Lighten up: Alternative bicycle illumination

With less than two weeks before the clocks go back, and cycle commuters are plunged into darkness on their journeys home from work, behold these unorthodox alternatives to traditional bicycle lights.

It's in the bag

Myung Su Lee has designed a rucksack and bum bag that incorporate a rear light, turn signal and indicate when the bike is coming to a stop. The design even allows riders an element of creativity - a handlebar-mounted controller allows the rider to display a message of their choice.

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Flash Jackets

The Sporty Superheroe illuminated cycling jacket has 64 LED lights sewn into its fabric that light up in different colours when its wearer accelerates, brakes or banks to make a turn.

The organic cotton jacket can also be made to flash when a call comes in to the wearer’s smartphone.

The Sporty Superheroe jacket forms part of a menswear collection by the Utope Project– a partnership between designer Wolfgang Langeder and stretchable circuit experts Fraunhofer IZM.

Most of us plump for a cycling jacket that simply keeps out the wind and rain, but it doesn’t stop designers devising increasingly complex features.

Speed vest

American inventor Brady Clark devised a tabard that displays the wearer’s speed on their back in large, illuminated numerals.

The Speed Vest forgoes GPS, using instead a sensor on the wheel and a micro controller that calculates the speed. Mr Clark was curious to know if putting more information in front of drivers might increase their awareness of cyclists.

https://youtu.be/ngCatznaSKo

Wearable lights

This cycling jacket with built-in indicator lights operated by a switch on each cuff was put together with off-the-shelf electronics. The lighting system does not make the jacket cumbersome to wear as the components are lightweight, almost flat and connected by conductive thread rather than wires. Leah Buechley designed the Turn Signal Bike Jacket while teaching an ‘e-textiles’ project at Shih Chien University in Taiwan

Every cycle insurance policy from the ETA includes new-for-old replacement if your bike is stolen, cover for accidental damage (race events included), third party insurance (in the case of an accident you may need to seek compensation or even deal with a claim by someone else), personal accident cover and, if you breakdown, we will even come out and recover you and your bike.