Lights that holler ‘Stop!’

The first time Dave Hoch took his Hokey Spokes for a spin, “People were just running down the street” after him. “Traffic,” he said, “pretty much stopped.”

And for good reason. The multi-colored LED lights he’d fastened to the spokes of his bicycle were blinking in a kaleidoscopic pattern, a test run of the unconventional but intriguing new safety lights he’d invented.

“Cars that would never see you, now they’re stopping 50 feet away,” Hoch, 42, said. “Not only are they stopped, the people in [them] are smiling.”

Hokey Spokes are battery-powered lights that attach to bicycle wheel spokes. As the bicyclist pedals and picks up speed, the lights begin to blink in a variety of designs--a flower-petal configuration, for example, or a checkerboard. The blades, which create the lighted look and are attached to individual spokes on a bike, can also be set to play continuous text messages, as long as the message is no longer than 16 characters.

Hoch came up with the idea while having a beer at a Boston bar. All it took was a bicycle’s red safety blinker reflecting on his glass, and a light went off in his head. Sure, the red blinkers increased bicyclists’ visibility from the front and back, but what about the sides?

“I ride my bike at night, and getting hit, broadsided, is a major concern,” said Hoch, an electrical engineer and MIT grad who brainstormed Hokey Spokes a year and a half ago and who’s sold thousands in the two months they’ve been on the market. At a maximum of six blades per wheel, the cost to outfit both wheels of a bike would top $350.

Although they’re primarily for commuter bikers, a lot of people buy them because “they like cool gadgets,” he said. “They just want to show off.”

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Styling wheels

What: Hokey Spokes

Cost: $29.95 per blade (six blades maximum per wheel).

Info: (617) 924-4014 or www.hokeyspokes.com.