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TECH NEWS
BYB Tech Focus light two ridersA 5000 lumen bike light that weighs just 49g is crowdfunding on Kickstarter
Usually when we report on a luminous cycling product that is crowdfunding on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, it involves some sort of indicator or safety features that extend way beyond just lighting... and while BYB Tech's new Focus One light promises a ton of smart features and a beam that can pump out a massive 5000 lumen flash, less is more as the unit weighs a mere 49g.
> Find the best bike light for you: the road.cc beam comparison engine 2022
The Italian tech company are making some big claims here, and the device appears to be aimed mostly at road riders; although as shown in the video on the Kickstarter page, we see an electric mountain bike rider connect the light to his e-bike system for unlimited charge.
Lines include "be seen like a car!" and "we believe that bicycles deserve to be more visible on the road." Whether any amount of lighting or safety features are enough to prevent cyclists suffering the many collisions caused by dangerous motorists each year is another subject entirely; but the aim appears to be to give cyclists the option of deploying a high beam flash to alert potentially distracted drivers of their presence.
BYB Tech says Focus One is the "world's smallest 5000 lumens bike light" rather than the smallest out there (that would be something like the Bookman Block at a mere 13g) but we've not seen anything with this much beam strength in such a small package. The 5000 lumen claim is referring to the Focus One's ultra high-beam flash mode, that can be triggered by a small button on the unit itself or via the handlebar remote. You can use it up to 500 times on a single charge if you've set it to the max power; of course that means there's an app for the light, which allows you to customise modes and the strength of the beam.
The light can also be used with a steady state beacon constantly flashing for up to 20 hours at a time, and as a regular steady light in 'low-beam light' mode. We're not told exactly how many lumens this kicks out, but on a higher setting BYB Tech says "with the maximum intensity is possible to go for a night ride in the woods too."
Obviously multiple 5000 lumen flashes at night isn't going to make you hugely popular with oncoming traffic, but BYB Tech says a tilt sensor accessed via the app can tell you how dazzling or not your beam is going to be, help you find the right angle and "make Focus compliant to StVO rules" [lights that conform to German traffic regulations to avoid dazzling].
BYB Tech's founder Enrico Rodella also told us: "The light is totally personalizable and you can set the light power from (basically) zero to 5000 lumens (only in high-beam and beacon mode)."
The 49g weight is for the unit itself, not including the mounts or remote trigger. BYB Tech offers a number of mounting options, including a GoPro mount so you can attach it underneath your GPS, and also a quarter-turn option that is "compatible with most existing mounts." BYB Tech has also shared 3D models of the mounts as open-source files for users to create their own ideal solution.
Other features include the e-bike compatibility and a rear light mode should your main rear light run out. The claimed run time is up to 20 hours on flash and up to six hours in low-beam mode, and recharge time is just 15 minutes.
> Where are they now? 13 of the best, worst and wackiest cycling crowdfunders
This isn't BYB Tech's first Kickstarter rodeo, with the brand first taking to the crowdfunding platform for its telemetry system for mountain bikes and motocross. Claimed to be a world first, the system is made up of an accelerometer and gyroscope working with GPS to track the performance of your bike's components on the go, so you can identify issues and tweak them. It's tech that pros already had access to, mostly to monitor the performance of their suspension, but BYB Tech packaged this into a product regular consumers could buy too. It's not cheap at well over £1,000, but the Kickstarter was a success and the product is now on version 2.0.
If the Focus One sounds like the bike light for you, then there are still super earlybird backing options on the Kickstarter to save 50% on the eventual retail price of €249 (~£207). A backing of €125 (~£105) gets you a single Focus One unit, and you can get two for €229 (~£232). The crowdfunder will run until 25th April, with £2,104 pledged of the £16,599 target at the time of writing.
Check out the crowdfunding page here. All the usual Kickstarter rules and regulations apply which can be found here.
Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.
Latest Comments
- LordSandwich 5 hours 47 min ago
Yeah, I thought the fork bracket was a brilliant idea when I first saw it, because I don't like lying the bike down. Also, Zafira B middle seats...
- Quiddle 7 hours 15 min ago
In defence of Aldi, my local store posted notices inviting cycle owners to bring their bikes with them whilst shopping after a spate of bike thefts...
- chrisonabike 8 hours 12 min ago
If you haven't been it's recommended! An epicentre of beer diversity - there's probably nothing they haven't tried in the beer from spices to...
- David9694 8 hours 52 min ago
You and a friend have won first prize, a day out at Diddly Squat Farm.
- matthewn5 8 hours 59 min ago
Does not compute! If you ride a lot you're going to be boiling your chain every week or every fortnight.
- AidanR 9 hours 49 sec ago
Let's hope it's another 4 years until she tweets again
- Andrewbanshee 9 hours 28 min ago
Tbf where I live 2 way roads look exactly like the one pictured.
- Rendel Harris 9 hours 26 min ago
Unless your formative cycling years were in the '80s and you grew up copying the hand either side of the stem position of greats like Lemond and...
- john_smith 10 hours 25 min ago
You're right--that was the other one. The relevance is that people keep complaining about how damaging the platform is, yet they carry on using it.
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52 comments
That figure would just be plain stupid! I run 2k lms on my MTB off road, it's more than enough! And claiming it's 5k lms, total rubbish! And if it did manage 5k, the battery would have to be huge to get a least 3hrs burn time, as most of us would require! 🤦
Hello Von,
I'm Enrico the founder of this project.
As explained in the campaign, Focus is not intended to be used hours at 5000 lumens. Focus can emit a burst of light @ 5000 lumens. For example, you can flick your high-beam in specific situations (for example, a blind turn, a dangerous situation, etc...):
More than that, Focus can sustain a low light intensity for more hours.
