MassArt student and Industrial Design major Mitchell Silva has created a way to stay seen at night without having to worry about attaching and detaching pieces to your bike like the exaggerated eyes and lips to a Mr. (or Mrs.) Potato Head.
GloBars, as the 20-year-old Mission Hill resident has named them, are LED handlebars that can affix to any bike just like other handlebars on the market. They come complete with blinking turn signals, which will help riders stay noticed by the impetuous and irritable Boston traffic while keeping all hands on deck.
“I kept hearing these stories about people getting hit, my personal friends … I’ve even been hit by a couple of cars that didn’t see me. It’s still a problem,”
said Silva, who conceptualized the product after being given an assignment to create an everyday use for LED lighting.
And while custom bike frames usually start at around $1000, Silva said he wants to bring the integrated LED model to a wider marker (aka YOU) by dramatically decreasing the price.
“I would like the price to be around the same price of buying handlebars and headlights together—probably around 100 to 125 dollars.”
Before you reach for your wallet, however, GloBars are still in the works and not yet ready for mass/Mass. production. Silva still has some kinks to work out—like strengthening the handlebars so they can handle the 40+ LED light bulbs.
“I still need to do a little more prototyping and design work,” he said. “I would hope to start producing them within the next year.”
COROFLOT.COM/MITCHELLSILVA/GLOBARS
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