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Funking expensive, but cool to think that 3D printed stuff is making its way into consumer products - it has been used to massively reduce weight in the aerospace industry for a few years now. I went to a talk by someone from Materialise a few months ago - he demonstrated some amazing stuff.
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Yup, quite neat. The rear facing lights aren't really a substitute for one mounted on your seatpost though since they could be easily hidden by your body. I'm sure thieves would pretty soon learn about the bars having GPS in them and just yank it out. So that's a marginal improvement at best.
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rear facing lights that aren't red>>>>>>>>>>>
Easy.
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Easy.
From the video, they are multicoloured anyway since he has them set up as a colour-based speedo.
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From the video, they are multicoloured anyway since he has them set up as a colour-based speedo.
Not 100% I understand what you mean, but the RGB spectrum can easily be manipulated via the controller, reprogramming it wouldn't be particularly difficult. Might even throw a switch in there.
Not disputing the pointlessness of having a rear facing light, but just saying the tech is available to chance colour at will. -
(2) No vehicle shall be fitted with a lamp which is capable of showing any light to the rear, other than a red light, except–
(a)amber light from a direction indicator or side marker lamp;
(b)white light from a reversing lamp;
(c)white light from a work lamp;
(d)light to illuminate the interior of a vehicle;
(e)light from an illuminated rear registration plate;
(f)light for the purposes of illuminating a taxi meter;
(g)in the case of a bus, light for the purposes of illuminating a route indicator;
(h)blue light and white light from a chequered domed lamp fitted to a police control vehicle and intended for use at the scene of an emergency;
(i)white light from a red and white chequered domed lamp, or a red and white segmented mast-mounted warning beacon, fitted to a fire service control vehicle and intended for use at the scene of an emergency;
(j)green light and white light from a chequered domed lamp fitted to an ambulance control vehicle and intended for use at the scene of an emergency;
(k)blue light from a warning beacon or rear special warning lamp fitted to an emergency vehicle, or from any device fitted to a vehicle used for police purposes;
(l)amber light from a warning beacon fitted to–
(i)a road clearance vehicle;
(ii)a vehicle constructed or adapted for the purpose of collecting refuse;
(iii)a breakdown vehicle;
(iv)a vehicle having a maximum speed not exceeding 25 mph or any trailer drawn by such a vehicle;
(v)a vehicle having an overall width (including any load) exceeding 2.9 m;
(vi)a vehicle used for the purposes of testing, maintaining, improving, cleansing or watering roads or for any purpose incidental to any such use;
(vii)a vehicle used for the purpose of inspecting, cleansing, maintaining, adjusting, renewing or installing any apparatus which is in, on, under or over a road, or for any purpose incidental to any such use;
(viii)a vehicle used for or in connection with any purpose for which it is authorised to be used on roads by an order under section 44 of the Act;
(ix)a vehicle used for escort purposes when travelling at a speed not exceeding 25 mph;
(x)a vehicle used by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise for the purpose of testing fuels;
(xi)a vehicle used for the purpose of surveying;
(xii)a vehicle used for the removal or immobilisation of vehicles in exercise of a statutory power or duty;
(m)green light from a warning beacon fitted to a vehicle used by a medical practitioner registered by the General Medical Council (whether with full, provisional or limited registration);
(n)yellow light from a warning beacon fitted to a vehicle for use at airports;
(o)light of any colour from a traffic sign which is attached to a vehicle;
(p)reflected light from amber pedal retro reflectors;
(q)reflected light of any colour from retro reflective material or a retro reflector designed primarily to reflect light to one or both sides of the vehicle and attached to or incorporated in any wheel or tyre of–
(i)a pedal cycle and any sidecar attached to it;
(ii)a solo motor bicycle or motor bicycle combination; or
(iii)an invalid carriage;
(r)reflected light from amber retro reflective material on a road clearance vehicle;
(s)reflected light from yellow retro reflective registration plates;
(t)reflected light from yellow retro reflective material incorporated in a rear marking of a type specified in Part I Section B of Schedule 19 and fitted to–
(i)a motor vehicle having a maximum gross weight exceeding 7500 kg;
(ii)a motor vehicle first used before 1st August 1982 having an unladen weight exceeding 3000 kg;
(iii)a trailer having a maximum gross weight exceeding 3500 kg;
(iv)a trailer manufactured before 1st August 1982 having an unladen weight exceeding 1000 kg;
(v)a trailer which forms part of a combination of vehicles one of which is of a type mentioned in a previous item of this sub-paragraph;
(vi)a load carried by any vehicle; or
(u)reflected light from orange retro reflective material incorporated in a sign fitted to the rear of a vehicle carrying a dangerous substance within the meaning of the Dangerous Substances (Conveyance by Road in Road Tankers and Tank Containers) Regulations 1981(1) or the Road Traffic (Carriage of Dangerous Substances in Packages etc) Regulations 1986(2)http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/regulation/11/made
Its been amended since that version, but basically a rear facing light should be red...
