Revolights
You may have heard of this company - and they are very new and based in Palo Alto California (yes, the same place where Facebook and Amazon and a host of other 'big' name US tech companies were founded). They are the brainchild of 29 year old Adam Pettler, who, with Jim Houk and Kent Frankovich, brought the Revolights to the market. The product they worked on, designed and developed could end up being the most revolutionary bicycle lighting product ever
We know that sounds a big claim but the picture below will give you an idea of what we're talking about - or watch the video HERE;
The latest development has been to fix them permanently to sets of wheels and they have put together another video to celebrate the Revolight City Wheels;
So how do they work?
Well the system consists of consists of 2 thin profile LED rings (with eight LEDs for each wheel - white for the front, and red for the back) that mount directly to each wheel rim (just below the brake calipers) using a series of rim specific clips. Electrical power arrives via a thin wire to the hub where a lightweight and slim, USB rechargeable polymer lithium-ion battery is held in a special bracket. A small magnet is secured to the fork to provide speed and orientation information to the rings.
When the wheels rotate the system only lights those LEDs that are in the right place to produce the effect you can see in the picture - amazing, you have to agree!
They look heavy!
Some of you will undoubtedly ask about the weight of such a unit - well on the basis that they are unlikely to be used in Alp D'Huez time trials, this is largely immaterial for the majority of cyclists. At under 300g per wheel, this is not much more than most tyres (Gatorskins for a 700c wheels weigh 280g each); and even the lightest wheels (and we mean Zipp carbon tubular wheel which are amongst the lightest) still weigh in at 1150g which is nearly 4x heavier. Even a Cateye Nano Shot + light weighs nearly 260g.
When riding, the weight is barely noticeable; if you're used to lightweight road wheels then you will feel a slight difference but for City riding speeds you won't. The wheels turn as usual and there is no noticeable drag - you actually get mesmerised by the flickering lights that come from your wheels. Disappointingly the rider can't actually see the rear wheel when it is lit up...but it looks great to everyone else!
So can they be bought yet?
Yes. They were launched in the US during the Fall of 2012 and they have just agreed an exclusive deal with Pedal Pedal to sell them here in the UK. We've had a set for a year or so and have been using them around London - they certainly attract looks and you get stopped at every set of lights by people wanting to know about them.
What will they cost?
The sets arriving in the UK are the Revolights City Wheels which are complete wheels with Revolights attached - it takes over 2 hours to attached the 'original' Revolights sets so the City Wheels are a great improvement. The cost is £399 per set and there are several options - see HERE for more details.
Are they legal?
As we always say at the Pedal Pedal, having any lights is always better than having none and you're unlikely to be stopped for having something as good as these look like they will be. But the law is the law and if there is an accident and you only have Revolights which do not fit the requirements of the Acts that determine these things then any claim you try to make may be reduced. We would suggest that for the meantime you will have to run 'legal' bike lights as well - until the law is changed, of course.
What are they like to ride with?
Pedal Pedal have been lucky enough to have been able to ride around on a set of Revolights since the beginning of January 2013 - and they are truly amazing. Yes, it's true that they are a bit of fiddle to fix onto your wheels (this alone makes them, truly unstealable!) but once you've spent ninety minutes or so fixing the tiny allen keys with the tool supplied, they not only look and work as well as the picuters suggest, but they are noticed by everyone. Not a single ride goes by without a fellow cyclist pulling up at the traffic lights to ask whwere we got the 'amazing' lights; we've been stopped by cars and even motorcyclists who've noticed them from behind. It seems that cars want to sit behind us just to look at the liughts - fine by us!
What's more, they've been ridden through the snow and rain on longer runs of over 100 miles, and short hops to the shops and the result is always the same. The USB rechargeable USB batteries seem to last forever - they've been re-charged once in three weeks and even then they didn't appear to be fading. Negatives? Well, there have to be a few - you might not like the wires wound round your spokes (but then who sees them in the dark?), they're not very good for seeing on the really dark lanes (but they weren't intended for this use), you might not like the apparent increase in bulk and weight of your wheels - but then they are not for serious racing and the whole package weights no more than an average commuter light perched on your bars.
Latest News!
The Revolights City Wheels landed in the UK for the first time on December 10th 2013 - so are available for now!
