Bicycles are slowly becoming people’s preferred means of transportation. People are ditching the fossil fuel consuming and air pollution causing automobiles for the more eco-friendly option of bikes! Not only are bicycles a boon to the environment, but they also promote good health and ensure we get our daily dose of physical exercise done. They’re a fun way of completing leg day without actually visiting the gym! Amping up your bike with handy and innovative accessories always adds to the cycling experience. From a smart self-sufficient helmet to award-winning reflector lights, we’ve curated a collection of accessory designs that’ll make your biking journey safe, secure, and fun! Bike on!
“You’re used to changing your shoes and jacket to match the location or weather. Why shouldn’t you be able to do the same with your bike?” reTyre’s zippable tire-tread system gives your city bicycle the versatility to work off the road too. A simple zipping mechanism allows you to add a secondary, tougher tread on your tires, letting you go from riding on smooth asphalt to traversing through tough terrain. No matter the speed, the distance, or the condition, reTyre’s selection of treads make it the only set of wheels your bicycle needs… and in turn making your bicycle the only bicycle you’ll need too. reTyre’s special bicycle tire comes with a zipper lining and a selection of treads or skins that you can clad on your existing tire. The original tire works great on asphalt, and the wide variety of skins allow you to ride your bicycle on mud, gravel, rocks, or even snow. Working on straight roads, curved paths, and even on tough downhill trails, the tire treads give you exactly the grip you need, and the industrial-strength zipper system perseveres through rain, snow, or even rocky terrain… every single time. And when not in use, the treads easily fold up and go right into your backpack!
It seems rather strange that the bicycle doesn’t come equipped with the basic accessories that motorbikes do. For example a brake (tail) light, indicators, or even rearview mirrors. Even with the relatively slower speeds of bicycles, compared to motorbikes, accidents do occur and can be pretty ugly. Here’s the RearViz, an arm-mounted convex rear-view mirror that allows you to look behind you. It comes flat-packed and can open out to reveal the mirror and even adjust in 360° to point wherever you want it. The Velcro fastener means one size fits all, and the curved mirror gives you a pretty wide-angle view of what’s behind you so you don’t have to turn to look around and risk having a bad encounter. Just remember, objects in the mirror are closer than they appear!
WertelOberfell, a Germany-based designed studio, recently debuted their energy self-sufficient bicycle helmet, ESUB Tracks. The helmet is designed to keep cyclists safe and the creative team at WertelOberfell certainly checked all their corners when considering the different obstacles cyclists face on the road. Built-in smart features buzz through this helmet and they’re powered by organic photovoltaics that gives this helmet all the energy it needs to keep you safe. In order to turn the ordinary helmet into an energy self-sufficient, smart helmet, the designers turned to science. Printed organic batteries and a Nano Arduino, a microcontroller, contained in one unit at the rear of the helmet, run the whole show and all the incorporated electric components, but the helmet’s surface provides the energy. The designers achieved the futuristic look of this helmet by wrapping flat, organic, printed photovoltaics all around in order to use the outer layer of ESUB Tracks as a PV module that absorbs sunlight and turns it into energy.
Now, this isn’t really a piece about the map per se, but rather is about being able to use your map more efficiently. Say hello to the NRG Power Stem, a power-bank that’s designed with an extremely well-defined purpose. The NRG Power Stem was designed to fit right on your bicycle’s handlebars, allowing your phone to remain charged while you have it mounted on your bike. The NRG Power Stem isn’t designed like your conventional power banks, because when your phone is attached to your bicycle, it isn’t really a conventional smartphone either. The smartphone takes the role of your bicycle’s dashboard, so the NRG Power Stem makes sure that this dashboard (and navigation system) runs efficiently and effectively, allowing you to cycle and navigate for hours without needing to charge your phone separately.
