The Pedalite – Bike Safety without Batteries
November 30, 2005 by admin
Filed under Green Living
The Pedalite is a cool and unique bike lighting system that combines kinetic energy with a battery-less design for lot’s of eco-goodness for you cyclists out there.
The Pedalite is an actual bike pedal that replaces your existing ones. Beyond that, they’re self-contained. Utilizing a gearbox and generator within the pedal assembly, the spin rotation of the pedaling motion is converted into energy. That kinetic energy lights up flashing LED’s on the sides of the pedals as well as charging a storage capacitor. The capacitor then provides juice to the lights when the cyclist is freewheeling or stopped for up to 12 minutes. Because of the built-in capacitor, there is no need for batteries.
There are three LED lights on each pedal that combined provide 360 degrees of unique visibility. The lights pulsate, with a white one to the front, red to the rear and yellow to the side. If you check out the home page for the Pedalite web site (www.pedalite.com), you’ll see a short flash video that demonstrates how they look.
They aren’t cheap at $86.48 USD or £59.99 per pair, but I think these are definitely a cool invention that make the most of the free kinetic energy that the cyclist is already generating. If you’re a serious biker who spends a lot of time of cranking in the dark, these are well worth a look.
[via The Red Ferret Journal]
I might be interested if they made a version which accommodates toeclips and straps, but for safety reasons, I do not ride without some sort of foot retention system. Also, if they are so concerned about theft, why not a Torx fitting instead of the more common 6mm Allen/hex key?
I am the original inventor of these pedals in the United States, my patent was approved on June 3, 1997, #5634707. This patent may be viewed at:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=13&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=5634707&OS=5634707&RS=5634707
I have seen that your company is now beginning to sell this product in the United States. To avoid any consequential legal action that may be taken for the sale of this without my consent, please contact me immediately so we can discuss this issue further.
Sincerely,
Robert Bailey
848.525.9959
Hi Robert! Have you tried contacting them directly? I checked their website and their contact information is in
http://www.pedalite.com/contact.aspx
These pedals are great. They easy to fit and use.
The ultra bright l.e.d lights in the end of the pedals improve your visibility when you are riding and they even continue to show even when you are stopped.
Drivers of vehicles give you more space when they pass because the lights are visible from 360 degrees. Many emergency services already use these pedals and I can understand why.
The unique design of the pedals means the lights are powered without batteries and the initial costs are quickly recouped because of this saving.
I think they are a must for all cyclists and are very environmentally friendly.
I purchased mine from wwwsafetyre.co.uk who provided an excellent service with prompt delivery.