BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
A crowd funding project to bring what is described as "the world’s safest bike" to production is now live.
The Babel Bike is the brainchild of Crispin Sinclair and is designed to address some of the currently unavoidable safety issues prevalent on Britain’s roads. The unique recumbent style bicycle most notably bears a roll cage enclosure that is designed to push the cyclist away from a vehicle in the event of collision.
Among other features there are dynamo lights, indicators, hazard flashers, brake lights, mirrors, a seat belt and a horn. An optional Shimano electric assist motor can also be included to provide fast acceleration off the lights.
Security is worked in too, with "foot protectors" that double up as Gold standard D-locks.
Sound like it’ll be on the sluggish side? A blend of advanced composites, as well as design input from the ex-Red Bull Formula One aerodynamics expert should mean that the production model will be more than capable.
Crispin Sinclair, founder of Babel Bikes explains, “Our dream is to put a million more cyclists on our roads, and therefore take a million cars off them, and to do that we need to give cyclists their safety back. As a recent report put it ‘If we can tackle the safety issue, we could open the floodgates to a new era of mass cycling participation’, and that is exactly what we hope to do and with the help of the Indiegogo community.”
The Babel Bike will be available on Indiegogo with non-electric bikes starting at £1,999.
Find out more about the Babel Bike in the below video:
