BikeHacks

Interview: Dan the Monkey Light Man

This interview was conducted by Bikehacks in May 2009.  We are reposting from our Wordpress archive. For the history BikeHacks has with Monkey Lights, see our product review/collaboration page.

                                * * * * * * * * * * *

BikeHacks is a huge fan of the Monkey Light. I have been rocking the Monkey since last December and love it. Dan, the inventor of the Monkey Light, graciously agreed to an interview. Enjoy!

BH: Are you an avid rider? What bike(s) do you currently own?

I've been a more and less serious rider for about 20 years. I first started biking around 8th grade because we had a bike touring club in my school. I remember it was very liberating once I learned I could bike 20 miles all by myself, basically go anywhere. Teenage car liberation, no car required! Now I like bike touring a lot. I've done a race here and there but I never liked the competitiveness much. I bike around the city as well.

Bikes-my main ride is an unbranded titanium MTB frame that I built up with XT components and 650c road wheels. I prefer MTB frames and components (minus the shock) even for road riding - it's pretty hilly here in nocal :)

I've got a Stumpjumper hardtail for actual MTB riding, I did a 30 hour adventure race with that bike. I've got a 100% plastic frame custom art bike that i assembled (my friend did the CAD design) and then installed custom LED edge lighting into it. I ride the plastic bike to the movies sometimes! It's a fun ride, but super wobbly. I've got a Haro Betty cruiser in hot pink that I did a custom lighting job, my lady rides that sometimes. Also a Haro bmx bike, I just learned to do a bar spin on it last year! I think I've got about 5 more besides that but I gotta clean up the garage sometime yikes!



                                                  The Plastic Bike

BH: What is your educational background?

If your mom asks you why you went to school for 23 years, do not crack up when you say: 'to make awesome bike lights!!!'

BH: Is the Monkey Light part of a side gig or do you design full time?

It started out as a side gig for sure, at the time I was working on Instructables.com and Electronic Rope, which was a Time magazine invention of the year. I made the first "Monkey light" system as an art project. Perhaps the transformative moment - I was riding by a real sharp scraper in West Oakland, a metallic green buick with the big rims, tinted windows, thumping stereo . . . this guy rolls down his window and with smoke pouring out, he says to me - 'nice ride'.

BH: How did the idea of the light originate?

The basic idea has been around forever, at least 30 years. There's been lots of toy implementations in clocks, computer fans - and bikes. I personally got the idea at a hacking club at MIT, that club (miters) was into bikes and electronics, so it was almost a coming of age thing where every new electrical engineer in the club would build their own wheel light. Adafruit's SpokePOV kit also came from that hacking group. My light was the first one to have full color.

 

BH: How long did it take to go from concept to ready for sale product?

Hmm, well I was riding around my original art wheel in 2005, then it was on the back burner for quite a while. I started developing the current product in 2007, and Xander Hudson came on board about that time also, he had just seen the art wheel at Maker Faire and was excited about the possibilities. We had 30 prototype units riding around San Francisco by December 2007 and we released the commercial product in May 2008. Then we sold out the first manufacture run in 6 weeks!

BH: Why did you call it the "Monkey Light"?

Why are they called 'The Beatles?'

BH: Where do you live and what is the furthest place from where you live that the Monkey Light has shipped?

Our web store went live in June 2008. With little more than Google Adwords for marketing we've shipped orders to practically every part of the globe - Punta Arenas, Tasmania, Mauritius, Latvia, it's really mindboggling how the internet has connected the entire world. There are people in the most remote places and they are on all the same websites that you are every day.




BH: Have you developed any other bike related products or do you have anything in the hopper?

We've developed a fully functioning video display in a bike wheel, it's the first one ever developed. We've also got some new consumer level products coming out later this year that we've very excited about. Gotta keep those in the bag for now though ;)

BH: What inspires you? What resources do you use for inspiration?

I've been really inspired by our customers. Many of them are quite dedicated to a bike lifestyle and write us long emails about their experiences and their local bike culture.

BH: What is your own bike hack that you are the most proud of?

The Monkey Light for sure. I've got several fun ones on my Instructables page - instructables.com/member/dan. I recommend the wobbly bike (aka swing bike) as a great "my first freak bike" project. At an even more modest scale I'm a fan of using old innertubes as chain/cable/frame protectors. Just slit them and wrap! And they come in handy for bundling an extra jacket onto the frame if you get hot.

BH: Dan is the man. Now go get your Monkey on!

