When your high-viz vest isn’t packing the visual punch you were hoping for, or if your reflective strips aren’t lighting up the night like you’d wished. You can now take visibility one step further.
The innovative people at Held motorcycle clothing have come out with an led set up that is sure to illuminate the night and have tailgaters squinting while they back off. With Held’s new led lights you are sure to be seen by those on the road, and maybe even a street or two over.
The innovative design takes illuminated LED tubes made by Osram and integrates them into Held’s quality Atacama jacket, the Yoshima jacket, and the companies Flashlight LED vest. You can retrofit all of these jackets with the lights to increase your visibility. The fiber-optic LED set up can be recharged again and again, and you can expect about 7-hours of visibility from a full charge.
On the company site, they point out the benefits to riding with illuminated lights in rainy, foggy and dark conditions. Where as reflective strips on jackets and bikes merely reflect any light that is being shown on them. The lights are continually lite up, this way you are not losing reflective brightness to indirect headlights coming around a corner towards you, or reflective strips having a dull lighting effect in fog or low-light conditions. The battery they provide with the lights is a 4,000 mAH battery pack, but the lights are designed so that any batty pack with a USB adaptor will power the unit.
Source photo.
LED Highlights
•Actively illuminated LED system to ensure that motorcyclists can be seen more easily during darkness and when visibility is poor
•High-quality OSRAM light sources emitting white light at the front and red light at the back
•Can be integrated into all Held “LED Prepared” products
•Any off-the-shelf rechargeable battery pack connected via USB can be used as a power source
•Around 7 h run time with 4,000 mAh battery
Currently, they only offer the lighting system on their European website, though with a credit card and a few emails you could easily have them shipped overseas. Or send them an email on the HeldUSA site and see what they’ll do for you. With the exchange rate, they will run you about $90. Though I wouldn’t be too surprised if someone in the US doesn’t come out with a system of their own. After all, they are just super-bright LED lights that can cleverly attach to the companies jacket. I’m sure someone could design an LED system that’s weatherproof and can be connected to any style of motorbike jacket. I was thinking 2” wide strips with Velcro or adhesive backing that can just stick to your jacket and be removed. That’s if the American market is interested glaring at vests that glare back at you.
