Nori Lights - Bicycle Illumination System

I hate to be that guy, but this looks just like an existing product: <a href="http://www.lunasee.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.lunasee.com</a><p>The major difference seems to be that Lunasee is powered by a hub dynamo (rather than batteries). It's also currently only available pre-installed on some bicycle models, and as an aftermarket part for motorcycles, but they say they plan to sell an aftermarket bicycle part, too.

Reflective tape on the rims is a common solution. There's reflective tape that looks black in daylight and is available at any bike shop. There are reflectors you can put on the spokes, too, also available at any bike shop.<p>Here's a video showing what reflective tape looks like in the dark: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm5muia44XI&#38;feature=relmfu" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm5muia44XI&#38;feature=relmf...</a><p>As for actively illuminated lights, there are a large number of commercial products available. I'm too lazy, but anybody tempted to donate to a project melodramatically promising to "save lives" in the name of somebody's beloved grandfather should first drop by their local bike shop and see if perhaps it's already possible to light themselves up however they want for a modest amount of money.

The single biggest problem seems to be that the adhesive phosphorescent strip is attached to the rim, which on most bikes is what the brake blocks press against to stop the bike. If you look closely in the video, his bike <i>has no brakes</i>!!! (You even see him use his feet to stop.) So much for "saving lives"!<p>Disc brakes would overcome this, but that's going to be an expensive retrofit for most cyclists.

I like that bicycling is gaining in popularity outside of my country (The Netherlands), but do you need to re-invent the wheel every time? Simple (theft-resistant) reflector strips have been the norm here for a long time: <a href="http://www.fietsen.123.nl/thumbs/300x205h/2010-03/2bs_bicycle_mudgard_003.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.fietsen.123.nl/thumbs/300x205h/2010-03/2bs_bicycl...</a>

I don't understand why certain for-profit products are allowed on Kickstarter and others aren't. Is the decision-making process totally random? Or is it just up to the particular whims and desires of those at Kickstarter making the decisions?<p>Sorry to gripe, but I've seen far too many undeserving products (I'm not making any judgment about this particular one) make the cut while deserving ones get rejected. And if you have a web app you're trying to fund, forget it. Why hardware products make the cut and software ones don't is a complete mystery.

This is genius, how come no one thought of this before, it is cheap, provides more safety for bicyclers and freaking looks like tron bikes! This guy deserves to make money.

Not sure how legal this is in most places. I think colored lighting on the rodas is generally banned in most states.

Hi guys. Yes this product already exists at www.lunasee.com and we have several patents around this technology. We have not produced an aftermarket version for bicycles yet primarily due to many of the complications addressed in this string. We do have aftermarket versions on the drawing board though.<p>We have tried to contact Nori Lights with no response so far. We have invested time and money to protect this -- and hope Nori Lights and interested consumers will respect this.<p>We appreciate all feedback.<p>Lunasee Team

If you look at the video you can see how the amount of black light in a given spot changes the brightness of that spot. It could be cool to create different light patterns, changing the intensity of the leds with the speed of the bike.

These systems look neat, but I find them inelegant in that they're only visible from the sides, so they're more of a supplement to front and rear lights than a complete solution.

Great idea, it does look like the Tron bikes. I think putting the front and rear lights will attract more pledges.