Laser Bike Lights: From Virtual Lanes to Projected Bike Symbols

Overview

Laser-based bike lights have gone through a full arc in just over a decade:

• Concept art that went viral in 2009.
• Early commercial “virtual lane” lights projecting red lines around the rider.
• Forward-projection lights that paint a bike symbol several meters ahead, now deployed at city scale in London.
• A long tail of rear lights with “laser lanes”, from big brands like NiteRider and Lezyne to generic imports.

This article traces that evolution and, crucially, notes what’s still available today and what’s effectively vanished.

1. The origin story: LightLane (2009 concept)

The modern laser bike-light idea starts with a concept project called LightLane by designers Alex Tee and Evan Gant, released around 2009. Their rendering showed a small unit that would project bright green lines on the pavement, creating a virtual bike lane around the rider at night.¹

LightLane was never a widely sold product, but:

• The images and video spread quickly on design blogs.
• The idea of visible lane boundaries projected from the bike itself lodged in people’s imaginations.

You can see traces of LightLane’s visual “DNA” in almost every later virtual-lane product.

Status:

• LightLane itself remained a concept / prototype; there’s no evidence of a sustained retail product line.

2. Early commercial “virtual lane” lights

2.1 Xfire Bike Lane Safety Light

The first widely noticed commercial version of the concept was the Xfire Bike Lane Safety Light, launched around 2012.

Key features:

• Two 5 mW red lasers mounted in a rear light unit.
• The lasers projected two red lines on the road, forming a moving “virtual bike lane” behind the rider.
• Also functioned as a regular tail light, powered by AAA batteries, with steady/flash modes.
• Original price was about US$39.99.

Xfire was reviewed on gadget and tech sites as a clever, if somewhat flashy, safety gadget. Later coverage on New Atlas (then Gizmag) in 2013 explicitly linked it back to the LightLane concept.²

Availability today:

• One retailer listing now shows the Xfire lane light as “SALE ENDED”.
• The original Xfire-branded site and product appear defunct; only occasional old-stock listings or second-hand units remain.

In other words: Xfire is effectively discontinued, though its basic design has been copied and rebranded many times.

2.2 Clones and rebrands

The Xfire idea—rear light plus two red laser lines—spawned multiple clones:

• Generic “LED Bike Tail Light with Laser Safety Lane” units reviewed on forums, typically inexpensive devices with multiple LED flash modes and a laser lane option.
• CycleAware / generic “taillight with laser lane lines” products featuring five LEDs plus two lane-marking lasers.
• Later, some reviewers pointed out that the NiteRider Sentinel 40 appears closely related to, or at least inspired by, the Xfire design.³

On mass retail sites today (Walmart, Amazon, Alibaba), you’ll still find many no-name or house-branded tail lights advertising “laser lane” or “laser tech” that project red lines and act as combination LED/laser rear lights.

Availability today:

• Branded originals (Xfire) are gone.
• Numerous generic “laser lane” rear lights remain widely available at low prices, often under $20.

3. Blaze / Beryl Laserlight: projecting a bike symbol ahead

While Xfire and its clones focused on rear “lane” lasers, a London startup called Blaze (later rebranded as Beryl) popularized a different idea: a forward-projecting symbol.

3.1 Blaze Laserlight (first generation)

Blaze launched the original Laserlight on Kickstarter around 2013–2014.

Key design elements:

• Combined a white front LED with a green laser that projected a bicycle symbol onto the road about 6 meters ahead of the rider.
• The goal was to extend the rider’s footprint, making them visible to drivers who might otherwise only notice them when they’re already alongside the vehicle or in a blind spot.
• Patented projection optics ensured the bike symbol was bright, sharp, and retina-safe.

The big breakthrough came when Blaze signed a deal with Transport for London and Santander Cycles:

• After trials in 2015, London announced that all 11,500–12,000 hire bikes would be fitted with Blaze Laserlights.
• TfL materials describe the laser projecting a cycle symbol about six meters in front of the bike, giving riders a much larger visual presence.

This made the Laserlight essentially the first laser bike light to be adopted at city-fleet scale, rather than just individual retail.⁴

3.2 Beryl Laserlight Core (second generation)

Blaze later rebranded as Beryl and introduced a more affordable, refined model: the Beryl Laserlight Core.

Key features:

• 400-lumen white LED front light plus the green laser bike symbol projection.
• USB-rechargeable with up to ~41 hours of battery life depending on mode.
• Fully waterproof housing, multiple modes (day flash, pulse, steady, etc.).
• Marketing claims the projection can make riders up to 32% more visible at junctions, based on trial data.

