My cell phone generally runs out of juice after three hours when the GPS is actively in use, which is the scenario when I’m tracking my bike rides. Engineers Aaron Latzke & David Delcourt in San Francisco designed this clever USB charging system that inserts over your bicycle rear wheel axle between the fork and the hub. It looks like they’ve thought of everything.
(At first I freaked out when I saw that women using her Kryptonite New York Lock on the top tube but then I noticed the locking skewer for her wheels, so she’s good.)
If my math is correct and the claims from Siva are accurate, it looks like this Siva Cycle Atom USB charger pulls a hair over 3 watts of power from my legs. I think I can sacrifice 1½% of my cycling effort on a long ride to keeping my phone charged.
Details at Kickstarter here. Via Kevin Shutt in Florida.
I like how easy it is to install.
That’s one of the better KS projects I’ve seen in a while. There were previously some bike lights that mount in this way, so they definitely didn’t invent this type of generator, but they seem to have adapted it nicely for USB use. I’d be weary of their water resistance claims, since unless you have special USB plugs, water will seep in and I wouldn’t want this getting wet.
I’m holding out for the Luxos. Crazy awesome headlight upgrade for those of us with dynamo hubs, and the new Luxos from B&M has a USB port built in.