Cyglo Night Bright Tyres
Every now and then the idea of using the motion inherrent to bicycle wheels is picked up, prodded and poked to see if there’s a way of getting something for nothing; or at least something from not very much.
I’ve seen various attempts, most notably the Sweetskinz reflective bike tyres which sadly appear to have formed yet another stub-end on the great Trail of MTB Life. I quite liked that idea too, with lairy tyre colours by day and lairy, reflective tyre patterns by night.
Unfortunately the tyres themselves appear to have been limited to urban and tarmac riding. They were never really used and reviewed off-road as even a cursory glance showed them to be rather lacking technically, apart from their reflectiveness! A shame, and now the company seems to have fallen by the wayside.
Now there’s a new company (who have nothing to do with Sweetskinz by the way!), all freshly patented up, called Night Bright Tyres. Based in the UK, they are coming at things quite differently using the same notion of wheel movement. In this case, their new Cyglo Tyre uses embedded LEDs triggered by motion sensors which can give either a flashing or constant light. The energy from the wheel turning provides the power to light the LEDs, which results in an effective visible alert to other road users.
The eye-catching effect is enhanced by having a white light at the front and red at the rear. You have to admit it looks rather interesting even if details of tread, width, compound and wheel sizing are all singularly lacking.
Night Bright Tyres’ website suggest BMX riders and ‘fashionable mountain bike enthusiasts’ might be interested in this technology. Well, I can’t speak for D’Andy but if the tyres were capable of serious off-road performance I can imagine a few of us that might try this system. Mind you the thought of a kaleidoscopic display of bikes weaving through Wiggly Wood on a night ride is a bit ‘spaceman’ to me. And knowing DaveC, he’d soon be thinking about upping the output too!
Joking aside, if there’s real technical tyre performance plus these LEDs then I think there might be something to this. In mud the light output would be masked somewhat so trail riding would be more tolerable and once onto tarmac then the light output would return as the tyres cleared dirt. What’s not to like?
Let’s hope the idea catches on. Or not, what do our readers think?
About the author
Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.
Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.
An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.
If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.
There are 5 comments on ‘Cyglo Night Bright Tyres’
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paul901 says:
Once we get Le Dandy a pair of 3/4 length shorts powered by his peddling and revealing green LEDs then we’ll have all the Ialian national flag colours represented and others will assume he is headed towards a classic Italian road bike even if he doesn’t know it yet 😉
Anything which makes us more visible (to road users) has to be a good thing. I think flashing LEDs have had that covered for the past year or two in terms of fore and aft visibility especially when used in combinaion for frame and head but sideways vision is usually left to reflective strips on our clothing. Perhaps tyres such as these will help here although probably better if they have some residual power that means they don’t go dark as soon as you stop.
I noticed that the latest Frog type of elastic mini LEDs are now translucent thus the whole product lights up from any angle and everyone should have one on their seat post for night-time road riding.
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Posted on August 6, 2010 at 9:12 am
Il Dandini says:
Pedal powered shorts, what a cracking idea Paul. The red, white & green will match my new Scanttante ‘fixie’.
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Posted on August 6, 2010 at 1:03 pm
paul901 says:
‘Il Dandini’, that has cracked me up this afternoon.
(Muddy)Dave, looks like an update required for his forum status – or with the ‘MoleFather’ gone his Sicilian direction might yet merit the ‘Mudfather’ although perhaps requiring an epic winter ride to earn it
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Posted on August 6, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Dave says:
or maybe just stick with “Il Dandini”
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Posted on August 6, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Jo says:
I’d love these cyglo tyres for the unicycles of my sons. Uni’s are somewhat difficult to attach lights, so… However, I see this post dates from 2010, and further googling didn’t bring up much. Any idea wether these tyres will be available soon? (18 or 20″). Thanks!
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Posted on November 7, 2014 at 11:23 pm