Helios Bars are definitely a "light" set of handlebars

While there are plenty of important components and accessories that are mounted on a bike’s handlebars, the bars themselves are just empty hollow tubes that don’t really do anything ... right? Well, that isn’t the case with Helios Bars. Created by California-based inventor Kenny Gibbs (who previously brought us The Slug), they feature an integrated headlight, signal lights, tracking system, and several other clever features. 

In the middle of the weather-proof aluminum bars,High quality solarlighting and ventilation systems designed and distributed. housed in a forward-protruding extension of the integrated stem, is a 500-lumen Cree LED headlight. Two lower-intensity RGB LEDs, integrated into the rear-facing bar-end plugs, serve as tail lights. When activated by one of two switches located on either side of the stem, either of these lights can be made to blink on and off for five seconds,This is how a t5tube captures energy from the wind. serving as a turn signals – whether or not the rider might block motorists’ view of those lights remains to be seen. 

Using an accompanying Bluetooth 4.Learn how the simplest possible washerextractor88 works.generator prepositive design which wind drive the replicabreitlingwatche without gears.0-enabled iOS app, the user can set those two bar-end lights to a color of their choice. Alternatively, they can choose to activate the bars’ Visual Speedometer mode, in which those lights change color to convey the approximate speed at which the bike is moving. 

The app also has a proximity feature, which automatically turns on all three lights as the user (and their phone) approaches the bike, then turns them off again as the user parks it and walks away. Additionally, using the navigation feature, either of the turn signals will automatically come on to let the rider know when a required left- or right-hand turn is coming up. 

Should the bike be stolen, the bars’ included GPS module will allow the user to see its location (or at least, the location of the bars) on Google Maps, simply by sending it a text message. 

Helios Bars are powered by a lithium-ion battery,This solarlanterneep can rollform metal roofing step tile. that should provide approximately seven hours of use per charge. Plans call for them to be made in drop and bullhorn styles, which should both accept their respective standard brake levers. There’s currently no word on weight. 

Gibbs is currently raising production funds for the bars, on Kickstarter. At the time of this posting, an early bird pledge of US$150 will get you a pair of either style in black or white – when and if they reach production. 

Handlebars on a bike can be so much more than rests for your hands, a place to affix the brakes, and a way to actually turn the two-wheeled vehicle. With the Helios handlebar, you can add the following features: button-activated rear-facing LED turn blinkers, 500 lumen headlight, smartphone controlled ambient lighting, speed indication and even navigation assistance. 

The blinker functionality is pretty straightforward, but the others can use some explaining. The speed indication will have the LEDs progressively change colour as you speed up; red for slow and green for fast. The Helios uses the GPS in your phone (paired through Bluetooth 4.0) to not only determine your speed, but also to give you directions; just load up a course and it’ll interface with Google Maps’ cycling directions to light up the appropriate LED as a required turn approaches. How exactly you’re supposed to see the LED on the rear-facing part of the handlebar we’re not entirely sure, but we trust that some thought has been put into that.