Hello! I am a student in Industrial Design, working with a consumer electronics company called Cobra. They are looking to expand there product line
and customer base. They work primarily in personal communications. We
feel that there may be opportunity in cycling. If anyone would respond to
the following questions about cycling I would greatly appreciate it. This company is looking
go into production with all viable ideas within the year. Your feedback could directly influence
the development of a new product for the motorcycle or bicycle. We are in the initial phases of development and are trying to find direction.

What is the most important part of the spirit of cycling?

What do you expect out of your gear?

Do you feel that there is a place for electronic communication while riding?

If so. What are your main concerns and needs for communication on the bike?

Thanks for you time. I want to come back here to post threads as our product moves along. And hopefully this online community will help us make something worthwhile.

I moved this to electronics and Gadgets....more suitable area.

No, it's not spam, folks. He's a student seeking data.

Immediate thoughts that come to mind (I may change these later when I read it again and if I have something different in mind)


What is the most important part of the spirit of cycling?

-Keeping fit while in motion going places. Also I'm one of those people that likes to keep fit while going from point A to B when I can because sitting in the car not only drives me crazy when I'm stuck in traffic but I find the more I drive the less I get to workout.


What do you expect out of your gear?

-I'm sure most poeple will say they want thier gear to be LONG LASTING. I don't think I need to say more on that.


Do you feel that there is a place for electronic communication while riding?

Like what? Emailing while riding? While I am a gadget person and love tech gear I think long range radios on bikes are a good thing especially when riding in squads. Don't think the reading email thing would work out too well while riding.



If so. What are your main concerns and needs for communication on the bike?

-Wireless would be best if you're using a cellphone or radios so you don't have to have the wire dangling around the ear piece to catch on something else. Tho most riders I think would be using a speaker on thier radios then an ear piece. I for one would like to use the ear piece more for silent ops should you be doing field operations or bird watching or geocaching.


Thats it for now.

1. Cycling glasses with embedded speed, mileage, cadence, heart rate, and time read out through the lens like we see in the KITT car in Knight Riders TV series. It could be done via Bluetooth to the cycling computer sensors.

2. Rear light(s) that can tell car drivers behind you to stay back further if they ever get too close.

3. A handlebar mountable device or software that you put on your PDA or phone to read RSS such as on this forums and output onto the devices' loud speakers while we are riding our bike.

4. Sensors that tell which part of the bike requires maintenance.

5. A device which can capture harmful cars license plates surrounding you.

6. A device that can call help & ambulance & pinpoint your location when you bump into an accident

7. A device that allows you to "tap" onto another rider riding in front of you to reduce drag or tow your ride.

8. A pair of "Iron Man" shoes that can assist on your cadence with electric power.

9. A security device that tells you when someone is about the steal your bike when your bike is parked on the street.

10. A magnetic device in which you can use it to attract pretty cute riders to ride along with you.

Please let us know what you can do. I will be more than happy to co-develop any of the above.

Thats an interesting distinction. I'll remember to have a student post our stuff next time I need to post company info

Based on the Cobra product line up, small voice activated Walkie talkie headset would be useful for MTB racing (to inform your team of any problems on course or if you have a serious mechanical/accident and need to send out another rider). Except every race I've ever been to bans wearing such devices.

On the road I don't see such a need. Its easy enough to communicate with the group and it'd be one extra distraction I don't want.

how come every 4 weeks there is some post like this ?

I swear these are bots testing AI functions

Number one on my list is a dynamo driven usb/automotive charging point. I have that, I can charge my ipod, cellphone, gps, headlight, nimh batteries etc. 3 - 4 watts of sustained power via a dynamo in an easy to use package would just about make my day.

4-5 weeks is the average project length for an ID student...lemme guess, Art Institute Chicago?

Students have latched onto any type of "green movement" as a way to mass produce more junk to sell.

Bridge rectifier converts AC from dynamo to DC.
Batteries regulate and filter power for USB device.
Switch selects LED headlight-off-USB circuit.
USB devices can be recharged by the batteries while the headlight is powered from the dynamo.
The dynamo will produce 500mA which is the suggested rapid recharge rate for Ni-MH batteries. Simply calculate how much time is required to recharge the batteries at 500mA and use your cycle computer trip time to automatically keep up with recharge time. It will stop and start as you stop and start riding. USB devices can use up to 500mA. Devices that use less then 500mA allow you to power the device and recharge the circuit batteries slowly as you ride.