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TECH NEWS
Revolights City Wheels Riding.Photo by Glen McKennaRevolights City wheels launched in UK
Revolights City Wheels are now available in the UK, with lighting technology being permanently built into custom-designed wheels.
We’ve covered Revolights on road.cc a couple of times in the past. Essentially, they’re wheel-mounted LEDs that both add to your visibility so that you’re seen by other road users, and light the road ahead. The Californian company behind them launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise $200,000 in funding. The City Wheels are now available in the UK for the first time.
To get the idea, it’s probably easiest to just watch this video. They’ll make you really popular, judging by the footage.
There are eight LEDs per wheel, each of them 35 lumens. The front wheel LEDs are white, the rear ones are red. Revolights reckon the battery life is four hours and they’re rechargeable via the mains or USB. You need a fork/chainstay opening greater than 40mm to fit the wheels.
The Revolights City v2.0 LEDs are riveted onto 30mm-deep double-wall wheels. Those wheels, which are assembled in the US, are 700c, come with a Shimano/SRAM-compatible 8-speed to 10-speed hub, and they’ll take 18-25mm tyres. A track wheelset is available too.
The Revolight City wheels are priced at £399 and you can buy them only from Pedal-Pedal.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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10 comments
Could you not achieve the same result by strapping one of those tiny 'visibility grade' lights to forks/chainstays and pointing them at reflective tape on the rims (now freed from brake duty by those newfangled discs?)
Does anybody know what the life expectancy is of these, because I already know how quickly lights mounted on my handlebars and seat post last and I have to ride through some pretty grim stuff that can kill badly made and ill thought out lights within days. I just spent the best part of a year working on mudguards that can keep as much crap off me and my bike as possible... yeah its the countryside so I see a lot of crap on the routes I ride. The dirtiest and then most drenched in water part of my bike is the tyres/wheels, so I am loath to invest into some thing that isn't going to survive the assault from the elements.
I've seen these before and think they're excellent - great that they're now on sale in the UK, but will be more interested when they let you buy the kit only without the wheels (as they do in the US, and the website mentions international shipping, but not sure if that includes the UK) - this allows you to fit them to wider tyres, deeper rims etc., so should make them more popular.
Haven't seen anyone using them in the UK yet - would love to to see how effective they are.
I've seen them, or something very like them. They are fantastically eye-catching, and anyone who said they didn't see you shouldn't be walking, let alone driving.
People are kind of missing the point.This is a product at an early stage for people with special interest who wants to support by buying it to test and help further development. Its clearly not ready for the mass market yet.
True. THough I woudl have thought it better to target the commuter market here with its wider spacing/MTB hubs, larger wheels/MTB wheels rather than the roadie market.
A bit pointless when you can get a set of cat eyes that do a similar job for £20
Why limit your sales to selling whole wheels when there's massive potential in the after-market?
It's not just the tyre width. The 130mm rear spacing rules out my Croix De Fer commuter just on hub spacing. Be interesting to see how many commuter bikes it does fit.
Like them very much, should be a plus for cycling safety. But.. they cost too much when you consider they're size restricted (700 x18-25mm) when lots of commuters or CX riders are on 28 -37mm tyres.
Also you can get LED kits for your existing wheels - Halfords even do them now for £20, although I haven't tested/got any they look okay if thats your thing. Can't seee them selling as well as a kit for existing wheels would.