, which, unlike the older models discussed above, is not directly dependent on the rider’s pedals; the light can stay on even when the bike is not moving.

What really has the tech world buzzing, however, is the USB outlet that comes integrated in the CydeKick unit. Riders can use the stored energy generated from their pedaling to charge their smartphones, GPS units, cameras, or any other device that connects to a USB port. While the thought of converting kinetic energy into electrical energy is nothing new, up until now no one has been thought to store energy for an extended period of time, or make it available to charge mobile devices. For an added boost, the unit can be plugged into the wall, like a backup battery, to yield even more juice.

CydeKick provides an ideal solution for the mobile urban dweller, constantly out and about on business but also loathe to drive around or rely on public transit. It allows people to use their personal bicycles for travel and also maintain power for their mobile devices at the same time.