Super Bright RGB LED Bike Wheels

Why settle for just a few lights on your bike when you can load up your wheels with over 200 RGB LED lights! This is LED oversaturation and ridiculously impractical, but it sure is bright and colorful so why not?

For this project you'll need access to a 3D printer, but the pieces are tiny and any printer should be able to handle it.

RGB LED strips - I'm using the 2 meter strips, which is enough to go around my wheels and have a few extra inches at the end

3D printer - Any printer and material should work fine. I printed mine with PLA on my Lulzbot Taz 3, but really ANY printer should work fine.

Strong tape - I used Gorilla tape. Duct tape would likely work as well.

AA batteries - one dozen

Scissors - for cutting excess LED strip

I modeled this clip for my bike's rims, which are the "Deep V" style and thus the angle of the bottom piece is pretty acute.

LED clip in Tinkercad

To modify this for your own bike, stretch out the bottom two pieces.

When you're happy with it go to Design > Download for 3D printing to get the STL.

I recommend making a few variations to test out so you can find the one that fits faster.

Prep your 3D printer however you need to for small pieces and print it up. Don't worry about the material as I printed mine out of PLA and they held up just fine when riding.

Be sure to print out a few extra as these might break apart when installing them on the bike wheels.

Attach all of the clips to your rims by sliding them onto the spoke and then sliding down the spoke to the rim.

Attach the LED strips, starting with the first LED closest to the controls, work your way all around. If you have excess, trim the strip with a pair of scissors, cutting between the copper pads.

Attach the battery pack to the spokes with tape. I admit, it's not the most permanent solution. There' probably a much better way to do this.

If you're using two strips on a wheel, make sure the battery packs balance each other out by being on opposite sides.

Ride around!

I'm still testing this out so there is room for improvement. One strip did break after I leaned the bike against a table so the strips should be reinforced on either end of the controller. Some heat shrink or electrical tape should help a lot.