One of the biggest dangers to a cyclist is not being seen at night. To counteract this, all manner of lighting and reflective gear is available to help ensure bicycles are seen on the streets. Of course, you don’t have to stop at the purely practical. [TechnoChic] decided to have some fun with her ride, festooning her party bike with many, many LEDs.
As you’d expect, the RGB illuminations are thanks to WS2812B LED strips. Running the show is a trio of Arduino Nano 33 IoTs – one for the LEDs on the bike’s frame, the other two mounted on the front and back wheels respectively. This allowed for the easy control of LEDs on the spokes without having to pass data and power lines to the rotating wheels. The LEDs on the frame are even music-reactive, with the Arduino sampling music input via one of its analog-to-digital converters.
Paired with a boombox on the bike, the build makes for a great way to hype up group rides through the city at night. We can imagine such a bike being an absolute hit at Critical Mass, though you’ve probably gotta add a laser or glitter cannon if you’re going to draw attention at Burning Man. If you’re tired of pedaling, you might consider an electric conversion, too. Video after the break.
Blue and red are reserved for emergency vehicles. I see a ticket and possible impound in the near future.
Our city put IP connected RGB LED lights in vertical tubes in the light poles along what was the old bypass now main outer drag, it’s quite a sight at night. Unfortunately I heard the mayor on the radio discussing the restriction to blue only as the colors mix with traffic lights along the strip.
Here in Los Angeles, both police cars and motorcycle units use red and blue lights. Hence the restriction on public use. Avoid confusion. Back in the day, many “Bikers” put the blue insert into their taillights. I suspect they were trying to be a rebel.
There really need to be some federal standards on bicycle lighting. I have seen a guy with a red high intensity strobe going against traffic. Seizure inducing. Some solutions are safe, some comical, and some endanger other drivers.
Missed an opportunity to include a POV text display on the wheels. Song lyrics, opinions, schematic and powerpoint describing the build.
or speed, https://hackaday.com/2008/11/15/spoke-o-dometer-bicycle-pov-speed-display/
you need to put as many and as strong lights as possible to your bike otherwise you can become a roadkill, very easily, not to mention the traumatising effect that your badly injured or dead body infecting on the innocent driver
You may wish to look at “Target Acquisition” and how DUI drivers following (aiming for) the lights they notice.
I’ve been stopped on my bike at night by police, three times now, and told to get off the road, ride on the sidewalk, and with all lights off, so the DUIs are past me before they notice me, if they notice me at all.
So I carry the lights with me, have them off and ride on the sidewalk. Haven’t been stopped yet for doing so.
+10