A Cateye View Of The Future?

Today we're going to take a trip on the Wayback Machine...to the  future! 

The second link in the previous sentence references one of the most popular movies of all time.   Around the time it came out, I acquired a piece of what was possibly the most advanced bicycle-related technology of the time.

I am referring to a Cateye Solar computer.  Like other Cateye products of that time, it was cleverly designed, easy (at least relatively, for a perpetually technologically-challenged person like me) to use and all but indestructible.   That could mean, of course, that it could have been made only in Japan, where anything that was good, electronic and not made for the military was manufactured.

The only problem with it was, well, that you had to keep it charged.  Otherwise, the solar battery would die altogether.  (That, I suspect, is how many units fell into disuse.)  And it was difficult to read in less-than-optimal light conditions.

I got to thinking about the Cateye Solar when I came across this:

According to a patent recently filed, Classified--the Belgian firm that brought us the Powershift hub--plans to harness the sun's energy to charge electronic bicycle components, including electronically powered brakes.  

I'll be the first to admit that I'm hardly part of the target market for such a system, as I have not taken to electronic shifting or other bike parts.  I respect, however, one intention behind the invention:  eliminating the need to plug in to charge an electronic system.  I have to wonder, however, how well the system would store energy and whether it would "die" if it's depleted.

Still, I admit that I cheer just about any time someone comes up with a way to run anything on solar--or any other sustainable--energy source.  Hmm...Does that put me on the Fake Tan Fuhrer's Enemies List?