Morpher Folding Helmet | £109
A folding cycling helmet seems like a counterintuitive safety measure, but the clever Morpher is just as safe as a traditional lid, meeting CE EN:1078 and CPSC standards and winning a clutch of awards for its innovative design.
It looks, feels and acts just like a normal rigid helmet, but it can be folded flat as a pancake (okay, more like a loaf cake) in seconds, making it easy to fit in a rucksack and perfect for lightweight bikepacking trips or for commuting to work. The Morpher is designed to fit both men and women snugly and it’s even made with recyclable materials. Flat-out amazing.
Alpha 2.0 Bike | Price TBC
The new incarnation of the Alpha might just change your mind about electric bikes. This just-launched, tech-forward E-bike is fuelled with hydrogen, which means it can be fully recharged in just two minutes, compared to the three or four hours it takes to recharge a traditional electric bike.
Once charged, it runs for 62 miles and has an in-built gauge so riders can see how much juice they have left. Pragma’s next version may even be able to convert plain water into hydrogen on its own. The only downside? The Alpha 2.0 looks set to be costed in the thousands.
Laserlights | £125
Bike lights are obviously a sensible bit of kit for seeing your way on dark nights, but they can be pretty limited when it comes to making sure you’re also seen by other road users. Beryl’s Laserlights don’t just cast a powerful light onto your path, they also send out both a beam of white light and a laser image of a bicycle into blind spots up to six metres in front of you, rendering you far more visible to drivers and pedestrians at night.
The 300 lumen LED lights are easily rechargeable and the battery lasts a decent 13 hours, making these a smart, if pricey, choice for winter riding.
Cybic Bike | Price TBC
The second the-future-is-now bike on our radar this issue is the slick Cybic, set to launch in the summer of 2019. Billed as the world’s first Amazon Alexa-compatible bike, the Cybic is dripping with smart features, including voice-based GPS, an in-built security lock and alarm, performance data delivered straight to your phone, WiFi connectivity and a music player.
And of course, you can chat away to Alexa if you need traffic updates or directions while you’re riding, although you might look a bit nuts doing the dinner shop from your saddle. There’s also an electric version launching. If Batman rode a bike, it would be this stealthy black number.
B’Safe Airbag Vest | Price TBC
If you ride regularly in busy traffic, the chances are you feel rather exposed on your bike, even with a decent helmet on. Enter the brand new B’Safe vest, designed specifically to protect your torso.
At first glance, this is a simple, slim high-vis vest, but on impact the B’Safe automatically inflates around your back, front and neck in less than a second. It requires a small sensor installed under your seat and uses CO2 cartridges to inflate, meaning it’s reusable after an impact.
A good investment if you ride your bike daily in a busy city – the vest looks smart too, and comes in high-vis yellow or subtle black.
Sunnycam Glasses | £129.99
These smart sunnies don’t just protect your peepers – they also allow you to record high definition video and take photos of your most epic rides, all stored in a tiny Micro SD card that slots in and out of one side of the frame.
The Sunnycams are ideal for getting point-of-view footage or photos of your mates – take them on fast-paced mountain biking adventures where you don’t want to stop to fiddle with a GoPro, or video a gorgeous road cycle route without losing your climbing rhythm.
Oh, and these specs won’t make you look like the Terminator – the Sunnycams look and act like completely normal cycling sunglasses, come with flexible frames and polarised lenses and are also great for kayaking, horse riding and other sports requiring two hands.
