The idea behind Lumenus LED illuminated smart clothing is to light you up when you’re on the road. But it also features a smartphone app that allow cyclist to customize the lighting and let the lights know exactly where you’re going (using some of the lights for automatic turn signals).
“As a commuter cyclist I have felt unsafe for years on the roads, especially during the early morning hours or after sunset. When the sun goes down, my guard has to come up,” said founder Jeremy Wall. “While reflective elements are essential, they require direct light to illuminate them which is often too late. Lumenus blends smart active lighting and 3M™ Scotchlite™ reflective, creating maximum visibility in all conditions. Existing safety gear just isn’t cool, so creating pieces that fit your lifestyle off the road, while saving your life on it, is at the heart of Lumenus.”
Wonder if they can add a blinding white flash for cars that get too close. That would be a quality feature. Lumenus is live on Kickstarter. Follow the jump for all the details.
The Smith Overtake (currently our favorite race helmet) just won a 2015 Red Dot Award which is a pretty big deal.
Following the phenomenal success of the Forefront all-mountain helmet, the brand was recently honored again for its holistic approach to product design with the prestigious international 2015 Red Dot Award for the new Overtake cycling helmet. With almost 5,000 entries from 56 countries, the Red Dot Award – bestowed by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany – is the largest and most recognized product competition in the world.
Good to know we have an award winning helmet, especially one made with a material that absorbs 30% more energy than traditional EPS foam helmets. For the official word from Smith, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Before running out and grabbing a new kit with your favorite sponsors’ logos plastered all over it, please take a minute to cruise the newest offerings from the Chicago based Ten Speed Hero crew.
Aside from the full line of cycling equipment Louis Garneau’s company creates, he is also a remarkable fine artist. Garneau recently put his talents to work to raise money for Team Rwanda.
Painting in a necessary outlet for me,” Garneau says. “It lets me express feeling and share life experiences. It is also a way for me to give back. Thus, faced with the sheer size of the help necessary to make a difference, I decided to paint the HOPE series, a collection of 12 paintings of which 4 have already been sold at the price of $20,000 each.”
Garneau then donated the money, $80,000 to the Rwanda National Cycling Team to help them “grow through their sport and continue the work of hope for the Rwandas who follow their feats and are able to dream.”
Yeah, it seems a little like overkill, but just think how many bikes would be spared the humiliation of being stolen if they’d install one of these on every block in Manhattan.
People For Bikes, the organization dedicated to improving bicycling in the United States, has a new partner in the form of our favorite on-bike food, Clif Bar.
The mission of PeopleForBikes is to improve bicycling in the U.S. by collaborating with individuals, businesses and communities. CLIF Bar recognizes that safety on American roadways needs to be improved in order to further encourage bicycling as a more popular mode of transportation. One key solution is developing protected bike lanes that provide physical separation between cars and bikes on the roadway. According to the Chicago Department of Transportation, cities around the U.S. have found that protected bike lanes increase bicycle ridership, reduce motor vehicle speeding, reduce crashes and improve people’s feelings of safety on those streets. CLIF Bar and PeopleForBikes have a long-term interest in working to bring new opportunities for safer, accessible biking in communities across the nation.
For the official word from Clif Bar, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Interesting tweak on suspension from and Israeli wheelchair designer. It’s called SoftWheel and it puts the suspension between the rim and the hub. Not sure what keeps the front wheel from blasting up into the forks, but it seems like it could be a less bulky way to soften the ride without adding much weight.
[Link: Softwheel]
. . . all the essentials for fixing your most common bike headaches. The Nutter combines all the tools you need when out riding into one simple unit. Its unique design and distinctive form turns the tool into a handle, giving you more leverage than other multi tools on the market. The tool weighs just 110g or 3.9oz.
And they’re probably right. But look how pretty this tool is? Wouldn’t it look nice strapped to the bars of your fendered, Brooks saddled city bike? Of course it would. And it costs only £39.99. Leather pouch included.
We catch ourselves looking down on other people nearly every time we ride our bikes, but Benny Zenga really is looking down on everyone from such great heights.
[The prize-winning flight,] which lasted 64 seconds and reached a maximum altitude of 3.3 meters… came at the very end of five days of test flights [at an indoor soccer stadium near Toronto], after which the space would no longer be available.
And it only cost $170,000 (or something like that). Looks like there are some issues still to work out.