Brilliant Bike Glows Like the Sun When Headlights Hit It

Dying to be seen on your bike at night? Here's a bright idea that turns not just the rider, but the entire ride, into one big glowing HEY! on the road.

We city-bound cyclists invest countless dollars in gear to make us more visible to the giant SUVs, surly cabbies, and enraged Ubers we coexist with on our commutes. We glue, sew, strap, and tie lights and reflective strips to our packs, bikes, helmets, and shoes--all in an effort to reduce, however slightly, the chance of getting killed by a driver who will ultimately claim he "just didn't see you there."

So here's a bright idea that turns not just the rider, but the entire ride, into one big glowing road-going HEY!.

The Lumen is the latest bike from the artisanal builders at San Francisco's Mission Bicycle Company. The entire bike-- frame, fork, and rims--has been sprayed with a retro-reflective coating. Hundreds of thousands of tiny transparent spheres are embedded in a top-layer of powdercoat. This trick was mastered by a company called Halo Coatings, which joined Mission Bicycle Co. to develop the Lumen.

During the day, the Lumen looks like a city bike with a snappy, slightly sparkling gray paint job. But at night, it comes alive. The reflective action relies on the "cat's eye" effect. When illuminated by a car's headlights (or any light source), each microscopic sphere reflects light back at the source. The closer the car gets, the greater the intensity of the reflection. It's a trick that'll surely get you noticed--as long as the driver's view isn't completely obscured by the screen of his Galaxy Note.

The Lumen comes in different configurations--both single-speed and internally geared--and is available as a frameset ($499) or a complete bike ($1,245).

Pre-orders are being handled through Kickstarter, and the frames will be delivered in July. Normally, we'd encourage you to take delivery dates on Kickstarter campaigns with a big grain of salt, but Mission Bicycle Co. is a real-deal company with a brisk business and plenty of experience in honoring web pre-orders — I rode the company's last Kickstarter project, the Sutro, in 2012 and really liked it — so you can feel confident the Lumen will arrive in a timely manner.