The Powerplus Swallow is certainly an interesting concept.  It’s a windup bike light and phone charger in one. Now, I’m pretty sure this won’t outshine our favorite light, the Planet Bike Blinky Superflash, but you never know.  According to the ECOutlet (cute…), the light will shine intensely for 8 minutes for every 1 minute of winding you do.  Also, 1 minute of winding will give you 2-8 minutes of talk time or 20-30 minutes standby time.  Ok, I admit, this could be useful if it worked well.  The next time …

Mike Mandiburg at Eyebeam wasn’t willing to settle with a simple reflector or a little blinking light on his bike. He worked on a project called “Bright Bike” that has increased the visibility of bikes by wrapping nearly the entire bike in 3M’s Scotchlite Plus Reflective 680 Series Engineering Grade Vinyl, and now the bike reflects a light (such as headlights) right back to the source.
This is a pretty amazing idea, that could see some success if they are able to figure out how to create kits for others to use.

Bright …

In part one of “You’ve just bought a bike, now what?”, I covered the essential items you’ll need after purchasing your (likely first) bike, including the helmet, spare tubes, patch kit, tools, and pump/CO2. Part 2 covered the seat wedge, pedals, shoes and cleats.
Part 3 of this series will help you with the sunglasses, cyclocomputer, headlight, and taillights.

Just about the most common bit of advice that any daily cycling commuter will share is that bike reflectors don’t work. There is only one true way to be seen on the road by motorists. Lights. A lot of bright, and annoying blinking lights. The Planet Bike Blinky Superflash is one of those lights that a motorist can’t ignore. The brightness of this little wonder is astonishing. On top of the blink mode, the Super flash has a constant-on mode, for those states and …