New Indicator System

Griffalo2003
Griffalo2003 Posts: 3
edited March 2018 in Commuting general
Dear All,

I am currently in the process of designing a new bike signalling system. I was wondering if anyone has any comments/ideas on this, with any possible requirements, downsides etc etc. Thank you for being part of my research.

Regards,
Charlie

Comments

  • Man Of Lard
    Man Of Lard Posts: 903
    Off the top of my head:
    1. Other road users seem to find it hard enough to see the bike/rider combo adding a small flashing light doesn't appear to improve their attentiveness.
    2. The lateral distance between left & right direction indicators is small - could easily confuse the 3 attentive drivers out there
    3. I possess a set of directional indicators, they don't need batteries...

    Your new signalling system needs to be simple to operate (simple button on the bar), self-cancelling (or you'll be that wazzack indicating forever) and enormously visible - that probably means bright (30-50 lumens - proper ones, not Chinese light manufacturers lumens), large (think A4 as a minimum) and animated/flashing.

    I suspect that the large & bright makes it either heavy (because of the battery need) or expensive (because of the size of display) or unwieldy (A4 size would be lost on my back, other cyclists I know - it's be like a sail) or uncomfortable...
  • navrig2
    navrig2 Posts: 1,851
    Man Of Lard wrote:
    Off the top of my head:

    2. The lateral distance between left & right direction indicators is small - could easily confuse the 3 attentive drivers out there

    This. Rather than small, inadequate.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    two fingers are my only form of indication .....
  • wolfsbane2k
    wolfsbane2k Posts: 3,056
    Don't bother.
    Intent on Cycling Commuting on a budget, but keep on breaking/crashing/finding nice stuff to buy.
    Bike 1 (Broken) - Bike 2(Borked) - Bike 3(broken spokes) - Bike 4( Needs Work) - Bike 5 (in bits) - Bike 6* ...
  • defever
    defever Posts: 171
    Valid comments above.

    Considering the small frontal area the cyclists have, how about something that projects the indication on road?

    Something like this sort of approach:

    YouTube: LEZYNE - Laser Drive
    maxresdefault.jpg

    YouTube: Blaze Laserlight - The World's First Laserlight
    BLAZE-Bike-Light_2.jpg

    YouTube: Arduino strobe light and turning indicators
    jennalights.jpg

    I'm particularly interested in Blaze Laserlight. I remember few years ago it was publicised quite alot as an innovative technology. Does anyone use it?

    Something that can project the indication on the road might be more effective than something that's mounted / shown on the bike.

    What do other's think?

    Happy cycling!
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    I've seen the lazer bike thing on a few Boris Bikes - I don't think I'd rely on someone seeing a turn signal on the road.

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