Expensive bikes are just magnets for thieves. One solution is to never, ever leave a bike unattended. That isn’t always possible, but fortunately there are those inventors and innovators who are looking at ways to keep our bikes safe.
One such example is the BikeWatch, which is being developed through Indiegogo. This concept device combines an LED light, an alarm and a cable lock. This ensures that riders have a small but durable cable lock for those times when a bike needs to be left for just a minute. If the cable is cut an alarm will sound for 10 minutes at a far more than annoying 105 dB. Attempts to remove the BikeWatch from the bike will get various “warning” alarms as well.
The system also provides a rear “blinky” light that can run for up to 24 hours of continued use. The entire BikeWatch is housed in an IP53 water-resistant housing. The BikeWatch sounds like a good way to protect the bike when a rider can’t actually watch it. Video after the jump
We’ve seen many bicycle stems that claim to be lightweight but there is one new stem that promises to lite it up instead. The StemLite is – as the name suggests – a handlebar stem with a built-in light. This ensures that riders will have a light, which can’t easily be stolen or lost. It also frees riders of needing to worry about a handlebar mounted system, not to mention the bulky battery pack.
We’ve seen a lot of bicycles lights and a quite a few bicycle horns. Now we’ve seen both in a single package as Tory Orzeck, an industrial designer from Portland, Ore. has created a device that fuses the two together. Fittingly he named his company FUSE, and has developed the Orp Smart Horn, a combination decibel bike horn and front beacon bike light.
One problem with handlebar mounted lights is that they can be easily stolen or forgotten if you don’t leave them on the handlebars – and in either case if they’re not on the handlebars they’re not doing much good. This clearly was the inspiration behind the Innos LED handlebars that feature the lights inside the bars!
There is a certain irony in that many bicycle lights are located far higher than those on an automobile, which means that it isn’t able to illuminate the road as well. But Kent Frankovich and Adam Pettler had a revolutionary idea: mount the bike light on the wheel, which in turn put it closer to the ground.
We’ve seen a lot of bike lights, and other gimmicky methods to light up a bike but sometimes simple is what it is all about. The new Light & Motion Taz offers 1,200 Lumens that will truly light the way for those riding when the sun isn’t shinning. This American made light is designed as a “crossover” model, so it can be used for mountain bikes as well as street bikes.
Having some sort of light is a good idea when riding a bike at night. But instead of buying yet one more gizmo, the team at Monocle have created an abrasion-resistant synthetic webbing that holds and iPhone and uses the handsets flash to blink through a red lens – thus transforming the handset into a bike light.
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There are many bike lights on the market, but Fenix offered a truly bright idea at the recent Outdoor Retailer Show. The company spotlighted its new 800 lumen handlebar-mounted light, which can run for up to three hours on high from an internal rechargeable battery. That’s enough light to truly help riders find the way home in the dark.
The new Thunderbolt silicon USB rechargeable bike light is set to arrive later this summer from Serfas, and will be available in seven stylish colors. The water resistant headlight (above) promises to provide 90 lumens of light from a strip of 15 micro LEDs, with a run time ranging from 1.5 hours on high beam to 6.5 on low, along with 3.5 hours on blink and a full 9 hours on low blink. 
Knog have been going strong for several years making silicon bicycle lights, and the company has unveiled its new set of USB rechargeable lights, under its Blinder brand. There will be new models – the 1 and 4 – that will be encased in metal and silicon, meaning these will be both watertight and bright as the lights will feature either a single LED or four LEDs respectively. And because these are factory-sealed they will be totally waterproof and even submersible – not that we can figure out why anyone would put them underwater.
There are parts of a bike that can be stolen easily and those that require tools. Bicycle light usually fall into the former category, which is a shame as these are meant to keep riders safe. Now commuters can look to the Defender, a bike light that looks tough and is quite tough for a would-be thief to remove. The aluminum clamp, as well as the battery pack require Allen keys, so this won’t stop a determined parts-pilferer but it could deter those quick grab and run crooks.