Hey awesome backers, it is time for another update.

Come honk the horn!

Want to hear the horn yourself? I’d love to see you at the Cannoli, Beer & Bike Innovation party this Friday evening 5/24 from 7:00-9:30 over at Hub Bicycle. We’ll be doing a Rhinocyclist T-Shirt giveaway too. Thanks to SivaCycle for organizing the event; their bicycle USB charger will be able to charge the Loud Bicycle horn (only 35 hours left to their campaign).

Really want a Rhinocyclist T-Shirt? We’ll be doing another printing run soon - order them now at www.LoudBicycle.com 

Sample horns

We got the snail horn sound! It is even a little deeper than the original and it has so far been wonderfully effective at alerting drivers on the road. You can play the sound below but the deeper tones are muffled quite a bit on computer speakers so don’t be discouraged (turning the volume up helps). 

The people behind Loud Bicycle

Hop over to our recent blog post to learn about the people making Loud Bicycle happen. Here is a super-short summary:

Product Development / Engineering: Randall Jacobs, John Prata, and Andrew Lansey
Industrial Design: Chris Owens
Graphic/Web Design: Allison Johnston
Some awesome beta testers

Beta testing

Super excited to have the very first beta-tester biking around the streets of New York City with a prototype Loud Bicycle horn. He’s mounted it on the stem of the handlebars which may be the only option for some oversized or delicate bicycle frames.

Battery update

The specially made battery has been tested with the sample horns in the factory and we are moving ahead with the PCB sample production. I’ll be getting some batteries to test myself soon.

Backer Photo

I wanted to share an awesome technique that Daniel (one of our backers) will be glad to leave behind when he gets his horn.

Daniel says: “It does work too, but it gets strange looks and doesn't work all that well if you're very tired. ;)”

I hope to see some of you this Friday,

Happy Biking,

-Jonathan

Recent events in Boston

Our hearts go out to the victims of the recent attack on our city. The marathon is a really special event that will not be tarnished by these crimes. 26milesofawesome.tumblr.com

Cool hat photo by Lorianne DiSabato, Creative Commons.

Horn Design Update

We are going to stick with the original Kickstarter design. I really thought we could miniaturize the horn but the reality is that it cannot be done without compromising on the sound. This decision stems from from several weeks of road testing and overwhelming feedback from you. I’m going to copy a few backer comments here that highlight the reasons for this design decision very nicely:

Rhino backer Jim Yule says:

• The ‘hook’ that got me on board was the original killer horn sound.

This is really key for Loud Bicycle, the sound needs to be freaking loud and amazing - absolutely nobody can be disappointed by the sound!

Hero backer Joseph Ryan says:

• [by] changing an idea to accommodate the masses you miss the niche market that made it successful to begin with

This comment really hit home, I care about all of you and really appreciate that you have joined me on this endeavor. It's true that a mini-horn would certainly have a much wider appeal, but that is not what you pledged your support for. This leads nicely into what Pioneer backer Kenneth Nosek had to say:

• I love the original idea-and backed it. This [mini-horn] ... is a NEW idea. Perhaps, this horn too needs a Kickstarter fund.

Well it seems obvious when you put it that way. A mini-horn (including the inevitable sound compromises) will make a great second product and once all of your horns ship - Loud Bicycle just might do another Kickstarter!

Horn Production Update

Unfortunately, we have lost some time with the failed miniaturization efforts and the final production will likely be delayed by two months. I am really sorry about this, it is entirely my fault for staking hopes on miniaturization instead of just pushing to make the original Loud Bicycle horn. I hope you can accept my apology and trust that I am doing my best to make the horn as awesome as it can be.

At this time, sample Lithium Ion batteries are being produced and the original case design is being finalized for waterproofing and to prepare for tooling.

T-Shirts

The T-Shirts have all been made and shipped by T-Launch to all Blazer and Hero backers, woo hoo! Don’t forget to grab the stickers in your package too :) the white rectangle sticker is pretty easy to miss.

I’m really glad about how they turned out and how easy T-Launch was to work with. Also, much gratitude to Ellen Marcus for the inspirational Rhinocyclist graphic and to Allison Johnston, for doing a fantastic job turning the graphic into a T-Shirt.

If you like the design you would probably also like Ellen’s new children's book about rare and threatened fish species, That Fish in Your Dish.

Comments and feedback

I really appreciate all the constructive feedback in the comments. Please don’t hesitate to continue speaking your mind.

Thanks again for your help and happy biking!

-Jonathan

We have been working round the clock to continue progress- psyched by all you awesome backers! We have more exciting developments to share, thanks for waiting patiently for this update. Lets jump right in with a TL;DR; summary:

• Sample car horn components have passed waterproofing and road durability tests. We requested changes to sound, and there were major delays but we have the new samples and will begin road testing right away. (sound clip below)
• Sample batteries have performed perfectly for 1.5 months now; they will be charged via USB.
• The housing is undergoing another redesign to optimize sound quality.
• The circuit board has been designed; waiting for housing to produce samples.

I’d like to thank everyone for your comments on the last project update. It is really great to have your feedback, I appreciate you actively helping me shape the product to the best it can be.

