BikerTop is the first mobile bike cover that can be opened and closed in less than 15 seconds: “the rain won’t stop cyclists anymore”.
On a nice sunny day, riding a bike to work or for a walk is fun, healthy and eco-friendly. When it rains, however, everything changes: biking becomes complicated, nerve-wracking and potentially very dangerous. It’s no coincidence that on rainy days the bike paths of all cities become depopulated and only the most “faithful” cyclists dare to ride in the rain. Diego Divenuto is one of these daredevils. Or, at least, he was until some time ago: “I’ve always loved to ride a bike and, over the years, I’ve realized that one of the biggest obstacles is the fact that this means of transport is completely exposed to weather conditions: when it rains, its use is drastically reduced. So I said to myself: I have to find a solution to be able to use the bike all year round and in all weather conditions“. And he did it for real. Diego founded the company Smart Mobility Solutions and invented BikerTop, the first mobile, easy-to-use, lightweight bicycle cover. “There are already other types of covers on the market. They are heavy, rigid and ugly structures: once installed, they cannot be easily disassembled. Bikertop, on the other hand, is the first and only system that can be opened and closed in seconds. Just as we do when we walk down the street and it starts to rain: we pull out the umbrella, open it and then when it stops raining we close it again. All with a few simple movements“.
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With Bikertop the rain will not scare cyclists anymore
BikerTop is composed of a plastic sheet that can be folded inside a bag/box to be fixed to the front carrier of the bicycle. The entire system is extremely lightweight and weighs less than 2.5 kg. When it starts to rain, the cyclist can open the bag and in a few seconds assemble the tarp which remains in tension just like a canopy. When you arrive at your destination, or when the sun comes back, the cover can be closed just as easily. The fabric of the cover, similar to that of camping tents, is transparent in the first section to ensure a good view. “The peculiarities of Bikertop are three: safety, ease of use and speed. The sheet is able to protect from rain and wind, guaranteeing the cyclist stability on the road even in adverse weather conditions. The system can be used by anyone. It opens and closes in a very short time, just 10/15 seconds. For now the opening is manual, but in the future we could also automate it to make everything even easier and faster. In addition, the bag in which to store the cover is aesthetically pleasing: it can become a design gadget to enrich your bike or e-bike”.
The BikerTop system has already been patented in Italy (patent number 102018000008565 of 13/09/2018) and verifications for international recognition are underway. “The project was born in 2017, when it came among the finalists of the Start Up Euregio award in Innsbruck, Austria. Subsequently, BikerTop won the Seed Money call of the Autonomous Province of Trento, obtaining a first tranche of funding. In 2019, I finally managed to launch the product on the market, also participating in two important international events: the Eurobike Fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany and the Maker Faire in Rome. I believe that the main market will be Northern Europe, countries such as Holland and Denmark, where people are used to spend more for the bicycle precisely because it is a very popular means of transport”.
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