Advice on Cycle Lights
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LooptLou25
Posts: 193 Member
Hi all. I want to be able to build on my cycling (a novice), but as the evenings & mornings are already starting to draw in & if I want to do anything outside of weekends or gym, lights are going to be essential. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Thanks, Lorraine
Thanks, Lorraine
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Replies
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Hi Lorraine,
I would recommend going for a set of LED lights, they are really bright, flash (which is very attention grabbing) and last a long time before you need to replace the batteries. I was looking for a reflective cover for my rucksack the other day in Tesco and spotted an LED light set for approx £5 and come in a silicon (type) gel casing, which allows you to clip them easily anywhere. Thinking of buying these as a second set to complement my 'Cat eye' lights, but they should be good for starters.
I could not see your profile, so not sure if you are based in the UK to take advantage of shopping at Tesco, but the advice stands where-ever you are located.
Rgds,
Kato (Carl)0 -
lights tend to fall into 2 categories... lights to be seen with, and lights for you to see with. If you're in a largely urban area, with plenty of streetlights, then a couple of led's either end (I find that one flashing, one steady attracts more attention than either 2 flashers or 2 steady ones) work well.
My "be seen with" lights are the Smart LED's rear lamps - http://www.wiggle.co.uk/smart-lunar-r1-rear-light/ and a couple of decathlon lamps that are similar to the Knog Frog Lights - http://www.wiggle.co.uk/knog-frog-strobe-led-front-light/
For the Mountainbike night-riding, then I do like a more powerful lamp - up until recently, I actually used to make my own LED lamps, but to be honest, the Chinese factories have got their act together pretty well now, and last year I picked up a rather powerful Cree SSC P7 Led lamp ( http://www.dealextreme.com/p/ha-iii-cree-ssc-p7-c-sxo-5-mode-900-lumen-led-bike-light-set-4-18650-included-30864 ) that's scarily powerful, and complete overkill for use on the road - indeed in a way it's actually dangerous, as it looks to oncoming cars like a motorcycle, and causes them to mis-estimate my speed... It's pretty much perfect for hooning around the woods in the dead of night though :laugh:0 -
Thanks, will be doing some investigating on that info. Carl, I'm in Hastings UK, (changed profile so members can see me now) Tesco's may be getting a visit over the weekend! Cheers
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As a commuter, lights are critical for my safety. However, since my commute is mainly on rural roads then I needed a bright light rather than a flashing light.
I bought a light similar to the magicshine 1000, I believe it was a Spoke Grenade brand light from Amazon. I agree with TBY that at full power the light is too bright for the road. I happily run the light on the 50% setting and have plenty of light. In fact, I may experiment with 10% power to see how long the light will run since for brevet's I'll need it to run as much as 12 hours.
I also use a 45 lumen helmet light that is actually an Energizer brand headlamp I bought from a Home Improvement store. The other night it got dark on a friend and I before we finished the ride. The headlamp was bright enough for us to get home at a slower than my normal pace. I wouldn't want to do a 45+kph descent with just the headlamp though and I have two such descents on my morning ride into work.
I use a Planet Bike Turbo Flash on my rear rack and I run it steady. According to the Rando's, a steady rear light is essential for safety since a flashing light alone confuses drivers and affects a driver's depth perception. I also use a helmet mounted rear light that slowly flashes just to get attention. Not to mention that at night I wear a reflective vest and my panniers have plenty of reflective material. I will also be buying reflective ankle bands ASAP so that people will be able to tell that I am a bicycle and not a motorcycle.
I hope this isn't too much information. I'll try to find some links to the articles about lighting safety sometime I've read. You could start by heading over to www.sheldonbrown.com and finding his articles on lighting or look for Ken Keifer's bicycling pages. The steady rear light and reflective ankle bracelets come from www.rusa.org under the rules section.0 -
There was one idea I came up with, for a commuter friend of mine. It's a supplementary rear light to fit in a bike helmet. 4 flashing red led's that fit in the helmets rear vents with a little gaffa tape - flash circuit and a button battery/switch salvaged from a flashing led ankle-reflector...
He's still running it to this day, along with a front light I made for him, affectionately named Wal-E
(combination of a 8degree spot and a 15degree wide lens, and 2 cree Q5 leds driven at 1,000ma for the techies
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There was one idea I came up with, for a commuter friend of mine. It's a supplementary rear light to fit in a bike helmet. 4 flashing red led's that fit in the helmets rear vents with a little gaffa tape - flash circuit and a button battery/switch salvaged from a flashing led ankle-reflector...