Clothespin Bike Light Hack

Sometimes I see a hack that is so brilliantly simple and cool I wonder why I did not think of it. This hack submitted by Midge from across the pond is one such hack. Enjoy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I was a bit peeved with those ugly plastic brackets that spoiled the lines of my beautiful bike so I came up with this ten minute cliplight hack. It's cobbled together with a Poundland rear light (are they called Dollar Stores in  the US?), two thin zip ties and a sturdy wooden clothes peg.

The assembly's pretty straightforward, note that one of the peg arms is cut to accommodate the button and there's a small filed groove to channel one of the cable ties. A quick dash of paint to taste and Bobs your Aunties live in lover, one cheap as noodles cliplight. 



                                                                         * * * * * * * * * * * *

LED Light Strips for Bike

Reader Chris, he of horn and spot light hacks, is back for more.  This time he explains adding LED light strips to his ride. 

For another example, see this previous post on the same topic.

 

D.I.Y.: “Po’ Boy” Fenders and PVC Pipe Dual Headlight

Jack from bikecommuters.com passed along two great hacks.  The first hack is a fender made of aluminum strip and an old election yard sign.  Sometimes the clearance between brakes and tires can pose problems for fenders and he gives a great description of how he D.I.Y.'d to get around the space issue.


Second, he came up with a great double headlight system using PVC pipe because he was running out of room on his handlebars.  Pretty dope setup for sure!  Turns out Jack does know jack.  Check out both hacks via the bikecommuters.com site.

BikeWrappers - Post 1

One issue I have been curious about for quite some time is why bike companies do not paint frames with reflective paint.  We have reflectors, reflective tape, and reflective strips on tires, why not reflective paint on frames?  It seems like a no brainer to me, but I received one of my lowest grades ever in high school chemistry so I am not the guy to try to figure it out.

One common way to increase visibility is to use reflective tape, however I learned of another solution due to networking.  Check out this email I received:

I was just attending the Portland Bike Expo as a vendor and two seperate people came up to me and said that they read your site religiously and that I should contact you about getting my product reviewed... So, I'd love to submit my hack for you guys to review.

My company is called BikeWrappers and I make reflective wraps that go on your bike frame so you can be seen at night. They go on with velcro so there is no permanent adhesive you are putting on your frame and are temporary so you can swap them out between multiple bikes. In addition to being visible to car headlights from a 1/4 mile away, they help to protect your frame from scratches.

After feeling all warm and fuzzy, I responded and asked if the BikeWrappers creator would like to collaborate.  He responded in the affirmative and I received a set to review, and he generously agreed to give away a set to a reader.  We are working on contest ideas so stay tuned.  In the meantime here is the package I received.

On one side is decorative fabric, and there are many choices on the website to choose from.

And on the other side is reflective fabric that looks like this when you point a smart phone camera on it with the flash on.

When I first tried them on I noticed two things.

1) The fabric will stretch, which is good.  My downtube is a bit oversized and you can see at the end of the arrow that some of the Velcro is showing.  This is no big deal because it does not really impact visibility/reflectivity.

2) The "bad" thing is that these things have the ability to make my bike actually look good.  I love the ghetto nature of my bike, and the picture above shows how the BikeWrappers transform the look of the original appearance of my bike.

As far as performance, BikeWrappers do not disappoint.  This is a night picture (with flash) without the wrappers -

And this is a night picture(with flash) with them -

The without picture picks up some reflective tape and the reflector on my front rim, but there is no doubt that the wrappers do their job and do it well. 

As I wrote earlier in this entry, we are working on a giveaway so that a reader can receive a set of BikeWrappers, so stay tuned.

 

Flashlight/Inner Tube Hack - Maglite Mini Bike Light Mod

Flashlights have made several appearances on Bike Hacks.  We have seen flashlights attached to handlebars with zip ties, hose clamps alone, and hose clamps with a stem assist. We have seen an inner tube assist as well, and thanks to reader Mactire we now have another great example.  Check it out -

The Ingredients are as follows:

2 Maglite Minis
1 Nite Ize Maglite Mini LED mod
1 Red Maglite cover glass
1 racebike inner tubing

The tool:

Scissors

Full write up is available on Mactire Reviews.

 

Pimp your Ride: Japanese Decoration Bikes

Via the blog Pink Tentacle comes this:

For decades in Japan, dekochari (deko means “decoration” and chari means “bicycle”) have been the ride of choice for hardcore dekotora fans that are too young to drive. Modeled after Japan’s celebrated art trucks, dekochari typically feature large front bumpers, ornate luggage racks, rear-mounted boxes that resemble truck trailers, colorful paint jobs, lots of chrome, and sophisticated electric light displays.

I am guessing these bikes are not meant for daily commuting.  I don't know about you, but the soundtrack makes me want to sip Scotch over ice.