Cheers
Enrico
I'm impressed; this light is something I've been wanting for years. Congratulations.
Thank you! Have a look at the campaign if you want, we just reached the goal by we're setting it for new stuff:
https://www.bybtech.it/focus
Cheers
Are they for real going to use micro-USB for this device?
Why not? every bike light I've used has micro-USB.. works for me.
Because it's old fashioned and sucks. Needs USB C.
Yup, that's true, and that's the problem - because everything else* has moved over to USB-C. So I have to swap and juggle cables, remember to pack that extra cable on travels, etc, just for the bike lights. It's a faff to be honest, and more than a faff when I forget. So given a choice, I ain't buying no micro-usb nuffink no more!
* except iPhone, but who has one of those?
Hello,
thank you all for the feedback. We decided to move to the USB.C. No problem at all! You can have a look at the updates here: https://www.bybtech.it/focus
Cheers
Enrico
Hello,
we'll use the USB-C. We received a lot of feedbacks about it. No problem at all.
You can have a look at the updates here: https://www.bybtech.it/focus
Cheers
Kickstarter? wahahahhahahahahahaha
If it can do 2k lumens for 3hrs I'd be all over it. I also don't believe the figures.
Hello Prosper,
I'm Enrico the founder of this project.
As explained in the campaign, Focus is not intended to be run hours at 5000 lumens. Focus can emit a burst of light @ 5000 lumens. For example, you can flick your high-beam in specific situations (for example, a blind turn, a dangerous situation, etc...):
More than that, Focus can sustain a low light intensity for more hours.
Cheers
Enrico
Hi Enrico, the kickstarter says your light will do 800 lumens for 6+ hours, is that correct, and the chanrging time will be approx 15minutes?
If not could you tell me what time the 800 lumens brghtness will run for? and what brightness it can do for 3 hours?
Hi,
thanks for pointing it out. Thanks to its compact (& drones derived) battery we can provide a super-fast charge. Basically, you can charge your light when you dressing for the ride. 15mins to top-up.
We have a smartphone app that let you choose the exact amount of light you want (there's a scrollbar from 0 to 100) and the corresponding battery duration is live updated. I can try to attach a screenshot of the app here:
In the current setup, we are able to range the low-beam lifetime from 1/1.5h to 6h+. The intensity ranges from 200 to 800 lumens. You can fine-tune and customize your intensity vs battery duration according to your needs.
You can see the progress of the campaign here and text us messages from here as well: https://www.bybtech.it/focus
If you need further info, drop us a line
Cheers
Enrico
Thanks, I need 3-3.5 hours at 500+ lumens so This might not be for me, I'd be interested in a bigger capacity version if you ever do one.
Hi check12,
the light intensity to do 3 hours is actually set to 400/450 lumens.
Considering the super-compact it's a lot. We're confident of increasing the battery life slightly.
You can always link Focus to an external battery/power bank and selecting the "External battery option" from the smartphone app.
Cheers
Enrico
When power LED's first came out, I made my own light out of three Lumiled LUXONs bolted to a computer processor heatsink that I cut in half. It looked a bit like this.
Also, if it does any sort of flashing, it's not StVZO compliant, as flashing is verboten!
Correct, flashing lights are not allowed but a recent change to the German law means StVZO-approved lights can include a high-beam mode. In other words, they enable the rider to switch from the StVZO cut-off setting to a more powerful full beam when needed.
Ah, good point!
Christ! Does it work off cold fusion or something?
Isn't there something a bit odd about a pricing model where two units (€279) cost more than twice as much as a single unit (€125)?
The Early Bird Duo pledge is €229.
(My advice is to not go for electronic based KickStarter products unless it's a known and trusted company - though they seem to have produced BYB Telemetry successfully).
Ah - it's been corrected, though only the Euro figure so it now says "A backing of €125 (~£105) gets you a single Focus One unit, and you can get two for €229 (~£232)." I know we're not doing great but don't think the pound has quite dropped below parity with the Euro yet!
Extremely bright lights are the cycling version of the 4x4.
A very small number of people actually need them.
Most people have no need for one whatsoever and needlessly make life unpleasant and dangerous for other road users.
I'm sick of being blinded by inconsiderate people on my commute.
Does it not depend on how and where the beam is focused (and the angle it is fixed to the bike at) ?
I might be getting this wildly wrong - but surely if you have a 5000 lumen light to be seen, only to have to point it downwards to not blind people, couldn't you simply have a lower lumen light pointed straight ahead?
In short - isn't this all a bit pointless?
I think the general idea is, is that you wouldnt be running it at a constant 5000 lumens at all. Only using it for flicking your high beams like when youre behind the wheel of a car and either giving way to another vehicle or saying thank you etc etc.
Most of the time you'll be using it at the lower power ranges 300-800lumens (though i dont think the battery will actually last as long as they claim)
.
Saying 'thank you'?
.
I'm a cyclist: how DARE you?!!
.
I've never really understoud this - saying "thank you" to another motorist by temporarily blinding them. I find a better option is to blink the lights off (i.e. drop to side lights or daylight running lights).
One change I would like to see made to highway code is to change the advice in rule 115 - there's no need to have dipped headlights turned on at night to be seen on a lit road. Side lights
or daylight running lightsare more than sufficient. Generally cycle lights only need to be so bright, because they need to compete with the glare motor vehicle headlights (which results in other lights being almost invisible). BTW I like how some motor manufacturers have picked up on the fact that their daylight running lights are brighter than their indicators, and now turn off the light on one side when indicating.*edit daylight running lights probably produce more glare than dipped headlights
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