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Truly Innovative Locks and Lighting: Commuter Bits and Pieces from the International Bicycle Design Competition

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We’ve been trickling in some pretty cool designs from the International Bicycle Design Competition, such as braking news and helmet signals.  To add to that, let’s take a look at three new lighting and two new locking concepts that are just cool enough to put you somewhere between Batman and Data from The Goonies.

First up, Alight. a retractable rear light that not only offers a large, highly visible green light, but it turns red when braking and flashes yellow when turning.  As you can probably see form the picture, the Alight attaches to the rear axle and coils up under the seat when not in use.  It doesn’t appear to be very cumbersome, but it’d be nice to see how it’s powered and how drivers react to it.

Click through for more fun stuff.

In the same vein as the Alight, the Glow Rider is another interesting way to be seen from behind.  It’s a taillight, a flashlight, and a laser worthy of the coolest superheroes and hottest raves.
By projecting a laser image onto the back of the rider, the Glow Rider maximizes visible area and lets drivers know just how cool cyclists are.  Again, I’d love to see how drivers react to this one.
Now to harvest the power of wind, twice.  This little wind power bike light uses head on wind while the bike is in motion to charge three AAA batteries, which in turn power its LED light, AND, now just wait for this one, a personal fan that can be turned on when you stop at traffic lights.  No blind headers into potholes by night, no sweaty face by day, and no charging, nice!  The question with this one, however, is about how far would you have to pedal in order to recharge those batteries?  Of course the nice thing about conventional batteries is backups are a breeze.

And onto locks:

This first one is more of a deterrent than a true lock, but the anti-theft pedal is a neat idea.  The two sides of the pedal slide down around the chainstay so the bike can’t be pedaled.  I’ve heard of guys dropping their chain when running into a store as a sort of deterrent if they don’t have a lock on them; this pedal takes it one step further.

And last, but not least, the Drinlock:

A bottle cage that can be uncoiled to pull double function as a lock, hmm.  Again, more of a deterrent than a true lock given how thin it must be, but a heck of a lot better than the chain drop trick.

 

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David
David
10 years ago

Practical lights, the rest goes into discount reduced bin

Tandumb
Tandumb
10 years ago

Because when I’m looking over my shoulder to you know, avoid a collision, the first thing I want is a laser beam in my face.

kyle
kyle
10 years ago
Lance
Lance
10 years ago

I want that wind power thing. Who is working on it and when do the expect it to come to market? I just like gadgets that make people stop and say Wow, where did you get that!

uglyyeti
uglyyeti
10 years ago

@kyle – The Kuat bottle is the lock. The one above, the cage is the lock, so you could still drink from the bottle. Not that it’s better, but it is completely different.

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