Riding to work in the winter months is rewarding, but it can be extremely dangerous. Ideally you want plenty of lights on your bike to make sure that other road users can see you – the innovative new pedal from Pedalite offers a solution, and it’s a good one. Indeed Pedalite has been recognised by the plastics industry by winning the Consumer Product Design of the Year award for 2005.

Inside the rugged plastic body is a small micro-generator, powered simply by the body rotating around the axle. Energy is then stored temporarily in capacitor, meaning the LEDs can continue flashing for up to ten minutes after you’ve stopped pedalling. Useful, but annoying if your bike in the house and can’t turn the disco lights off.

There’s three LED clusters arranged around the side of the pedal, the front is coloured white, the middle amber and the rear cluster red. There are also two traditional reflectors on the backs of the pedal. Aside from the LEDS, the pedal looks very much like you’d expect a pretty standard non-clipless flat pedal to look, except it’s considerably chunkier. It’s not that heavy though, and has stood up to plenty of abuse on the streets of London.

Apparently, only 1% of your energy is used to power the LEDS, and in use there is no noticeable difference to a normal flat pedal set-up. To keep your shoes planted on the pedal, 12 small plastic knobs offer a foothold, but to be honest we only found trainers with a soft sole (the waffle sole found on some skate shoes works best) to offer the most grip. But even then we weren’t entirely happy – perhaps there should be the option of fitting BMX style pins into the body in place of the plastic knobs, but for most people who’ll buy the Pedalite, this won’t be a problem. This version can’t be used with clips and straps either, so it’s short trips only for the Pedalite.

Overall, the Pedalite is a great idea and a fantastic product – if you’re commuting short distances in the dark you really should invest in a pair. In fact, we can’t see why these shouldn’t come as standard on all bikes which are sold to commuters. During the winter months they’ll be great addition to kid’s bikes too if they ride to school. On the downside they do cost a lot for a product that is aimed squarely at the leisure market – but they do represent value for money for the added safety and visability they offer – we’d like to see a clipless version – but that aside they should be added to your list of essential commuter products. Obviously accor Bicycle Light British Standards Pedalite’s are an added extra and should not take the place of a full set of bike lights.

Price: £49.99
Contact: 0207 376 8438
Web: www.pedalite.com

Tech Specs:

• Flashing diodes provide 360-degree visibility
• Provides a unique light signature
• Rugged and long-lasting
• Operates automatically when ridden
• No batteries