How to Evolve Your Bike Into a Pokemon Go Hunter

Last Updated - Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Don’t want to walk? Then use your bike. Better, use your pokeBike.

Pokemon go, without a shadow of a doubt, is a delightful exploration augmented reality mobile game.

However, similar to earlier games in the Pokemon series, your experience gets a lot better if you don’t have to do all the walking by yourself.

In comes, a bike. Yeah, that’s right. You can’t use a car because in-game mechanics can actually detect the speed at which you cover distance and if that speed is way over the average walking or jogging speed of a human then the distance you travel doesn’t count towards hatching and evolving activities.

With a bike, you can catch Pokemon in less time but with more fun. A bike also allows you to go for longer trips and carry more supplies.

Here is how you can evolve your bike into the ultimate Pokemon hunting machine.

Now, before we go on to the actual guide, lets clear a couple of things first.

Holding your smartphone with one hand and riding a bike from the other, is the worst experience you can have while playing a video game, let alone Pokemon Go augmented reality game.

If you happen to follow our guide for how to to save your battery while playing Pokemon Go, you definitely would have a extra battery pack by now.

You know what? Riding a bike and charging your phone with a battery pack doesn’t work either. You battery pack will constantly try to fall out of your pocket because of your amateur steering ability on a bike.

Step 1: Get a Bike To Turn into a Pokemon Go Bike

Pokemon Go with a PokeBike is a marvelous experience.

Get a bike. Any bike will do. It doesn’t have to be the most expensive bike on Amazon because our guide will turn any ordinary looking bike into a PokeBike.

Generally, you would want to get one made by Schwinn. It should not cost you more than $180 if you know your way around a store like Amazon.

A foldable bike would no doubt make things easier but that’s not a requirement. But it is true that the more mobile your setup is, the more Pokemon you’ll be able to catch without stressing yourself out.

Pokemon Go augmented reality mobile game is all about mobility. You walk to catch Pokemon, hatch Pokemon and evolve Pokemon in order to become a Pokemon Go master trainer.

Why not take your Pokemon Go experience up a notch and buy a seat extension as well. Seat extensions allow you ride you bike with ease for hours at a stretch.

Don’t be shy with the seat extension though. If you do end up buying one, your back will thank you for it. That is a given.

Step 2: Mount a Smartphone on Your Pokemon Go Bike

pokemon_go_bike_4

So your bike is ready now. That’s the main body behind a Pokemon Go bike. Now you need an engine. The engine is a smartphone mounted on your Pokemon Go bike’s handlebars .

The reason you should always mount your smartphone near handlebars instead of on your legs or upper portion of your arms is that, by having a smartphone attached near handlebars, you’ll free up both your arms to control your bike.

You’ll also be able to look at your smartphone screen while riding a Pokemon Go bike without having to adjust your body. Great right?

You can buy one easily on Amazon for under $20 dollars so get searching. Read some reviews and get to it.

Try to buy the one that can accommodate a wide variety of smartphone sizes.

Step 3: Your Pokemon Go Backpack Contents

Your Pokemon Go Bag is the next item on the list.

You need a bag that mounts at the back of your Pokemon Go bike so your body doesn’t have to carry all that extra weight while your walking or riding your Pokemon Go bike.

That’s where a nice big cargo rack on the back of a bike will come in handy. Schwinn bikes, mostly, have this feature.

You can get a rear seat bag for under $20 dollars. Search for a bit on Amazon to buy one.

Ideally, the backpack should be waterproof and should have extra space for water bottles.

It would help if backpack also has some sort of reflective tape on it so you (and people looking at you) can see your bag (and yourself) at night clearly.

Don’t get discouraged if you already have a bike that doesn’t have a rear cargo rack. You can buy an extension for that under $15 from, Amazon.

Try to buy a variety that is weather resistant and can fit your future Pokemon Go bike.Otherwise you can always buy a saddle bag that snugs tightly under your seat

Well, a backpack on your rear seat basically completes the Pokemon Go bike setup. But there are a few extras that can come in handy too.

