The future's bike: how to transform your ride with cycle technology

From GPS ‘smart’ pedals that track your ride to a helmet with added safety sensors, Phoebe Luckhurst seeks out the best tech to re-invent your two wheels
Light up: Lumo’s illuminated jackets

In the olden days, if asked to imagine the transport of the future, moon-eyed dreamers would chatter about flying DeLoreans and transparent tubes through which to zoom across the city. Unfortunately, Back To The Future proved ambitious: our cars remain earthbound and Boris is yet to erect a flume system for traversing the capital. Instead, innovation zealots should look to bikes — cycle tech is reaching for the space age.

It was one of the themes of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this month. French start-up Connected Cycle (connectedcycle.com) presented a “smart pedal” which incorporates a Sim card and a global positioning tracker — together, the tech alerts you if someone tries to nick your bike and can pinpoint the location of a stolen cycle. The pedal also monitors speed, distance and calories used, and sends a report to your smartphone.

It runs off the kinetic energy generated by the cyclist; to outwit thieves, you’ll need a special key to remove it. It’s expected to be on the market later in the year.

At CES, car manufacturers turned their attention from four wheels to two: Volvo showcased a helmet that sends the cyclist’s location to nearby vehicles (provided the car is fitted with the company’s City Safety software). The interface warns drivers if they’re too close to a bike and informs the cyclist if they’ve veered into a driver’s blind spot.

It also examines the routes taken by both vehicles in order to predict collisions; if one looks likely, the system can activate car brakes automatically and trip a warning light inside the cyclist’s helmet.

Mighty wheels: the designer Epo bike
Lisa Klappe

Hyundai has been working on similar software — the windscreen of its new Genesis doubles as a screen displaying images that appear 6ft in front of the driver, to identify blind points and shaky steering.

Trust the Dutch to be leading the biker gang: the Epo bicycle (epobicycles.com) is made from two sheets of metal, welded together seamlessly to create a strong but lightweight frame. The elegant bike is the graduation project of product designer Bob Schiller — it’s still in development but Schiller hopes to release it to market next year.

Back in the capital, there’s Spin London (spinldn.com): a cycling festival that presents the work of bike start-ups and tech companies across the world (the next one takes place in May — see website for details). Highlights from its Christmas show in December include Monkeylectric (monkeylectric.com): technicolour LEDs fitted into the surface of the wheel. The effect is Studio 54 and will certainly ensure visibility on the road.

Cycle Alert (cyclealert.com) was another standout: the system hopes to minimise cyclist accidents with HGVs (the main cause of bike deaths in the capital). The cyclist affixes a tag to their bike, helmet or person; HGVs are fitted with side units and cab units. The side sensors communicate with the cab unit — sending over the received signal strength from the bike sensor. If the signal strength exceeds a certain limit, then it triggers an alert and the cab display gives a rough approximation of the bike’s position on the road.

New concept store Cycle Republic (Euston Tower, 286 Euston Road, NW1) — the brand has been revived by Halfords — pitches itself on the frontline of innovation. Included in its stocks of bike tech is the Lightrider Front LED light — the 110-lumen split front beam illuminates both road and rider, and has flashing and pulsing modes so you can tailor your lights depending on darkness, traffic density and journey.

The store also stocks the Hiplok v1.5 Wearable Chain lock: a 6mm steel chain attached to a 10mm steel shackle padlock. It’s tough as nails but when it’s not looped smugly around your bike you can wear it comfortably around your waist: the nylon outer casing is unexpectedly comfortable and you can adjust it easily. In apparel, new brand Huez* creates sportswear with a techno-twist: T-shirts are made with dri-release® fibres — they wick away moisture to keep cyclists dry even in the worst weather.

“Exciting innovations are happening in every sphere of the cycling industry: from glow-in-the-dark cycle paths in the Netherlands to Hövding’s invisible bike helmet in Sweden,” agrees Luke McLaughlin, director of Spin London. “New E-bike brands are springing up all the time and that will be a big growth area in the coming years.

“In the UK the fashion and cycling worlds are increasingly coming together — small companies such as Huez* make really classy and very practical cycling kit. A start-up called Lumo just raised £75,000 through Kickstarter for jackets and bags with built-in LED lights specifically for city riding.”

Cars may be staying earthbound but the future’s bright for bikes.

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