Oncycles.com 2010 Product of the Year!

Oncycles.com sees many hundreds of new products every year. Each year it seems some new product distinguishes itself above all others. Because you generally do not have access to all the products we see, we want to make you aware of the one product that rises above all others in a broad range of criteria.

Toward that end, beginning in 2010, oncycles.com is selecting one product that emerged in the prior year and that distinguishes itself as the best product of the year.

For 2010, oncycles.com is pleased to give its award for the best product of 2010, to the entire StrobeWise line.

StrobeWise makes a line of products that accurately and precisely determine when a motorcycle is slowing, whether or not the brakes are on, and translates the rate of slowing to a flashing rear signal that cannot be ignored by a following driver. This gives a driver behind the motorcycle anywhere from 3 or 4 to 20 seconds additional time to slow down.

StrobeWise even flashes slowly when the motorcycle is at a stop.

StrobeWise eliminates panic stops, and can greatly reduce or even eliminate the incidence of motorcycles being rear-ended by motorists who don’t brake soon enough.

Because the StrobeWise technology is state of the art, build quality is superb, cost is in a range that most can afford, installation is straight-forward, the products can be used on almost all modern motorcycles, and mostly, because the products really can save lives and millions of dollars in damaged bikes, the StrobeWise products rise far above anything we have seen over the past 12 months.

It is with great pleasure that we present our award for 2010 to StrobeWise.

A Comment from Alfred Kobacker, President of Oncycles.com

“…I know that most motorcycle-automobile collisions result from a car turning left in front the motorcycle. I guess I’ve always felt that I had some resources at my disposal for avoiding this kind of incident, principally because I am looking right at the potential offender, and if I’m on my game, I should be able to detect and avoid a crash – hopefully.

“What has always worried me more was getting rear ended. In most cases, I can’t see that bogey coming, and worse, even if I can see him or her, there is generally nothing I can do about it, especially if I’m stopped.

“Sitting at a traffic light at a dead stop, I honestly feel helpless to a cell-phone-using, coffee-drinking, texting, day-dreaming, or otherwise distracted and impaired driver. On the freeway, bumper to bumper, I have frequently gotten a chill seeing the car behind close fast when I simply lifted off the throttle for a moment.

“So I am here to say that what StrobeWise has accomplished is one of the most important developments I have seen, or could hope for, when it comes to riding safety. And most importantly, its effect is directed at the potential offender, without imposing any limitations or restrictions on me as a rider.

“This really is an important new product line. It just might save your life one day.”

About StrobeWise

CEO turned inventor, Fritz Braunberger founded a company in 1996 which was poised to go public in 2000 with UBS. He was Chairman and CEO of this medical Internet company with over 500 stockholders and valued at over 80 million dollars by UBS. When the dot-com crash hit, it took him out…as it did with so many other promising young companies.

As a result, Fritz and his wife Allyson had to declare bankruptcy. The banks had taken both of their vehicles and soon their house. Fritz had always been a serial entrepreneur/inventor. With no capital and soon to be no roof over their heads he and his wife struggled with the thought of just what to do with the rest of their lives.

After their vehicles were gone a friend lent them a 1962 open top jeep. A raggedy heap it was. It was while driving this gem that Fritz and his wife decided to … suck it up … and give the entrepreneurial stuff one last try. They decided to start a new business developing and commercializing intellectual property with ideas that had been bouncing around Fritz’s head for some time. The company was called Vision Works from which StrobeWise™ emerged.

First he struck partnerships with his long time friend, Jonathan Owens - patent attorney with Haverstock & Owens and his son, Beau Braunberger - automotive & performance phenom.

The team researched and developed the StrobeWise™ technology, in the process learning about miniature accelerometers, gyroscopes, microcontrollers and digital electronics. Jonathan filed patents after each phase of development while Beau developed interface protocols for vehicles. The technology itself was borne from “shockwave” traffic in Los Angeles where inattentive and delayed reaction times of drivers resulted in spring-effect traffic-patterns and rear-end collisions.

L.A. counties generated 2,195 fatalities from crashes in 2006 alone. After tens of thousands of hours of research, development and testing, with patents and a prototype in hand, they met investment banker Gary Schmidt. Armed with an endorsement from NASA’s create-the-future-contest the team, with the addition of Gary Schmidt created TransSystems, the world-wide IP distributor of StrobeWise™. StrobeWise™ is now patented or patent pending in all developed countries throughout the world and is being manufactured by Sound-Off-Signal of MI. It entered the market in August of 2009.

Facts About Rear-End Accidents and StrobeWise

• 3 million rear-end collisions occur on U.S. Highways each year.
• 1.5 million people are injured in rear-end collisions.
• $15 billion in property damage results from rear-end collisions.
• The NTSB estimates that 60-90% of rear-end collisions can be avoided if the following driver has only .5 – 1.0 seconds additional warning time.
• StrobeWise typically provides 3-10 seconds additional warning time.
• StrobeWise provides additional warning even when the motorcycle is stopped.

About Oncycles.com’s Product of the Year Award

Oncycles.com evaluates new products from the previous 12 months. Products are measured according to several parameters.

To quantify the evaluation, each category is worth 100 points, for a maximum total of 700 points.

Total: 635 out of 700 points = 90.7%. Frankly, nothing else came close.

Click to check out the range of StrobeWise products.