And now for the details:

Durability testing

It has been particularly snowy here in Boston, but the city is fantastic about clearing the roads so myself and the greater cycling community have plowed right through it. For the past month I’ve been testing a single sample horn (one tone) on my bike. The rough winter has basically destroyed the roads - so this sample has gone through a rather extreme durability test … and has so far passed :)

Driver responsiveness

We just received the proper two tone horns last week - after an uncomfortably long delay. I’ve begun testing them though I still have much more testing to do. In the meantime I’ll discuss my experience so far with the one-tone horn which I’ve had on my bike for over a month. It is recognizable as a motor vehicle horn, but I’ve found that some rush-hour drivers seem to think the honk is meant for someone else. The result is that they are little more likely to ignore the single tone horn thus experimentally validating the original two-tone design. On the flip-side, drivers act a lot less surprised when they register the sound came from my bike - but I suppose that is because it sounds less like a car and more like a motorcycle. I’ll report back how the new 2-tone sound goes in the next update. Your comments about the sound are welcome, please listen to it with headphones..

Weatherproofing progress

Our initial design for waterproofing involved pressing the edges of the horn with a gasket. When testing a new 3D printed model we found that this design changes the pitch of the horns ruining the careful tuning. We are changing the design to rectify the situation.

To test waterproofing of the exposed horns, we ran them directly under water and tested them soon after. We are concerned that the metal components might not be sufficiently corrosion resistant so I am performing a longer duration outdoor test in wet conditions. We expect the horn to remain functional (these components are really hardy and well tested on cars) but we are concerned about rust stains appearing on the housing.

Mounting methods and sound quality

The way the car-horn components are mounted to the housing and the way the housing is mounted to the bike, impacts the tone and volume of the sound. We noticed this with the Kickstarter prototype and we are seeing this effect more pronounced with the lighter car-horn components. We absolutely cannot compromise on the sound quality and so we are working hard to incorporate the new components in a way that preserves the full car-horn sound. The final test of the sound will be on the roads by myself and the beta-testers. I really want this horn to be lighter but we will go back to the heavy horns if we don’t elicit the same reactions from drivers with the new components. 

Circuit board

We were able to incorporate a voltage booster into the circuit board that allows the horns to be powered by a standard USB cable (which we will provide). This is particularly exciting because it makes things easy for our international backers and it means that riders with generators can charge the horn with their own power! The circuit board has been laid out but we are waiting for the final design before producing samples. 

Reward fulfillment

All the sticker-level backers have been mailed their stickers and at least one has appeared on a car, thanks Sam! If you bought a horn and really want stickers soon - let me know and I might be able to mail you some early. The T-Shirts are being printed and shipped with amazing ease by teelaunch and should be arriving to Blazer and Hero backers soon.

Comments and feedback

I really appreciate all the constructive feedback we received from the last update. While there are challenges ahead- we are making great strides to improve durability and reduce the size/weight of the Loud Bicycle horn while maintaining the crucial sound quality.

Thanks again for all your support and happy biking!

-Jonathan

Hi everyone,

We have been working hard at Loud Bicycle and have some exciting news to share with you. We have found smaller and lighter components which will allow us to make the horn smaller and decrease the weight of the horn by over half a pound! You can hear the new sound of the horn by clicking play below.

We will be field testing them soon to ensure they are as reliable as the larger heavier components you saw in our video .

The lighter weight and size means we can make a few more really great design improvements.

The lightweight horn will ...

• attach with two adjustable and durable rubberized straps allowing it to fit on as many bicycles as possible.
• be easy to remove, so you can take it with you when parking your bike in a bad neighborhood. We will also provide a method to lock the horn to your bike.
• have a completely internal battery to make the horn more durable and to simplify charging. This design choice will also decrease the size and weight of the horn and make the waterproofing more robust. There will still be a way to replace the battery, if needed, after several years of use.
• As many of you requested, the button will unplug from the housing with a connector similar to the one on a headphone jack. This means you can leave the button on your bike when you take the horn with you, or take the button with you if you don’t want people honking when you leave the horn on your bike.

We are really glad with how plans are shaping up before production, please feel free to let us know what you think in the comments.

Happy biking!

-Jonathan

PS: Renderings and photos coming soon

It has been about a week since we were funded and we have been working quickly getting things in gear. Some of you were concerned about the size of the horns and how they would fit on your bicycle. We think we have found a great solution to both decrease the size of the horn and allow it to attach to more locations. We have discussed it with our manufacturer and although the proposed re-design will tighten the schedule, he says we will still be able to make our June ship date. We still need to do testing before we move forward, and we’ll keep you posted on our progress!

If you have made a special order by changing the total amount of your pledge - now is the time to let us know exactly what your order was. To help us stay organized, please email orders@LoudBicycle.com from the email address you used on Kickstarter and let us know what you expect to receive and the amount that you pledged.

A few weeks before we are ready to ship each item we will send out a survey for you to fill out your shipping address. As a reminder

• Stickers will ship in February
• T-Shirts will ship in March
• Horns will ship in June

-Jonathan