This GPS Speedometer Hangs Off Your Handlebars

If you can ride a bike with no handlebars, no handlebars, no handlebars, you can do just about anything. You can take apart a remote control, and you can almost put it back together. You can listen in on a two meter repeater and you can build a GPS module speedometer. That’s what [Jeremy Cook] did with just a few parts, a little 3D design, and some handy zip ties to hold it onto the handlebars, the handlebars.

The electronics for this build are relatively simple, based on an Arduino Pro Mini because that’s just about the smallest readily available development board you’ll be able to find. To this is a LiPo, a LiPo charging circuit, a GPS module, and a single RGB LED. The code gets some data from the GPS module and figures out a speed. This is then translated into a color — red, yellow, or green depending on whether you’re stationary, below 5 km/h, or above 5 km/h.

All these electronics are stuffed into a 3D-printed enclosure. The majority of the enclosure is printed in black, with a translucent top that serves as a great diffuser for the LED. Just two zip ties hold this GPS speedometer onto the handlebars, and from the video below, everything looks great. The GPS module does take some time to get data at first, but that’s a common problem with GPS units that have been powered off for a few days. If only someone made a GPS module that could keep time with no metronome, with no metronome.

9 thoughts on “This GPS Speedometer Hangs Off Your Handlebars

  1. It is by steppers alone I set my printer in motion. It is by gcode that extruders acquire speed, the print acquires layers, layers become a boatie. It is by steppers alone I set my printer in motion.

  2. Oh man, love the Flobots reference(s). I forgot how much I love that song! :)
    Nice project, too, although I feel like the usefulness is somewhat diminished by the lack of a real display.
    A simple LCD with an actual number would be a huge improvement, at least to my technical mind.

  3. Generally nice idea and execution. But the GPS patch antenna is aimed inwards, at the adjacent battery pack! He had it oriented outwards during the test fit. If there’s an issue with acquisition time, it might be related to antenna obstruction.

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