Garmin’s Varia rear-view radar warns cyclists of approaching danger

The world’s first bicycle radar has the potential to vastly improve road safety for bicyclists.

Garmin Bike Radar connected to the bike of and being ridden by reporter David Rogers.

Cycling has just become safer courtesy of one of the best-known makers of bike gadgets.

Garmin’s Varia rear-view radar, the world’s first radar for ­bicycles, is expected to reduce one of the great risks of cycling: being hit from behind. Such accidents account for about 40 per cent of cycling fatalities, Garmin says.

Safety experts say cyclists must obey road rules, including wearing helmets and using flashing red lights at night; they also emphasise the importance of visibility, recommending fluorescent clothing.

But it’s clear that visibility alone is not enough. My two brothers were hit despite their bright clothing and flashing lights. One was hit by a trailer sticking out wider than the car, a common enough cause of accidents, while the other was hit by a car mirror, which also ­occurs disturbingly often.

Thankfully they survived, but a few centimetres closer and it would have been all over. Many such accidents could be avoided if cyclists had more time to react.

Hence this Garmin gadget that warns cyclists of approaching ­vehicles while alerting drivers that cyclists are near.

While trying this technology, I was surprised by just how hard it could be to hear a car approaching. If there’s a wind blowing in your ears, it can be damn near impos­sible — which means it would be hard to move further left in time, let alone organise a pack of cyclists into a single file.

An early warning system thus has great value. This bike radar system warns of vehicles approaching from up to 140m away, simultaneously flashing a red light to alert drivers behind you of your presence.

I started off with a Garmin Edge cycling computer mounted on my stem, but it was more visible further up, so I switched to an alloy mounting arm that puts the device in front of the handlebars.

I should point out that I feel safe glancing at a bike computer only very briefly; if you look at any point of your bike for more than a second, you are risking a fall.

I mounted the rear light on the light attachment point of my saddle bag to make sure it had enough height for the radar to work properly and to give drivers a clear line of sight.

After a bit of tweaking, it was simple to use and looked pretty solid and fail-safe. The device beeps when traffic is coming from behind: nothing loud enough to cause panic or annoyance among fellow cyclists, just a friendly two-tone beep.

It also flashes lines down both sides of the bike computer — amber if the threat is significant and green if the vehicle turns off or passes you.

If you’re using the radar display unit, you get one bright line flashing up the middle.

What is really neat is that the device shows your position on the front of the screen as well as the relative position of as many as eight vehicles approaching from behind.

Once a car goes by, it flashes amber again for the next one, and so on until the coast is clear.

It also detects other cyclists, but I’m not sure how useful this would be in the Tour de France.

One thing to note is that the ­device detects cars approaching from behind even if they are 15m off to the side, so you will get a lot of “false positive” threats. But from my experience, cars can’t sneak up on you without Garmin’s Varia bike radar knowing about it.

The radar bundle supplied by the manufacturer comes with a display unit, a rear light, mounts for the seat post and handlebars or stem, micro-USB charging cables and manuals. Both units need to be fully charged before use.

The rear light also works with Garmin’s Edge cycling computer, and that’s how I chose to use the radar system, to avoid clutter on my handlebars.

Everything communicates wirelessly and is coded to your specific components.

At $389, it will make a nice Christmas present for your favourite middle-aged man in Lycra.

garmin.com.au