By Andrew Liszewski

Winner of a 2010 Red Dot Design award, the SEIL (Safe Enjoy Interact Light) bag concept was created by Lee Myung Su to provide a safer way for cyclists to signal. Technically when signaling with their hands a cyclist is only riding their bike with the other hand, which can be dangerous. So the SEIL fixes that problem with an LED-equipped backpack and a detachable wireless remote which can be mounted on the handlebars. And besides signaling your turning intentions, the SEIL bag can also be used to let others on the road know when you’re about to slam on the brakes, or even if there is an emergency.

[ Design You Trust - SEIL bag by Lee Myung Su design lab ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The last time we brought you an ‘innovation’ from New Potato Technologies it was an iPhone ‘appcessory’ known as the Jackpot Dock which basically turned your phone into a one-armed bandit slot machine. This time around they’ve got something a bit more useful, particularly for pedal pushers. The LiveRider bike computer is a combination of a dual-mode sealed sensor that mounts near the bike’s rear tire and measures wheel speed and pedal cadence, and an “aerodynamic shock-absorbing handlebar mounted cradle” with a 2.4 GHz wireless receiver.

Data from the sensor is sent to the receiver which is then fed to an iPhone (3G or 3GS) or an iPod Touch via the dock connector, and used to calculate and display various stats including elapsed time, distance traveled, cadence speed, watts, pace, calories burned, average and max speeds and even ghost data so you can race yourself from a previous ride. It can even access GPS data from an iPhone, and inclination info using the tilt sensor. And if you’re a real number cruncher, all of your ride data can be emailed and imported into a spreadsheet or database application. The LiveRider app is of course free to download from the App Store, but the hardware that makes it usable will set you back $99.

[ LiveRider Bike Computer ] VIA [ Wired Gadget Lab ]

By Evan Ackerman

Bicycle helmets are a useless inconvenience every single moment of their existence except for that one super important one when they protect you from death (or such less punishment). Part of the problem is their shape, which (while a predefined inevitability) is not an efficient use of space. The Tatoo helmet (that comes from the french ‘tatou’ which means armadillo) is made out of flexible (and recyclable!) interconnected polypropylene that unsnaps from itself and packs flat for storage.

The problem here is that the convenience of having a bendy helmet kinda means that the helmet is, uh, bendy. As in not rigid. And last time I checked, rigidity was a rather important part of the whole “protecting your brain from impacts” thing. Good thing it looks like it’s still a concept at this stage.

[ Abitare ] VIA [ Fast Company ]

By Andrew Liszewski

So I guess Japan is really serious about bicycle safety, so much so that Honda developed this bicycle safety simulator that allows riders of all ages to learn proper traffic rules and manners before they get on the road. The simulator includes different courses and scenarios like “going to school” or “going to the grocery store” and a rear mounted LCD even allows riders to see traffic coming up behind them. The simulators will be available from Honda starting in February of 2010 for an undisclosed price, though pre-orders will be taken starting in November.

[ FarEastGizmos - Honda Bicycle Simulator offers realistic experiences for user groups of different ages ]

By David Ponce

Most modern bicycles come with a bottle holder of one form or another. Which is why this product might seem redundant to some of you. But that’s because you’re forgetting an oft ignored class of society: the hipsters. Yes, they’re people too and like us they get dehydrated now and again. It would also seem that part of their wacky shenanigans involve an unexplainable compulsion to acquire certain types of bicycles that are conspicuously devoid of any bottle holder (or gears for that matter; a truly soothing sight to nervous downtown motorists’ worldwide). To their rescue comes Matthias Ries’ concept product called simply enough, The Bottleclip. It’s a little piece of plastic with a threaded opening that accepts most bottles on one side, and a clip that attaches to standard size bike frames on the other.

Of course, like most good ideas this is only a concept for now. But given that it’s just molded plastic, all it takes is one enterprising manufacturer to license the rights and start up production. Someone in China reading this?

A few more pictures if you keep reading.

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