All-round good idea: 360-degree LED bicycle light flares

As a bike commuter in Seattle, electrical engineer Pete Clyde admits there have been many days when he's opted to drive a car and sit in traffic because he didn't feel there was any cycle light on the market that made him feel safe. But rather than stay off his bike, he designed his own LED 'flares'.

{{cta-cycling}}

Years of design work and and the latest LED technology gave birth to what Clyde calls ‘Flares’ - 500 and 300-Lumen bike lights with 360 degrees of visibility that can finally compete with car lights, and have the convenience of being portable and rechargeable.

The Flares are completely protected from the elements - a low-viscosity silicone is injected inside around the electronics to fill all gaps internally and remove all air leaving no space for water, or anything else, to get into. With the exception of military or aerospace applications, this degree of design specification is rare.

The Flares features a magnetic mounting system that allows the user to effortlessly swap the lights between bikes and a USB charger. A successful crowd-funding exercise has guaranteed that the ligths will go into production and you can find out more and pre-order a set at kickstarter.com

New technology is fuelling a cycle lights arms race; the most powerful of the latest crop of LED, Xenon strobe and high-intensity discharge (HID) bicycle lights are rated at over 2000 lumens – by comparison, the typical halogen car headlamp produces around 1000 to 1500 lumens. Research from America suggests that the majority of collisions involving cyclists that occur at night happen when a rider is struck from the side - despite the ever-increasing power of cycle lights, they illuminate mostly only the road ahead.

Win yourself a red LED flare

Become one of the first British cyclists to own a red Flare worth £80.

The 300-Lumen rear light designed to replicate the brightness and light distribution of car lights. The light is 100% waterproof and rechargeable. If you are like us, you have more than one bike, so this comes with two magnetic mounts, 12 premium cable ties, and one USB charging cable.

To enter the prize draw, simply leave a comment at the bottom of this page. We'll pick a name out of the hat at the end of November.

{{cta-cycling}}