Lumo’s LED-studded cycling gear boosts safety without losing subtlety

By Drew Prindle Published December 9, 2014

There’s fashion and there’s safety gear, and never the twain shall meet, right?

Wrong.

It used to be that cyclists didn’t have much of a choice — either drape yourself in neon colors and reflector stripes, or dress like a normal person and run the risk of becoming roadkill on your way back from work. There wasn’t much of a middle ground before, but now, thanks to up-and-coming London-based startup Lumo, you’ll no longer have to sacrifice fashion for the sake of safety, or vice-versa.

Lumo gear was built from the ground up to give cyclists the best of both worlds. During the day, the company’s jackets and bags look like normal everyday apparel — no reflective seams or bright, gaudy colors that assault your eyes. But despite their unassuming appearance, the jackets and bags are outfitted with rows of high-brightness LED strips on the front and back, subtly hidden within the construction of the design.

LUMO-cycling-apparel-032 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Almost completely concealed until they’re switched on, these lights are visible from over a quarter mile away, and are placed in such a way that they’re visible regardless of your riding position. The LEDs are completely waterproof, washable, and powered by a removable USB-rechargeable battery unit that’s tucked away in a small inside pocket.

lumo cycling jacket kickstarter apparel 030

lumo cycling jacket kickstarter apparel pack 12

lumo cycling jacket kickstarter apparel 045

And it gets even better. In addition to all these high tech bells and whistles, Lumo’s jackets are packed with a number of low-tech design elements that make them more bike-friendly. Dropped hems help you avoid showing off the dreaded “plumbers crack” while you ride, and the jacket’s stretchable shoulders give less resistance as you reach forward for your handlebars. Lumo also treats each garment with a special fabric finish to add water resistance, dirt repellence, and breathability.

Sound like something you’d be interested in? Head over to Lumo’s recently-launched Kickstarter campaign to pledge your support and help get it off the ground. Back the project now during the early stages and you can lock down a jacket or backpack before the price jumps up. Jackets are available in both men’s and women’s sizes and start at $264, with the backpack available for around $200.

Former Senior Editor, Features

Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…

Topics

Cars

The Apple Car may be dead, but it became the foundation of Apple Intelligence

A decade of work on a canceled car project reportedly laid the groundwork for Apple Intelligence.

Apple Intelligence in Apple Car

The Apple Car may have never left the garage, but it apparently gave birth to Apple's AI ambitions. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple's canceled autonomous vehicle project, one that consumed more than a decade of work and over $10 billion before being scrapped in 2024, ended up laying the technological foundation for Apple Intelligence. In a rather ironic twist, one of Apple's most expensive failures may also become one of its most important long-term investments.

The Apple Car forced Apple to think like an AI company

Emerging Tech

Researchers hid a prompt injection inside a PNG, and AI fell for it

Hacker

AI coding assistants like Claude are becoming every developer's favorite coworker. They can review code, explain confusing functions, and even write entire features with a single prompt. But new research suggests that this growing trust could also become their biggest weakness.

A team of security researchers (professor Sudipta Chattopadhyay and researcher Murali Ediga) has demonstrated an unusual attack that doesn't target the AI model directly. Instead, it targets what the AI doesn't pay enough attention to during code reviews. Rather than hiding malicious instructions in lines of code, the researchers tucked them inside an image file. Since many AI review tools treat images as decorative assets rather than as something worth inspecting, the pull request can appear perfectly harmless and sail through the review.

Emerging Tech

AI has already fallen into the wrong hands and they’re using it to make bombs

Artificial intelligence has quickly become the go-to tool for everything from writing emails and summarizing meetings to helping students study or developers debug code. But the same technology that saves people time can also be misused, and a new report suggests that terrorist organizations are finding ways to do exactly that.

According to a research paper shared with The New York Times ahead of its publication, researchers found evidence that members of Boko Haram have been using popular AI chatbots to support both day-to-day activities and combat-related tasks. Interviews with 27 former members conducted in Nigeria over the past two years suggest that tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Meta AI, and DeepSeek were used to gather technical information, troubleshoot weapons, and even assist with planning attacks.