With the winter holidays upon us, festive cyclists are celebrating by ditching their cars and decking the halls with battery-powered Christmas lights. Regardless of the season, it’s wise to be “lit up like a Christmas tree” when riding after dusk. If you’ve already got a blazing headlamp, blinking lights, and scads of reflectors, there’s no better time to up the ante with colored Christmas lights wrapped around your wheels. (Just be careful not to tamper with any moving parts.) The more lights you have to brighten your bike, the less likely it is you’ll be hit by a motorist with an evergreen wreath on his front grille.

Transforming your bike into a veritable ornament is easy. Illuminate your ride with inexpensive LED lights that are wired for DC power. (LED lights use 80-90% less power than standard lights, so your batteries will retain their juice for much longer.) You can find pre-wired, 12 V, LED lights at inirgee.com, or look for similar lights at your standard drugstore. Connect the lights to a 12 V battery and juice it up with a 12 V charger. Michael Bluejay and Cyclelicious offer detailed instructions on how to rig up your own blazing sleigh ride. If Santa catches on, Rudolph might be out of a job.