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Currently, there is a brilliant grad student from MIT who has been designing Reactive Sportswear, which changes colors with your emotion, your body perspiration, and the heat coming from one's body. The US military loves this reactive material, and is using it for the latest camouflage concepts. In fact, there are also interesting new materials, which can be worn that change colors when they are in the midst of a certain type of gas. For instance if methane, CO2, or a poisonous gas used in chemical or biological warfare is present, all of a sudden the clothing changes color.
Okay so, this is a revolutionary new technology, but I wonder if we can use some of the transfer technologies which go along with all this innovation for something very simple. Consider if you will all the bicycle accidents that happen in our larger cities. In the last couple of years there have been a tremendous number of accidents on the road, some believe this increase is due to the fact that more and more people are text messaging, and looking down at their tablet computers, or smart phones.
Most cyclists have LED flashing lights which they turn on in the day or night. What if we went one step further? What if a bicycle helmet, or bicycling outfits changed color in the presence of CO2? Thus, every time a car passed them, the CO2 around them would be at a slightly higher level causing their helmet to change color, and also their jersey and pants. In this case the changes would catch the attention and eyes of the drivers on the road, and therefore they would be less likely to accidentally run them over because they may have been distracted by their personal tech devices.
Why does this concern me you ask? Well as a long-distance cycle or, I often go on long road trips. In the past I've ridden from Oregon to Mexico along the coast, and am considering a cross-country ride. The only thing of course that bothers me is getting hit by a car, and not living to tell about it. Cars and bicycles often don't mix. I doubt if anyone really wants to run-over a bicyclist, although there probably are some sickos out there, but it's very easy to not be paying attention while driving a motor vehicle, and clipping a cyclist on or near the road's shoulder.
Obviously, when a car hits a bicycle we already know who's going to win in that game, the cyclist doesn't have a chance. Now then, for the bicycle helmet this may be much easier than you think. A small coating over the plastic colored shell could be incorporated into the bicycle helmet, and therefore the bicycle helmet could change color.
You may not be aware of this or not, but there is a gal who started a multimillion dollar business with handbags and purses where the covers are convertible, that is to say you only need one purse for all your outfits, because you can attach a different fabric or exterior snap on design depending on what suits your fancy and goes with your outfit.
In taking this concept to the next level, along with the MIT grad student's Reactive Sportswear, it seems like a natural to have color changing cycling gear. There have been studies in the past by billboard companies, and the Department of Transportation which showed that motorists were five times more likely to see a billboard or traffic sign if it changed colors, had movement, or had flashing or blinking lights.
We know that there are many pieces of equipment used for bicycling safety with LED lights, and reflective clothing which alerts motorists. Nevertheless, you could still have reflective clothing which changed colors; perhaps from a florescent green to a florescent yellow to a bright red. This is easy to imagine, and I am sure you will agree that it would catch your attention, and it might cause you to give the bicyclist more space, as well as prevent you from using personal tech devices which might distract your attention while you're driving by, or passing a cyclist.
How much would something like this costs you ask? In my calculations, it appears that it wouldn't add more than about $20 to the price of a helmet, and if they were mass-produced the clothing would cost about $10-$15 more if only the design changed and not the entire outfit. If the entire outfit were to change, that might cost a little bit more, and would be more for the long-distance serious cyclist in that case. Some might say that the extra cost is not worth it, but I ask how much is your life worth?
Could these types of materials also be incorporated into the frame of the bicycle itself? Well, I too had asked myself that question, and perhaps it could be done with reflective decaling along the major portions of the bike frame. This wouldn't add very much weight, and it should be sufficient, best of all it wouldn't cost that much. It would also provide more safety when riding across an intersection and a car was perpendicular to the cyclist. Those types of crashes cause very grave injuries, and often result in extremely serious injuries and sometimes death.
When a-cars sideswipes a cyclist, generally they have a few broken bones, and they end up on the side of the road pretty well mangled, but at least live to tell about it. Now then, is there a market for this new innovative concept in the cycling world? Yes, from what I know about participating in this hobby and sport, indeed there is a market. In fact, I believe that these cycling safety items are not only sellable but would be much appreciated by the cycling community. Of course, the first someone has to invent it, build it, market it, and sell it.
If you'd like to use this idea, I give you my permission, and I am willing to try out your new device once you develop it, and test the prototype for you, although I am pretty sure just about any cyclist would. In fact, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,500 articles by August 24th or 25th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now...
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