E-bike gadgets and accessories – all you need to know

The automotive industry is knee-deep engaged in finding solutions to the global issues of mobility and replacing them with designs that are more sustainable, offer low to zero- negative impact on climate change and offer the best of services integrating design, engineering, sustainability, and technology.

E-bike for this reason have seen a surge throughout pandemic and post-pandemic. Most so for the enormous health benefits, it also has benefits for our planet. This surge has brought into light a series of new designers and start-ups to enter the market for E-bike related gadgets and accessories. These are both fun and functional accessories and gadgets, some of which can be easily snapped onto your bicycle to some more user wearable ones. Here are some bike and e-bike based gadgets and accessories you need to know:

1. Slap-band bicycle lock

E-bike and bicycle users are always looking out for a sturdy and smart lock for their bikes that is not easy to break and offers top-most safety to their vehicle in public spaces.
Slap-band lock is a simple, clever, and smart way to protect your bike with a snap.

Designer Jeongwoo Seo came up with the Slapstick Smart Bicycle Lock, reinventing the entire bike lock category and making it a more tech integrated, fun and one with a sleek design that you’d like to show off. The inspiration comes from a popular children’s toy – the slap-band, this smart lock snaps around your bicycle frame and has a belt like adjustable locking mechanism that can extend from your bicycle to the pole you are attaching your bike to.

The smart hub of the lock helps a person to secure the lock and remove it without needing a key – making it a seamless process, faster and more intuitive. It only opens when the user presses the button on top that has a fingerprint reader. The user can also use their phone to lock or unlock the slap-band. It comes in a series of fun and pop colours, is waterproof and has a contact-based charging hub.

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2. Energy-keeper

Designed by Sasha Torgova, this puck- like device is designed based on regenerative braking and is able to clip onto a bike wheel to generate electric energy to deploy it back to the grid. This kinetic energy is collected when brakes are applied and is converted to electrical energy back to the grid.

The energy that would otherwise go to waste is getting utilized in this accessory for bikes. The Energy Keeper includes a bearing ring, a magnetic disk and weight to help rotate the wheel. Sarah, the designer, has smartly designed an ecosystem where the bike users can collect Energy Keepers from city marked areas placed in apt storage boxes, clip on a disk and charger (pulled using an application) onto their bicycle and collect electrical energy on their way to work, college etc. To encourage returning the disc and charger – the user will receive a free ride on public transport under the reward campaign.

This gadget is conserving energy, putting it to the right purpose and inspiring people in the process while involving them in the action building curiosity and attaching an objective to their biking process.

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3. Pikaboost

This is a must have gadget for the many owners for a regular bike. Its a bicycle to e-bike convertor kit
Now this sounds like something we’d all be on board with!

Some of us prefer the old school way to pedal our way on the bicycles, while others love the motor assistance. And sure, there is a majority that would love both present in the same bike. Now you do not have to make the choice between either or with LIVALL’s specially designed ingenious kit that helps to transform your regular bike into an e-bike in no time.

E-bike conversion kits are a true savior and offer the best of both worlds to the riders, with little investment when compared to e-bikes. This kit is coined as PikaBoost, which comes as a single unit that you can attach on your bike and remove it to install again on the same or another bike. It’s easy to carry with you when you park in public too. Beyond their ease of installation and carry, the PikaBoost e-bike is a more pocket friendly option that offers almost all capabilities of an e-bike.

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4. reTyre’s zippable tire tread

This accessory is designed to keep you safe and secure while elevating your cycling experience.
This accessory is based on the notion that if we are able to change our shoes, jacket to match the location, weather, and other factors – why not do the same with our bike?

This brings us to reTyre’s zippable tire-tread accessory that gives a city bike versatility to go off the road into different terrains. Designed with a simple zipping mechanism that allows you to add a layer of tougher tread on your tires – offering you rides on smooth asphalt to traversing through tough terrain. Their zipper lining and selection of treads/ skins accessory allows you to ride your bicycle on mud, gravel, rocks and even snow.

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5. Vento bicycle light

Designed by Bestenheider, the Vento light is more than just a bicycle light, it is described by the designer to Yanko Design as a way ‘to reinvent the ways we use and produce energy’ and is ‘a power-plant, a way to question energy consumption, and an object to connect like-minded individuals. Vento is a mindset’

Vento has four main components and is like a miniature wind turbine that is constructed from recycled materials and uses its micro-turbines to harvest wind energy when the bike is in motion. This energy is converted into electricity through electromagnetic induction via the turbine generator. The bicycles light battery stores this energy, and the LED bulb then generates light. Vento also offers on-off and blinking light switches for different use purposes.

These are only a few examples of how designers are working to build products that are furthering the bikes into the most sustainable and eco-friendly vehicles we can adapt our lives to. In our era of extensive increase in pollution, pandemic, and epidemics – becoming a bicycle person is key to living safer and longer. People across the west are ditching their expensive 4-wheelers that consume high amounts of fossil fuels and cause harm to the environment and switching to more environmentally friendly options like biking that also promote good health and give us our daily dose of exercise.

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