When riding in traffic it often isn’t enough to hope that you are being seen, sometimes you need to let the cars know you’re there.
One cyclist has come up with a solution that lets riders be heard and seen in traffic. The Orp Smart Horn can belt out 96 dB of sound and two 87-lumen LEDs of light.
Since that level of volume is likely overkill when riding on bike paths or in lighter traffic, this horn can also be set to a more reasonable 76 db, which is still enough to alert other cyclists and pedestrians.
And the sound is just half of it.
“The Orp Smart Horn – Smorn – is a combination dual-decibel bike horn and front beacon bike light all in a super-small, USB-rechargeable, weather-proof package,” said Tory Orzeck, an industrial designer based in Portland, Oregon, and inventor of the Orp.
Small but mighty — the Orp can belt out 96 dB of sound and two 87-lumen LEDs of light
He took his simple but innovative concept and launched a Kickstarter project to make it a reality. The interest has been very good, and Orzeck told BikeRadar that he hopes it will solve a common problem with cyclists.
“The project was launched after a few horrific ‘right hook cyclist vs. truck’ accidents here in Portland,” added Orzeck, who was a GE Plastic and Nike designer before launching his own company. “We researched, brainstormed, ideated and prototyped. The result is Orp. Its aim is to make bikers not just more visible, but more ‘hearable.’”
Beyond combining a light and horn, the Orp also provides that dual-decibel option, which means that riders can opt for a low volume horn at times when a loud horn simply isn’t needed.
Pressing up or down on the 'tail' activates the horn. The light button is on the top
“It features a Wail Tail trigger that is easily moved up or down,” noted Orzeck.
As a handlebar mounted light it features twin 87-lumen Nichia LEDs that can be set in a fast strobe that's hard to miss at night in traffic, along with a slow strobe and even as a regular steady light to illuminate the path ahead.
The primary idea remains to help riders alert drivers. When in the 96-dB mode the lights will automatically fire into fast strobe, and together should help the rider to avoid that so-called right hook. Orzeck’s design could just be a way to make sure everyone gets home safe. For now, its fate rests on Kickstarter.