#revolight

Bike safety gets a futuristic look with Revolights

Fitting on to the wheels of your bike, Revolights offers a variety of lighting options, including a smart brake light that senses when you are slowing down and a legal headlight. These are powered by rechargeable battery packs that can be removed and charged over microUSB.

However the starring feature of the pack are four narrow LED rings – two white, two red – that are attached to the wheels. The lights shine out in front of the tyres, lighting your way, and an integrated accelerometer means the lights will only illuminate when they are oriented at the front and rear of the bike.

You can snap the lights on to your wheels – Revolights Skyline – or buy a set with the Revolights installed, which is more expensive. They are theft and weather resistant too (unless the wheel can be removed). And as an added bonus, they look really, really good. revolights.com

Source: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/tech-tools-bike-safety-gets-a-futuristic-look-with-revolights-1.2313763

#revolights running solid at -18 wind chill in the sticky slush pic.twitter.com/pVATSvGwzR

Reinventing the Wheel

A San Francisco company manages to make road safety cool

SAN FRANCISCO – Mechanical engineer Kent Frankovich didn’t like what he was seeing with his bike headlight. Rather, he didn’t like what he wasn’t seeing: Because of where lights are usually mounted—up high, on the handlebars—cyclists tend to get a poor view of obstacles in the road.  

The solution: two rings of wheel-mounted LED lights that are fed orientation and speed data, enabling them to blink on when they’re facing forward and off when they’re not, so as not to blind the rider. Frankovich had essentially turned his front wheel into one big glowing headlight.

“When I made the prototype, I realized how visible it ended up making me,” he says, “So I quickly made a taillight to match it.”

In 2010, Frankovich teamed up with Adam Pettler—a former biotech worker looking for investment opportunities—and the two developed a business plan. Thanks to a few viral videos that made cyclists slicing through dark San Francisco streets look like something out of Tron, a Kickstarter campaign raised almost five times the target amount, and the first release hit the streets shortly thereafter. They had managed to make safety cool.

This summer saw an upgrade, Revolights City v2.0, and the duo partnered with local custom bike-maker Mission Bicycles to produce Revolights Wheels: wheels that come with the system pre-installed.

Yesterday we let you know about the Revolights partnership in the recently announced Levi’s commuter bike shop tour. We are headed to some of the major cycling cities in the US of A with a mobile work shop and tailoring station to get you rolling right. Once that bike is right and tight, the party starts.

Monday, the pre-party festivities kick off here in Portland, OR at West End Bikes from 5 – 9 pm with food, drink, and a shenanigan or two. The commuter event officially launches on Tuesday, August 6th at the Wonder Ballroom. Bike work and tailoring (all ages) can be had from the hours of 5pm to 9pm, and for those that want a bit more entertainment, live music and gold sprints roll into action at 8pm (21 and over).

Stop by and enter the Gold Sprint races for your chance to win a FREE set of Revolights.

We'll be providing free tune ups, quick repairs, tailoring, bike valet, wash and more! Make sure you RSVP here for your city. Space is limited!

Tour dates and locations:

+ 08/06 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom 5pm-9pm (Bike Shop), 8pm 21+ (Performance by Pure Bathing Culture, Onuinu and Magic Mouth)

+ 08/09 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands 2pm-7pm

+ 08/10 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands 12pm-5pm

+ 08/11 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands 12pm-5pm

+ 08/14 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge 5pm-9pm (Bike Shop), 8pm 21+ (Performance by Flash/Lights and South of France)

+ 08/20 Austin, TX - Coming Soon

+ 08/23 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club 5pm-9pm (Bike Shop), 8pm 21+ (Performance by NIght Moves, Tickle Torture and Umami)

Revolights Shout Out During Kickstarter Co-Founder Yancey Strickler Keynote at Engadget Expand 2013.

  In this keynote speech, Yancey talks a little bit about Revolights (~4:12) and mainly about how business has changed over the past couple of years.

We are currently in a time where product development is accelerated and "completely transparent." We totally agrees!

Revolights bike lighting system went from concept to fulfillment in less than a year with the support of 1,442 backers the whole way! Thank you.