Revolights Inc., a start-up company, is bringing a revolution in bicycle industry with its Revolights bike lighting system. As you can see in the image, the wheels of the bicycle are mounted with LED lights. Thus, helping you in sighting forward and on sides.

The funding for the project got completed recently on 27th September through Kickstarter. The product is expected to launch in March 2012 at the rate of $220. This project started exactly an year ago by three friends and today, we have one of them with us - Jim Houk to tell us more about this super amazing product. Catch it below:


Jim, please introduce yourself to E-junkies. 

I'm one of the founders of Revolights, Inc and have been working with Kent Frankovich and Adam Pettler on this project since the end of last year. I work in the biotech industry by day and spend my free time working on this project. I also enjoy golfing and playing almost any recreational sports. I love being constantly challenged and have spent my professional career wearing a variety of hats. I've dabbled in the restaurant and construction industry, the education field, the emergency services field as well as biotech. What I've learned along the way is that I am very fortunate to be a part of this project. Here at Revolights we feel very strongly that we can do something that makes a difference in peoples' lives.


Tell us about the fascinating concept that Revolights bike lighting system uses.

Revolights bike lighting system is a fully functioning system that incorporates both "lighting" and "sighting". "Lighting" being the illumination of the forward pathway and "sighting" being increasing the ability for those sharing the road to identify your presence and position.




How did you guys come up with this superb idea? We would love to know about its inception.

The idea originated when Kent (Founder and Inventor) was riding home from school using a traditional helmet mounted headlight. He wondered why the light that was intended to illuminate the ground in front of his bike was so far from the ground. In addition, he realized that there was no added benefit of increased visibility of those sharing the road. This spawned the idea of mounting the lights to the wheel or spokes and providing both lighting and sighting.


Would you like to give us an overview of the Revolights bike lighting system? (about its designing, the materials used, etc.)

Our lighting system consists of 2 thin profile LED rings (white in front, red in back) that mount directly to each wheel rim (just below the brake calipers) using a series of rim specific clips. Power is supplied via a thin wire to the hub where a lightweight and slim, USB rechargeable polymer lithium-ion battery is held in a special bracket. A small magnet is secured to the fork to provide speed and orientation information to the rings. The design is still in the development phase and materials of construction for the production version have not been finalized.


What kind of reception has it received so far?

We've been very pleased with its reception to this point. We've gained an international audience and interest is at an all time high. We are very fortunate to have gotten some great reviews and exposure via our kickstarter project and can't wait to get this out to the public.


Now that your project has raised funds successfully, what is your next plan of action? When do you plan to launch it?

Immediate next steps are to finalize the design and produce a commercially viable product. We intend on completing this process and launching publicly in March '12.


What is your vision for this project?

Ultimately we'd like to revolutionize the bike light industry. We whole-heartedly believe that we can provide a fully-functioning bike light that illuminates a cyclist's path and increases side visibility. We are very proud of the design and humbled that is has been received so well thus far. We are truly passionate about this product and the potential for making cyclists safer around the world.


Share your fondest memory with this project.

I would say that my fondest moment was the day that we met our kickstarter funding goal. It was just after midnight here in California and all three founders (Kent Frankovich, Adam Pettler and I) and our creative director Jeff Kriege were incessantly hitting the refresh button. When we refreshed the screen and we had achieved our goal it was utter chaos for a moment. We couldn't believe that we had gotten the funding we would need to make this dream a reality. We are so thankful to all of our kickstarter backers and definitely would not be able to make the progress that we have without them. They are the foundation of our business and have begun the revolution of the bike light industry.


What message do you have for our readers?

Overall I would just say to find what you are passionate about and to go after it. As mentioned above, I've dabbled in a lot of things during my career and this is by far the most trying, exhausting, challenging, yet fun and exciting project that I've been involved with.

Jim, thank you for sparing time to talk to us. We wish you all the very best for your product launch in 2012. We are really looking forward to it.


Revolights on Facebook and Twitter.

If you wish to feature your start-up on our blog, then do write to us. We would love to hear from you.