Meet the FLECTR 360 WING, from the two-time Eurobike Award-winning and German Design Award-winning company. The FLECTR 360 WING is superiorly engineered adhesive reflector panels that provide 360° coverage. From wherever a car headlight may hit the bike, FLECTR 360 WING will grab the driver’s attention making the biker visible with a stunning glow. Designed to be mounted on the rims of a bicycle’s wheels FLECTR 360 WING requires no electronics, battery, or upkeep. Their unique 3D form allows them to easily wrap around any bike wheel rim, while the extended wing design offers more visibility than before, keeping bikers safe and avoiding collisions. The FLECTR 360 WING works right out of the box, catching and scattering any light that shines on it. The reflectors come in 2 high-reflection formats, and 4 standard reflection variants in different colors.
The UFO Lights are a pair of pretty standard-looking pedals, albeit with a key difference. They come with detachable lamp modules that sit flush at the end of each pedal, and you can switch them on to help other vehicles on the road see you better. The lamp units come with 300-lumen LEDs on the inside that automatically switch on when you begin riding, and turn red when you decelerate, just like a taillight would. The lights move as your pedals rotate, creating a motion pattern that makes them easily visible in the dark – allowing cars, bikes, larger vehicles, and even pedestrians to be alerted of your presence. Beams are even cast on the road below to create a 1-meter halo, giving other vehicles a buffer zone as they overtake you.
It’s a pain to store your bike outside because it might get damaged or stolen. It’s a pain to store your bike indoors because it carries all the outdoor grime and dirt inside along with it. Quite a dilemma, isn’t it? Velo Sock is like a massive sock for your bike that sits snugly over the tires and most of the body, making sure none of that dirt makes it to your freshly cleaned floor, or those rubber tires don’t leave skid marks on your pristine white wall. Made from a polyester and spandex blend (that are incredibly easy to wash), the Velo Socks can fit bikes that are anywhere between 1.6 to 2 meters long. What’s better is the fact that they come in an absolutely mesmerizing set of patterns that turn your bike into a piece of decorative art to liven up your indoors!
It’s true that we have garages for our cars and motorbikes, but somehow, all the bicycle got was a bicycle rack. There are objects to tether your bicycle to, but not a dedicated space to store your bicycle in, to protect it not only from theft but also from the elements. This revelation led to Eric G. Pearson creating the Alpen, a compact, secure cocoon of sorts for your bicycle. With a hood that slides open and closed quite majestically, you can easily store one bicycle within the Alpen, and given its small framework and pleasantly sleek design, the Aspen itself can be placed (and even displayed) indoors or even outdoors. Built from virtually indestructible roto-molded polyethylene and equipped with an integrated locking mechanism, the Alpen is a custom home for your bicycle, made to protect your ride from the sun, rain, sleet, rust, and obviously, theft too. The Alpen can be secured to a floor, wall, pillar, or even the back of your truck, letting you carry your bike along with its own home wherever you go.
The TorchONE hopes to alter a scary statistic around cycling. In 2019, 56,000 cyclists lost their lives worldwide, and an estimated 60-70% of them were during low-light conditions. By integrating lights right into the helmet, the TorchONE approaches this problem with a two-fold solution – Prevention and Protection. A finalist at the 2020 EuroBike Awards, the TorchONE boasts of a streamlined, aerodynamic design that weighs a mere 382 grams with large, highly visible, removable lights on the front and back. Designed to provide 360° visibility, these are the largest lights to ever be fitted onto a bike, ensuring that they’re sufficiently visible even in bad weather. Attach them when you need and the lights can run 24/7, detach them during the day and the helmet’s weight drops to an incredibly lightweight 266 grams.
Chances are, if you’ve ever had a bicycle breakdown, you haven’t had your tools handy to make the repair. Designed for casual and serious cyclists alike, Velojackr includes everything you need to make basic repairs and handle maintenance on the road… all squeezed into one compact case that fits any regular bicycle bottle holder! Better yet, the “tool bottle” itself transforms into a stand to protect handlebars, shifters, and handlebar-mounted tech from dirt and ground abrasion. The unit includes the case, a saddle cover, tire levers, puncture patches, and task gloves, and extra storage for other essential items. Just set it and forget it until you need to make a fix!
