Loughborough alumni and current student strive to make disruptive change to cycling safety

Tether Kickstarter asset

Tether is a bike safety device that projects a safe zone around your bike, responds to road users around you and identifies safe and unsafe roads in your city.

In March of 2020, Tether emerged from Goya design studio, with a small team of engineers and design graduates from Loughborough University. Tether initially started as an idea to help people socially distance during their outdoor exercise during lockdown, however the team quickly uncovered the dangers cyclists face by closely overtaking cars.

Omar Bakhshi, a former Loughborough University student, and founder of Goya, was knocked off his bike in a similar way 20 years earlier, suffering a bad head injury. 20 years on, that is how most accidents that kill or injure cyclists tend to occur.

Whilst working remotely, the team developed the initial prototypes, testing behind closed doors until they successfully applied for a patent protection, which is currently pending.

Robin Pickering, a current BSc Product Design final year student, and Christian Abbott, a recent Industrial Design Graduate (2021), have been integral within the design and testing process.

In speaking of the experience working with Goya, Robin has said:

“Working for Goya and these two fantastic designers was an absolute pleasure. The experience has also been incredibly valuable for furthering my skills, for example I was first introduced to master modelling for CAD through the work I undertook for one of the first Tether iterations.”

Recent graduate, Christian, even went on to continue exploring this space as part of his final year project. Christian now works full time on this project, helping to push the project forward to a manufacture ready state and helping in the creation of assets required for the Kickstarter campaign.

Founder of Goya, Omar Bakhshi, has added:

“It’s been a pleasure working with both Robin and Christian, and we wouldn’t have ended up where we have without their involvement.”

Tether are striving towards a future where cyclists are able move more freely, on roads that are both safer and happier. In order to achieve this, Tether are aiming to raise £20,000 in 30 days, and this will be used in to manufacture a beta version of the product.

Visit the Kickstarter fundraising page here.