Comments on: MonkeyLectric Bike Wheel Light Review

By: Annie

Annie — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:19:03 +0000

They’re great, I want one!
You can also create 3d shapes by spinning 2d patterns, it would be good to see that done, you could have a 3d cube in your wheels!
I wonder if maybe the law will see them as a distraction if they become popular, there’s a whole host of lights that have been outlawed here in the UK, such as LEDs and strip lights underneath your sills on your car.
I’m still going to buy some though, in fact i will do the balance thing and get 2 –>”the rotating weight of the light gets a little weird at higher speeds. When I am going above 20 mph I can feel the out-of-balance weight effect of the light in my wheel ”

Thanks for the article.

By: Laurent Rains

Laurent Rains — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:48:07 +0000

Hey Paul,

Thank you for the review. We actually just came out with a new model that we are kickstarting. If you are interested in receiving a sample to test out please send me a private message.

By: Paul S.

Paul S. — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:35:25 +0000

Gene, were these the lights you saw in the UK?

http://www.bicygnals.com/indicators.php

They look very well thought out and of much higher quality than the cheapy versions I remember seeing as a kid. I’d love to see a good review. My biggest concern with them would be that cars might not understand they’re turn indicators if they merely blink, because unlike on a car, there’s not a lot of distance between the left and right signals.

By: janine

janine — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 15:44:38 +0000

I have monkeylights and love them, although there is alittle noticeable wobble on the wheel it seems negligible to me, and doesn’t affect my steering, although I have it on an old steel Bridgestone touring bike which weighs 28#. I wouldn’t doubt there is some spillover of light on the front and back, think i’ll do some research on it. My lights are extremely waterproof, but they do cost. I paid $59 on ebay and have purchased a set of factory seconds from the company for $29.

Yet compared with the really good front lights needed in the country where I ride that is but a drop in the bucket. Safety wise I think they are worth their weight in gold.

By: Gene @ BU

Gene @ BU — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:07:05 +0000

When I was visiting the UK a bike dealer had sets of front and rear bicycle lights with integrated turn signals. I should have purchased them on the spot. The rear lights were a set of 12 LED’s (3 red, 6 yellow, 3 red) and the outer three on each side were turn signals. Simple and from what I understand quite effective in traffic.

By: Rusty Wright

Rusty Wright — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:17:38 +0000

Last year I bought something similar online somewhere that was shipped directly from Hong Kong, for something like $15 so obviously the price could be much lower. The one that I got only had a half dozen patterns or so; one was the current time, another I think was your wheel rpm. It needed a magnet mounted to the fork or frame to sense the revolutions. The light part only mounted on and touched one spoke so it was impossible to keep it correctly oriented; functionally basically junk.

For the price that monkeylectric is charging I’d expect a usb port so that you could connect to your computer and download pictures and more conveniently program its patterns.

By: Rusty Wright

Rusty Wright — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:11:17 +0000

She sees a piano? It’s a shoe, from the side. It’s upside down in your picture though.

By: Pete at Electric Bike Report

Pete at Electric Bike Report — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:30:07 +0000

Hey Ted, ya gotta turn it on and off via the buttons on the light.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:09:38 +0000

You can find a similar product at this url:

http://www.adafruit.com/category/6

These are in a kit form, so some assembly (soldering) required. It’s definitely more for the geek, but if you’re motivated to learn you can have a lot of fun.

By: Celos

Celos — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:20:33 +0000

MonkeyLectric has a Kickstarter project going for their new lights, which have a battery pack that mounts on the hub to help with balance. It doesn’t look like the new lights span the entire radius of the wheel, though.

Info here: http://www.monkeylectric.com/m210.htm

I’ve been using NiteIze spokelights for a couple years during the winter months, and they are great. Much less fancy, of course, and I’m not entirely convinced they do anything for safety, since the car that sees them is traveling perpendicular to me and likely about to hit me. That said, people love them and I get a lot of comments.

Info here: http://www.niteize.com/collections/led/products/spokelit