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TECH NEWS
Kickstarter: Three cycling projects seeking funding
Kickstarter, the crowd-funding website, has proved a popular place for designers and inventors to pitch new cycling products in the last couple of years, and here are three of the best projects on there right now. In this roundup both Infinity Pedal and Double O lights and Cyckit's saddle bag are nearing the end of their pledging period.
Cyckit minimalist saddle bag
There are plenty of saddle bags on the market but Pat Reardon from New Zealand thought he could do better, and this super slim design certainly looks a good improvement on many of the less-than-svelte bags if you want a minimalist bag for the essential.
It’s made from 2mm thick tough injection moulded plastic and is waterproof. It fits to the saddle with a single 4mm bolt. There is no zipper, instead a rubber latch provides quick and easy access to the contents. And it’s light, at a claimed 109g.
Most importantly are its svelte looks, it’s obviously a minimalist bag for racing bikes for carrying just the essentials, freeing up your jersey pockets for more food. You can fit a tube, tyre levers, gas canister and small multitool inside, and everything is designed to fit very snugly so there’s no space for anything to rattle.
They’re looking for $20,000 of backing with $3,335 currently pledged, with eight days remaining. More info
MöBIUS Cycling Infinity pedal
We covered the Kickstarter launch of the MöBIUS Cycling Infinity pedal, an extremely minimalist and lightweight pedal design. It’s the creation of engineer Sam Hunter, his first cycling product, who set out to design a pedal that is really simple to use.
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He's certainly succeeded in creating one of the lightest pedal systems around, the regular steel version weighing just 236g, and that’s including the cleats. A titanium version will drop the weight down to a claimed 190g.
As you know with Kickstarter, none of the projects become reality if they don't’ succeed in hitting their pledge goal. That's why we're mentioning this project again, Sam is currently at $83,867 of an $85,000 goal, with just 26 hours to go.
Double O magnet LED lights
Another project that is close to its goal (but could do with an extra push) is the Double O. The donut-shaped lights attach to a cradle via magnets, so they can be removed very easily. That’s handy when you’re locking your bike up and don’t want to return to find your lights have been stolen - you can remove them easily and take them away with you.
The mounts fix sturdily to the handlebars or seatpost and the Double O light snaps into place with strong magnets. The designers are confident the lights won’t fall off with the first pothole you ride through: “We have done extensive tests to ensure that the magnets are robust enough and the lights stay on.”
They’ve even tested the lights by riding down steps, which while not conclusive by any means, does show they’re reasonably well attached to not rattle off at the first sign of some excessive vibration.
The lights offer three modes (steady, flashing and eco) with a run time claimed to be between 2 and 10 hours. The front light pumps out 80 lumens while the rear light provides 45 lumens, so they’re very bright. They charge via USB in just 1.5 hours.
They currently have 19 hours remaining to reach their $75,000 goal, with $72,059 currently pledged at the time of writing.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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22 comments
David Cameron doesn't need to ...... etc etc
Lance Armstrong doesn't need to feign he didn't intravenously dope while clipping in during his video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design.
Batfink really doesn't need to feign invulnerability in clipping in during his video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design.
Kim Kardashian really doesn't need to feign insipidity in clipping in during her video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design
Lieutenant Dan really doesn't need to feign invalidity by clipping in during his video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design.
God really doesn't need to feign omnipotence in clipping in during his video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design
This could be the best thread ever... .
Pele really doesn't need to feign impotence in clipping in during his video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design.
Paula Radcliffe really doesn't need to feign incontinence in clipping in during her video to highlight the benefits of her pedal design
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Boutros Boutros Ghali really doesn't need to feign incompetence in clipping in during his video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design
Samwise Gamgee Hunter really doesn't need to feign incompetence in clipping in during his video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design
Jeez it is difficult isn't it?
Islington Hunter really doesn't need to feign incompetence in clipping in during his video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design
Islam Hunter really doesn't need to feign incompetence in clipping in during his video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design
Ian Hunter really doesn't need to feign incompetence in clipping in during his video to highlight the benefits of his pedal design
Saddlebag looks pretty neat to me, light can't be a good idea though...plus lights are fairly easy to take off anyway, why the magnet.
Something I will say about magnetic mounts, from real experience troubleshooting a product design. It's still difficult to make them of consistent power, there's a certain amount of voodoo that goes into the metallurgy from one batch to another which leads to a lot of variation in field strength once they are cut up into small individual lumps.
If you design a product mount or sensor, you have to include a large margin of error as you can suddenly receive a supply that's much less powerful than those before. Of course, then you can have the problem that users might find them too powerful.
Also that cyckit bag is crying out for a built in rechargeable tail light.
Those lights look all well and good if you're pootling about the cycle paths but I don't fancy their chances of not being bounced off the minute you're mixing it with traffic on a typically crappy UK road surface. I know this because I experimented with magnetic mounting and couldn't get it to work reliably, despite using some incredibly strong magnets. I have no doubt the guy's better at designing one than I am, but I still can't see that mount being reliable enough for serious use.
I do like the lights, bit pricey for me at the moment, as I have 1 x 2000 lumen and 2 x 1000 lumens on the front. Don't think I need more.
Was shocked to see that table of lights in London.
What table of lights?
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/795/038/4df1829d8a9017e9dca3e968...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1238747394/double-o-a-simple-safe-s...