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TECH NEWS
Veglo 10Commuter X4 bike light included in British Inventors' Project at Gadget Show Live
The Commuter X4, a new bike light designed by the victim of a cycling accident, has been shortlisted in the Top 20 of the British Inventors’ Project at next week's Gadget Show Live 2014.
Veglo was founded by cyclist Ed Ward after he was knocked off his bike and thrown into a four-way junction in London.
The rear light is designed to allow drivers to judge distance, width and speed accurately and quickly by the shape it creates with a central light and four fibre optic light guides. It can be worn over a backpack (up to 35 litres) or directly on your shoulders.
The device, which is USB-rechargeable and water-resistant, has multiple flash and fade settings with various output levels for power saving. The straps are reflective when you're not using the fibre optic options.
Veglo will be showing a range of products at the Gadget Show. Other products being presented are a mounted front and rear lightset and helmet beacon, both currently in their development stage.
The lightset is designed to grab the attention of drivers when in their blind spot and the helmet beacon is designed to pulse-light up and along the side of HGVs, alerting drivers to the close proximity of a cyclist who is out of sight.
“I’ve designed these lights as an enthusiastic cyclist and as someone who has already suffered the dangers of city cycling,” says Ed Ward, founder of Veglo. “I know personally that one of the biggest causes of accidents is poor visibility in heavy traffic.
"Cyclists need to be as obvious as possible because visibility is the simplest and most effective key to cycling safety. I’m hugely excited to be launching these lights because I really believe they will make the roads a safer place for cyclists and drivers.”
Veglo will be showcasing its products with the British Inventors’ Project at the Gadget Show Live 2014 from 9-13 April 2014 at the NEC Birmingham.
For more info go to Veglo's website where you can reserve the Commuter X4 for when production versions become available.
The Plume recoiling mudguard that we told you about last year is included in the British Inventors’ Project too.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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12 comments
I'm going to fit sharks with laser beams to the back of my bike, see how they like that!
Some interesting points made, tied in with the usual cynical attitudes. The point about design helping to improve driver perceptions of distance , width and speed sounds interesting. It isn't just about driver observation, it is also about driver judgement.
Comments on this forum about Hi-Viz vs Reflective suggest the designer took note!
Agreed that the light is likely to point upwards if on your back or backpack. Perhaps a method of adjusting the angle could be designed in.
I reckon the cyclist in the photo doesn't have rear lights on because they need to show the effectiveness of the product. If I had one of these I wouldn't take the 2 rear lights off my bike.
Yes, we need better infrastructure, improved driver skills and attitudes etc, but I'd be inclined to do what I can to improve my safety whilst waiting the 10-20 years for those things to happen.
Cheer up folks - life's too short!
Great - a light that's a faff to put on every time you ride, and points up at the sky.
If the nobber-driver isn't looking it doesn't matter if the rear light is designed to allow drivers to judge distance, width and speed accurately and quickly by the shape it creates with a central light and four fibre optic light guides or not.
The nobber-driver still won't see you.
From the thumbnail I was expecting this to fit over a helmet in a truly comedy way
Great idea. The more eye-catching you can make your lighting setup (which *doesn't* mean making it flash) the better for visibility.
Safety contraptions are fine, not as good as a big pair of reflective leg bands and 2 flashing lights on the bike (not pointing to the sky half the time) but fine. But let me fix the idiot blame-the-cyclist sales pitch:
Lucky flashing light harnesses have no effect on driver safety, as far as I can see.
The chap in the photos has no back light pointing rearward, just the novelty light pointing skyward.
It's a bit of a faff for my tastes. I wish Ortleib/Dueter/Alpkit etc etc would just start stitching MOLLE panels on to the back of all the kit they make and then you could shove what you like on there such as pumps, lights, glowsticks etc etc
PALS is under patent until 2016. Who knows, they might start doing it then, maybe with reflective webbing. I'm not convinced though eg panniers don't want them on the rider facing side for foot clearance. A Carradice with no side pockets and PALS all over instead... that might work.
The bit that is under patent is probably the tab keeper system that goes on the back of pouches you add on, it's pretty hard to patent the simple fabric tabs sewn on to the back of something, Camelbak do packs with tabs on, Karrimor do them, maxpedition do them as well, even Nike do a teenagers school/sports bag with them on the back now so patent should not be an issue.
Surely one April fools story is enough???
If this isn't an absolute piss take of a price then I am definitely in.