Vanhawks (YC W15) Raises $1.6M to Help Put the Valour Smartbike on the Road

Something I'd like to add, what's greatly missing in the bicycle world to me is a smart bicycle helmet. My current setup involves:

  * Bell Muni helmet
  * with rear and front flea lights
  * front GoPro
  * jawbone which falls all the time
  * Rudy project glasses with chromatic lenses

We're already talking about over $500 and 4 different batteries.

I have seen some attempts at smart bike helmets, but none doing it right.

Also, I second that the rear proximity sensors and haptic feedback are likely to be a gimmick, I would drop the navigational indicators and place a built-in anti-theft tracker instead. Besides they are easily confused with turn signals for a buyer looking at the bike for the first time.

As an experienced San Francisco city rider, rear sensors are a gimmick as you learn to grow eyes on your back and you already see these things, or it is too late. What matters though is a front camera first, rear camera maybe.

Hey Mcbain!

Thanks for the comments and feedback!

Our bike can be equipped with off the shelves fenders and rack mounts. :)

All of our cables are internally routed.

We suggest you routes for your way as we collect data from people around you, giving you best route suggestions aka waze alike. :)

I congratulate anyone that can get funding toward making their dream real. However after spending a year riding an electrically powered bike, I would be curious how this will address/handle the following things that finally caused me to hang up my wheels:

1) As you get older, particularly if you work in tech, you will notice your wrists, elbows, and shoulders getting a little sore. Ergonomics can go some way toward minimizing that, but riding a bike in any kind of traffic will put a lot more strain on you. Any kind of cushioning/shock absorbers/breaks?

2) Mentioned the electric assist. Is that going to be an option for these, or is your audience only folks who can ride a regular bike from day 1? A number of folks I've run into wanted to switch to a bike from their car, particularly during nice weather, but wanted some assurance they wouldn't get exhausted halfway there. The assist made it possible for me.

3) In the same vein, some way to fold this so it can be carried in a small car or some special rack so it can be carried by car? Particularly for a commuter audience I would think you would want the ability to hop a car or bus or train for part of the ride?

4) Lights rechargable? How many recharge cycles? Batteries replaceable for the lights/sensors/bluetooth?

5) Someone has already mentioned a smart helmet. I know there are a couple companies working on those, but are y'all working with any of them to incorporate a handshake so you can possibly trigger things at the best time?

6) Lastly, any thoughts to collision avoidance signals for other traffic? Something where it senses a car or other vehicle is getting too close and either hits the horn or flashes a light(s) to try and get the driver's attention?

Thanks in advance for your time.

Hey Ewan + Allgood38!

Thanks for the comments and feedback! :)

1) We use ergonomic grips and saddle from Ergon!

2) the bike is not paddle assist, we might have something in the future though ;).

3) No way to fold it but you can carry this on a bus, train or a car easily on a bike rack.

4) yes they are chargeable!

5) We will look more into this forsure. :)

6) yup! Thanks for the suggestion! Will look into it more!

This seems like an expensive way to replace smartphone + google maps + earbuds. As far as I can tell from the article (which was pretty much silent on the product), it does not address any of my problems with bicycles: 1) US cities are too spread out 2) Biking up hills feels like it takes a lot more energy than just walking up them, so I generally don't bike anywhere that has hills (= I guess I'll just take a car, then). Maybe fancy $1000 bikes zoom up the hills, but I don't want to spend that much. I've already got a car... 3) My destination usually does not have showers, which is a problem when the temperature is 90 - 105 deg F for a large portion of the year. 4) The most direct roads sometimes have cars speeding by at 45 - 60 mph; not safe. In Austin, one of the popular biking routes has one biker killed every year; I don't really want to be part of that statistic.

I would love to bike, but frankly, I'm kind of lazy (especially regarding the hills). I would be interested in an affordable bike that mitigated some of these problems, though.