 

Spot Light Bike Light

Most front bike lights I have owned would not be that great outside of a well lit urban setting.  The lights have made people aware of me, but would likely not be great on a super dark road with no other light around. 

Reader Chris wanted to get the attention of cars and see where he is going, and he came up with an awesome hack incorporating a spot light.  One thing is for sure, there will be no missing Chris if he is anywhere within a mile of you!  Around the 8:20 and 9:30 marks is where you really get a feel for the effectiveness of this hack.  Of course I would not want this hack wrongly positioned with Chris coming at me or he might be able to see the inside of my skull =)

Take it away Chris!

* * * * * * * * * * *

I used the metal bracket from a lattern tree hanger to mount a rechargeable Stanely spot light on my handlebars.  I took everything off one side of my handle bars, bent the bracket a little to make the "holes" on the bracket slide over the handle bars, then bent the bracket around and underneath the stem.

It practically holds itself, but I added zip ties.  With the way I mounted it, it could actually be inverted and used to hold another "accessories" bar out in front of your handle bars. 

 

Inner Tube Cyclo-Computer Bracket

Turns out I am not the only one that struggles to keep the brackets securing various devices to my handlebars in working order.  I have broken tabs off of all sorts handlebar brakets meant to hold lights and cyclo-computers. A common hack is to use a rubber band to help hold the computer in place.

Dave from crossgeared.com encountered a similar issue when his bike (he does not specify whether or not he was on it at the time) unexpectedly met a stream bank (his words).  He experimented with zip ties but his final solution came with an inner tube.  He states:

As many of you know, inner tubes are very useful for a number of purposes other than holding air in your tires.  My new mount uses a standard 26 x 2″ mountain tube (I’m guessing it is a 2″ tube, I found it on the trail), and that is it.  I just cut a length of tube, cut a window for the computer display, and then another hole to fit around the mount base.  Normally I’d give a procedure or some simple instructions, but since all you have to do is cut two holes in an inner tube I’ll just post some photos.

Here is one of his photos to get you started, jump over to crossgeared.com for the full picture show.

7000 Max Lumen Bike Light

There are bike lights, and then there are bike LIGHTS.  My rides are mostly urban and I can get by with a lower level light because of all of the ambient light I have access to.  Reader Jesse on the other hand wanted to bike in conditions devoid of ambient light and he came up with a bad ass DIY solution.  Take it away Jesse . . .

* * * * * * * ** * * * * *

This hack is for those that like night riding or want to get into it (it's great, never too many people and nice and cool) but think that those 300 lumen lights just don't cut it and don't have the cash for a 1000-2000 lumen lighting system (they can be like $500 - $1,000 dollars, yikes). Even with 1000 lumens, it's just not enough plus some of those systems out there can only last about 2 hours at max power.

There is hope though, with this slightly overdone bike light I built for my mountain bike.

The light you see featured in these pictures I made myself and it has a max of 7,000 lumens on high with a battery life of 2.5 hours, while it can do 3000 lumen's on low power for over 6 hours.

The light is made of 6 cree xml u2 LEDs mounted to a copper and aluminum heat-sink to keep its 60 watts nicely dissipated. To power this light I built a 150 watt-hours lithium polymer battery pack all in-closed in a extruded aluminum case.

I built the case so it can easily attach to any standard water battle cage (you can see on my bike the water bottle cage just happens to be on the bottom of the frame, that's just how GT decided to do there full suspensions those years). The weight of the light and the battery and all the wires come out to just under 3.5 pounds (with the battery being the fatty at 2.9 pounds).  I also hooked up a few other cool things like rear red lights and a power level indicator so you know when you have to charge it.

The charging is done with a lithium polymer balance charger for rc cars and helis that I bought just for the light (cost me 30 bucks on ebay). I ended up building the whole thing for about $150 (would only have been $100 if i would have built a battery pack half the size).



For those who know high power LEDs have to be run at constant voltage and current to make them last (these are guaranteed to last 50,000 hours). So I have 3 parallel dc-dc converters with a 93 percent efficiency regulating them to put out 20 watts, 40 watts or full power of 60 watts to make just over 7000 lumen's of light, but the lenses I used are 92 percent efficient and I am getting about 6600 usable lumens.

To put this in comparison a standard headlight of a car gives 1000lm while a D2S Xenon metal halide arc head light you can buy gives you about 3000lm (so double that and that is what I hit the trails with). I can't imagine much more power being useful or very easily created (running this amount of power gives you a problem with heat dissipation which made me do a lot of testing to get a good rough design) but I think I will keep trying.  Next I am thinking to go over 9000 lumens (for those dragon ball Z fans out there).