Montreal-based Kickstarter project, “SmartHalo,” generating buzz with its brilliant simplicity for cyclists

It’s being touted as a “smart biking system” that lets you keep your eyes on the road and “turns any bike into a smart bike,” and for a Montreal-based startup, it’s starting to look like a gold mine on wheels.

Cyclists, meet SmartHalo.

The Canadian project is gaining momentum, and it’s easy to see why. Profiled in publications ranging from Fortune to Time Magazine to Gizmodo, SmartHalo, it seems, does just about everything a cyclist would want a handlebar-mounted computer/light/navigation aid to do, and does so in a simple, visual way. And yes, it can be described as all of the above.

Specifically, it’s designed for cyclists in urban centres — a description that an exhaustive, growing cross-section of Canadian cyclists fits, no doubt. Mounted securely to a rider’s handlebars with what’s described as a “military-grade” locking mechanism, the system offers a tantalizingly comprehensive range of functions, some of which seem downright ingenious.

As a navigation aid, the SmartHalo system works with your smartphone: input your destination, slip the phone into your pannier or jersey pocket, and the device reads your GPS data to determine the best, safest, most convenient route to wherever you’re going. Through the flashing of patterns indicating direction via its “light halo” — the defining visual feature of the device, hence its name — SmartHalo points the way, visually communicating through those patterns things like the degree of the turn you should be taking, whether a U-turn is necessary, and even a solid, steady pattern to indicate when you’ve arrived at your destination. When you’re leaving, it even tells your phone where you’ve parked — just in case you’ve forgotten.

Training, too, is facilitated by the system. A built-in cycling computer automatically begins reading your metrics — elevation, time, average speed, calories burned, and so on — as soon as foot meets pedal, uploading the data to the SmartHalo app that pairs your phone with the system. And if you set training goals through the app, the SmartHalo visually indicates how close you are to meeting or surpassing them, with a meter of your progress intuitively and simply displayed on the handlebar-mounted system.

The illuminated device can further be used as a “smart light,” automatically switching on as soon as sun sets to light a rider’s way with 250 lumens of power, and switching off on its own at the end of a ride. It notifies a rider of calls or messages, relays weather information, and even when a bike is parked, it functions as a security system. Internal motion sensors trigger an alarm when would-be thieves interfere, jostling the frame, for example. The security measures are then deactivated either when SmartHalo recognizes a rider’s phone as they approach, or — in the event of depleted batteries, perhaps — a rider taps the SmartHalo device with an individualized, Morse code-like “tap code,” one of the system’s most unique features.

Mounted to where stem meets handlebar, the system fits any bike from road bike to cruiser to cross-country. The ambitious, innovative product is, not surprisingly, in no danger of going unnoticed. With three days left to go in the SmartHalo campaign, its fundraising target of $67,000 has been surpassed six times.

As of press time, $438,873 CAD has been raised.