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At the end of the day the accepted standard is that rear facing lights on a road going vehicle should be red. Giving the user the ability to change a rear facing light to any colour that isn't red is idiotic as its going to cause confusion to other road users at night and could have dangerous consequences. A big part of a designer's responsibility has become to consider the consequences of their designs being misused, so making one of the 'features' of the product something that actually in the main scenario of use is actually a misuse is pretty idiotic, and probably leaves them open to litigation if someone was to be involved in an accident when using these bars.
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White = stopped; green = nodding; yellow = brisk; orange = caning it; red = Cav
So you could just switch it to show red permanently.
Bang on! Now I get you. The ability to switch colour (at the flick of a switch) doesn't mean it should be anything but what is legally required. Red, but when turning, amber.
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Funking expensive, but cool to think that 3D printed stuff is making its way into consumer products - it has been used to massively reduce weight in the aerospace industry for a few years now. I went to a talk by someone from Materialise a few months ago - he demonstrated some amazing stuff.
I have been experimenting with 3D printing pedals and have come out with a few different outcomes. Its hard to get consistent results with the type of printer I am using however it is very cheap each print costs under £1....
This is straight out of the printer, support material still intact.
Cleaned up with axles and grub screws in place.
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The Kickstarter clearly states they can be set to any colour. Any rational person would set them to red. Presume they change to amber when being used as indicators.
I like the idea, but ugy as sin. Why make them in every hipster colour but not chrome or raw?'Any rational person' isn't justifiable reasoning in a design process. People are massively irrational a lot of the time and just giving them the option to choose the correct option does not mean they will. I bet if it makes it into production a large percentage of purchasers will be on the road at night with different colours or rear light showing, especially with the speedometer function.
As a designer, the creator of this project should be aware of the significance of different coloured lights on the road, both in terms of legislation and reactions of the user and other road users around them. It should be one of the first things that they should be looking into when they start designing anything to do with a bike light. With that in mind they should be well aware that the only acceptable colour for the rear facing lights to be in road going operation should be red, with flashing orange as an option for indication. With that taken into account before looking into any further potential usage modes, it should be clear to the designer that if they want to make further colour modes available to the user they need to make them aware that using the light in any of these other colour modes on the road is potentially dangerous and could well make their bike unfit for road use depending on the laws in the area. But having taken that into consideration the designer should really be assessing whether the additional interest generated by the extended feature sets of changing colours is worth putting a product into the market that has the potential to put the user at risk even after fully informing them of the reasons that it could be putting them at risk.
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Berrow - awesome. I have used 3D printing for prototyping and modelling but not for anything structural. Are your pedals structural? What printer and material are you using? I have heard interesting things about the next generation of nylon filament printers...
I agree with fade's views on design, and for what it's worth, I'm an industrial designer. It's worth remembering that a lot of 'design' projects on kickstarter are from graduates (and presumably those graduates who haven't been snapped up by larger companies) rather than established and experienced companies - the quality of projects is more variable than traditional commercial stuff.
IndraRipper, if you send me an imprint of your arse, I'll convert it into a 3d-printable data for you.
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Berrow
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