Long USB Power Cable

You’re going to need this in order to charge your mounted-phone from a battery pack that is in your backpack near the rear seat. The length of the cable should be six feet and not much longer otherwise it would interfere with your Pokemon Go bike’s wheels.

Safety Lights

You must buy one LED as a headlight and another LED for the back of your bike. Or you can simply install a small pedal powered light that doesn’t need any batteries. But that will put more load on your legs.

An Extra Small Bag

You could have a extra separate, and smaller, bag for things you might need on a regular basis. Instead of opening up your primary PokeBag, you could just put the things you think you would need to use more frequently in the smaller bag and place it near your handlebars.

Step 4: Assemble Your PokeBike

pokemon_go_bike_2

Put your battery packs into your primary PokeBag and mount it on your rear cargo rack. Or if you prefer a saddle bag then mount that wherever you feel like it wouldn’t fall off or interfere your movements.

Then, plug your long six foot USB cable into your battery pack and place the other end of the cable into your secondary mounted bag. Zip up the mounted bag in a way so that the USB cable wire is slightly sticking out.

We’ll run the cable later so leave that for now.

Now, you need to attach your smartphone mount to the handlebars of your bike. Common sense indicates that the mount should be at the center of the handlebars. But don’t sweat it if it isn’t in the center.

Make sure you place it in a way so that it doesn’t hamper your access to the brakes or handlebar grips.

Then place your smartphone in the amount.

Try to make the arrangement as comfortable as possible. You should be able to operate on your smartphone with your dominant hand while riding a bike.

Now, we come to the six foot long USB cable. Grab the charging USB cable and wrap it around your bike’s frame from start to finish (from the rear cargo rack towards your handlebars).

You need to be extra careful in ensuring that the wire is wrapped properly. It shouldn’t slag a lot (a little is okay as long as it helps you connect it to your smartphone)and should be close to the frame. You wouldn’t want the cable to get caught in your wheels or something.

After that, attach safety lights.

The headlights, as you’d expect, should go on the handlebars just opposite to where your smartphone is mounted.

The standard flashing LED should be placed at the back of your bike. Usually people mount it just under their seat.

You did attach your secondary smaller bag with a zip-tie to either side of you handlebars, right?

If you didn’t then go do that now.

Your secondary bag is the place where you’ll store some items you might need on a regular basis. Items such as small amounts of money, keys and a snack or two.

Bonus Step: How to Be Safe on Your PokeBike

Don’t do anything dumb by following these guidelines.

Wear non-noise cancelling headphones. Since you’ll be riding a bike, it is not recommended that you look at your phone every time there is a Pokemon or item alert.

Better to just hear sounds in your ear, and then stop, and then look at the phone to see what’s happening.

Do turn off game sounds before you do that though and also try to make do with just one earphone (or headphone) so that when you’re near a PokeStop, you’re able to get your alert as well as not miss other sounds from your environment.

Also, it is preferred that you turn of Augmented Reality feature of Pokemon Go when you’re moving.

Why? Because if you don’t, you’re going to have to unmount your phone every time you’re near a Pokemon or an item.

With AR feature on, you would have to point your phone towards the Pokemon or item in order to collect it. With AR off, you’d be able to do everything on your screen without having to remove it from its mount.

And don’t forget to actually stop when you want to use your phone for any purpose. Otherwise, you might get seriously hurt.

Needless to say, but don’t try to catch Pokemon or collect items from PokeStops or fight at PokeGyms when you’re riding on your bike.

Did we leave something out? Let us know in the comments.

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Zohair

Zohair is currently a content crafter at Technologypep and has been involved in the technology industry for more than a decade. He is an engineer by training and, naturally, likes to help people solve their tech related problems. When he is not writing, he can usually be found practicing his free-kicks in the ground beside his house.

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