Early user reviews (e.g., bloggers testing the Core in 2018–2019) confirm the bike symbol is clearly visible on city streets and can be seen from oblique angles, especially at intersections.⁵

Availability today:

• As of late 2024, the Laserlight Core is still sold through Beryl and resellers such as Condor Cycles and others, and is regularly listed among modern “best visibility accessories.”
• The original, more expensive Blaze Laserlight appears to have been superseded by the Core, though some old stock or used units still circulate.

4. Rear “laser lane” lights from major brands

After the Xfire wave, bigger lighting brands started integrating laser lane features into rear lights.

4.1 NiteRider Sentinel (40 and 250)

NiteRider Sentinel 40 (mid-2010s):

• A rear LED light with about 40 lumens of output plus laser lanes projected as red lines on the road.
• Multiple flash and steady modes, USB rechargeable, and widely reviewed.
• A BikePortland review framed it as “gimmick or godsend,” noting that the lines are eye-catching but debating how much they alter driver behavior.

NiteRider Sentinel 250 (current flagship):

• Up to 250 lumens with Daylight Visible Flash and multiple flash/steady modes.
• Three dedicated Laser Lane modes, projecting ultra-bright laser lines parallel to the bike to create a virtual lane.
• USB rechargeable Li-Po battery, IP64 dust/water resistance, and clip/strap mounting options.

Availability today:

• NiteRider’s own catalog still lists the Sentinel 250 as an active product.
• The Sentinel 40 is still sold at various shops, often as a lower-priced or legacy option.⁶

4.2 Lezyne Laser Drive Rear

Lezyne offers the Laser Drive Rear, a compact taillight that combines high-output LEDs with lasers:

• Up to 250 lumens, nine output modes, and an IPX7 waterproof body.
• Two red lasers project guiding lines on the ground behind the bike, forming another style of virtual lane.
• USB rechargeable, with the usual mix of solid and flashing patterns.

Availability today:

• The Laser Drive Rear remains in Lezyne’s product lineup and at major retailers.

4.3 Bell, Blackburn, and other branded laser-lane lights

A few more examples of branded rear lights with laser-lane features:

• Bell Meteor 500 Laser Lane (Bell Sports): tail light with “Laser Tech” that projects red laser lines on the road; sold through outlets like Academy Sports.
• Blackburn Laser Lane taillight and related models appear periodically in big-box catalogs (e.g., Walmart listings referencing “Blackburn Light Laser Lane Bicycle Taillight”).

These sit somewhere between the Xfire-style products and more fully featured units like the Sentinel or Laser Drive.

Availability today:

• Many of these are sporadically available—certain models may be current in one retail season and vanish the next, replaced by a near-identical product under a different name.

5. Edge and adjacent concepts: Lumigrids and beyond

Not all projection-based lights use lasers for lane lines or bike symbols. One notable adjacent concept is Lumigrids, an LED projector that casts a grid pattern on the road in front of the bike.

• The idea is that the grid deforms when it crosses bumps, potholes, or uneven surfaces, giving riders extra information about the road.
• Coverage in 2013 explicitly mentioned combining Lumigrids with Xfire and Blaze-style devices for a “Tron-like” safety setup.

Lumigrids never became a mainstream consumer product, but it shows how projection-based safety has been a recurring design theme, even beyond classic “laser lanes.”⁷

6. What’s still available vs. what’s gone

Here’s a simplified snapshot as of late 2025:

7. Big picture: what laser lights actually changed

A few themes stand out across this history:

1. Projection has become normalized. City deployment of Blaze/Beryl Laserlights on London’s Santander cycles proved that projection isn’t just a gadget—it can be part of a fleet-scale visibility strategy.

2. Rear “lane” lasers are now a commodity feature. Once Xfire showed the way, laser lane features turned into a checkbox item that brands and factories could add to rear lights, with NiteRider and Lezyne offering higher-quality versions and numerous generic options filling out the low end.

3. Forward projection is rarer but more distinctive. Projecting a bike symbol ahead is technically trickier, more expensive, and more tightly patented, so Beryl’s Laserlight line has fewer direct competitors. It remains one of the only mass-produced forward-projection bicycle lights with large-scale real-world deployment.

4. Driver behavior vs. visibility is still an open question. Reviews of products like the NiteRider Sentinel often describe the laser effects as highly visible, but mixed on whether drivers actually respect the “virtual lane.” That’s less a failure of the technology and more a reminder that infrastructure and behavior matter as much as new lighting tricks.

References