- Bike basics & safety
- Design
- 4 April, 2019
- Trek
Out of the dark ages Bontrager's Flare R and the revolution of daytime running lights
Before 2015, lights were created and marketed under the assumption that you only needed them if you rode at night, so they fell into two categories: front and ineffective.
Our electronics team thought that assumption was backward. Most people ride bikes and drive cars during daylight hours, and research revealed that most car vs. bike accidents occur from the cyclist’s rear.
Cyclists needed a smarter solution. So the team went to work on a new age of enlightenment.
Borrowing from the automobile industry’s daytime running light standard, the team created a rear bike light with a flash, focus, and range that would help cyclists stand out to drivers during all hours of the day and night. It was called Flare R.
When drivers see cyclists from farther away, they have more time to react. When drivers have more time to react, they can give cyclists a wider berth when passing, solving one of cycling’s most pressing concerns.
Flare R awakened us to one of our great blind spots. Today we continue to develop and introduce products to help make cycling safer. This light is small but mighty. It makes a real difference, and that’s why we’re working to get one on every single bike on the road.
And it all started when a small team in Waterloo asked the hard questions and said, “We can do better.”
About the Author: Trek
Our mission: we build only products we love, provide incredible hospitality to our customers, and change the world by getting more people on bikes.