He's still running it to this day, along with a front light I made for him, affectionately named Wal-E
(combination of a 8degree spot and a 15degree wide lens, and 2 cree Q5 leds driven at 1,000ma for the techies)
A man of many many talents 'yin!0 -
I'm a man of hidden shallows 0
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I must admit, hubby did love the idea of the led's in the helmet, so think he may decide to have a go at that option sometime! 0
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I ride in traffic often, and my front flashing light saved me from a right hook accident earlier this week. The kid saw my flasher just as he was about to turn right in front of me, slammed on his brakes and apologized profusely for not checking the bike lane. I would have taken a header over his hood and into a lane of traffic. Thank God for my Flasher!I
I use white LEDs on the front, and use the strobe setting when in heavy traffic. I have to switch it up to steady when on the side roads or bike paths, as the flashing can be too distracting in low light situations. I have red LEDs on back, and it has a kind of disco pattern that blinks. It looks like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KibR-YoJkaw
I like the idea of the helmet lights. That would be useful when riding near tall vehicles like semis, buses and pickup trucks. Those are the vehicles that you most have to worry about right hook accidents, because you are in their blind spot.0 -
I use Dinotte Lighting exclusively. I have had cars stop at stop lights to tell me how visible I am. I also wear reflective straps on my ankles from RoadID and a hi viz meshed vest with reflective stripes.0
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As a commuter, lights are critical for my safety. However, since my commute is mainly on rural roads then I needed a bright light rather than a flashing light.
I bought a light similar to the magicshine 1000, I believe it was a Spoke Grenade brand light from Amazon. I agree with TBY that at full power the light is too bright for the road. I happily run the light on the 50% setting and have plenty of light. In fact, I may experiment with 10% power to see how long the light will run since for brevet's I'll need it to run as much as 12 hours.
I also use a 45 lumen helmet light that is actually an Energizer brand headlamp I bought from a Home Improvement store. The other night it got dark on a friend and I before we finished the ride. The headlamp was bright enough for us to get home at a slower than my normal pace. I wouldn't want to do a 45+kph descent with just the headlamp though and I have two such descents on my morning ride into work.
I use a Planet Bike Turbo Flash on my rear rack and I run it steady. According to the Rando's, a steady rear light is essential for safety since a flashing light alone confuses drivers and affects a driver's depth perception. I also use a helmet mounted rear light that slowly flashes just to get attention. Not to mention that at night I wear a reflective vest and my panniers have plenty of reflective material. I will also be buying reflective ankle bands ASAP so that people will be able to tell that I am a bicycle and not a motorcycle.
I hope this isn't too much information. I'll try to find some links to the articles about lighting safety sometime I've read. You could start by heading over to www.sheldonbrown.com and finding his articles on lighting or look for Ken Keifer's bicycling pages. The steady rear light and reflective ankle bracelets come from www.rusa.org under the rules section.
Great information!
I have a dynamo hub on my city bike and I use the Phillips Saferide lights, front and rear, they really work well, they have non-dynamo versions too.0 -
Flashing lights on their own are problematic because it's tricky to judge speed off them, especially if the other lighting around is poor enough that you only see the light.
Very few bike lights available now are BS compliant, but that shouldn't be a worry as the Police and courts appear to be understanding of the fact that modern LED lights are far more visible than what the legal requirements allow (they refer specifically to an incadescant bulb)
What appears to be critical though from the police point of view is that you have a rear reflector and pedal reflectors.
A recent police release round here mentioned lights in no detail at all but was specific about the reflector requirements.
On my commuter I tend to carry a flashing light and a steady light on the back, on the front I have a low powered light and as nights get dark I'll also carry a Fenix torch for lighting the way.
Specifics:
Front and Back I have a set of Cat Eye reflector lights, this means I don't need to find space for an extra rear reflector.
On the saddle bag I also have a Smart LED lamp.
On the front when it's dark I use a Fenix LD20, I also have a Magicshine 872 which has a maximum output of 1600 Lumens (I think) which is overkill on the road but the lowest setting is perfect for the odd road section of night MTB rides.
These are all sufficient for an hour maximum in darkness because the Fenix will run down AA rechargeables in an hour.
I use MTB SPDs and Shimano sell pedal reflectors that clip into them, a bit of a faff to fit, but it's the pedal reflectors that give away you are on a bike not a motorcycle because the car light hitting them in darkness will show yellow bouncing up and down at bottom bracket height.0 -
what appears to be critical though from the police point of view is that you have a rear reflector and pedal reflectors.
A recent police release round here mentioned lights in no detail at all but was specific about the reflector requirements.
... good luck fitting something to a pair of speedplays :laugh:
I'll settle for the reflective bits on the "belgian bootees" or the Sidi Disco Slippers I guess 0 -
I've ordered a couple of Fibre Flares (http://www.fibreflare.com/) for the rear stays on my new bike.
These should help in getting me seen during the dark morning & dark evening commutes to come...0
