CB HI

So, in the spirit of vehicle equality, you would favor laws requiring bicycle air bags, ABS braking systems, yearly safety checks, yearly smog checks, side impact bars, bumpers, electrical turn signals, 3 mirrors, collapsable steering columns, etc.

To really be fair, areas with bicycle helmet laws should require motorist to also wear helmets

CB HI

And to be fair to truckers, cyclist should be required to stop at vehicle weigh stations.

BengeBoy 

My fat a@@ would break the scales.

vol

Just take a look at the customer reviews of the bike lights. I see more than half of the negative comments are about the mounting brackets. A large number of review titles have the words like "good light, horrible mounting bracket".

An alternative is to require the light manufacturers to label "bike light" only if the light meets certain requirement, such as visibility and mounting system. Anyway, we should not be required to meet a law requirement which is hard to meet due to the absence of requirement warranting the availability of what is needed in order to meet the requirement.

Then you are breaking the law.

CB HI

If you can read the reviews, then why are you not capable of selecting the light that is reviewed as a good light with secure, easy mounting?

mikeybikes

So you're just reading reviews made by idiots who can't understand a simple mounting bracket? Or is this the result of you actually trying out mounting a light?

sudo bike

You are being extremely disingenuous and you know it. You took a single (partial) line out of context from the rest of the post.

I made more thought-out arguments than just "cuz carz do 2", so it isn't really fair to try and portray my comment that way.

Congratulations, you won the internet.

eddubal

Always take customer reviews with a grain of salt. If someone is satisfied with the product they will usually go along their merry way. If they don't, that's when they complain. Esp. in reviews. You also have to really figure out WHAT a person is saying in the review. Not an easy prospect.

I find that it's best to keep politicians and lawyers out of safety issues. They both screw up the best intentions and turn a safety issue into a fascist law that only benefits themselves and their cronies. This is an across the board thing, not just us cyclists.

The laws are already clear: If you ride at night, have a light. If you don't, we don't want to make things any more expensive than they already are.

Before any thought of mandating bicycle lights, I would like to see a study on the percentage of cyclists that ride at night vs those that ride during the day only. I doubt that it's going to change current perceptions. When bicycle commuting becomes popular, it might be a different matter, but now?!?! While we're doing that we should see how many cyclists have taken their reflectors off their bike, or had them break and fall off. That should tell you what a good idea mandating extra equipment is.

noisebeam

can some one who wants an integrated light describe how these are integrated in a way you desire?

degnaw

I thought this was an awesome point, so I'm quoting it.

However, I feel if pedals weren't included on most bikes, people would just go to walmart, buy the cheapest plastic pedals, and cross thread them when they got home.

DX-MAN

OP, I think you should quit putting stupid ideas in the political nannies' heads.

I have 3 lights on mine, total cost about $60; a multi-mode LED tail, a 3W LED flashlight with fabbed mount, and a 60-LED grid (make sure I'm SEEN!). NOWHERE would a manufacturer come up with a deal like that.

And what about those of us who like (in my case, DEMAND) to build up their own? What part of the bike would have the lights integrated?

Bad idea that needs to die.

ctyler

Just what we need, more government regulation and involvement. Get over it!

CB HI

I pulled the key idea of your post and pointed out how flawed that line of thought is.

There is nothing disingenuous about that.

jputnam

Or you could just buy your light at a bike shop and make sure it fits before you ride.

The existing requirement is trivially easy to meet, you don't need to buy a bicycle-specific light to meet it -- a bungee cord and a flashlight will do.

If you're really having that much trouble with it, seriously, go to a bike shop, that's what they're there for.

derath

Dumb idea. As I am sure it has been expressed in this thread already, lights are only needed if riding after dark. I would say most cyclists do NOT ride after dark. And if they do (like myself) they happily invest in appropriate lighting.

That would be akin to every car coming with mandatory child seats. Yes they are required for children. But not every person buying a car has children. So it is more appropriate to purchase them only when necessary.

-D

chephy

Why would you want to pay extra for crappy lights? Or, jeez, mandatory dynamo lights? Dynamo lights on track bikes? On downhill bikes? On Walmart bike-shaped-objects which cost less than a decent dynamo set up? Many bikes sold are not ridden on public roads EVER, let alone at night.

The reflector requirement is stupid enough.

DataJunkie

It would give me yet another reason to continue to build my own bikes.

noisebeam

All stems sold in US must have integrated headlight. It will be illegal to build a bike using an non compliant stem.

vol

Not many.

Both.

sudo bike

Too bad that wasn't the "key idea" of my post.

Were that what my argument boiled down to, then no. Fortunately for me, it doesn't.

If you'd like to discuss the actual points involved, I have no problem with that. I don't even have a problem with disagreement. What I have a problem with is you misrepresenting my position (especially as the VC chant of "As cars go, so go the cycling nation").

sudo bike

Then why all the talk on A&S about the epidemic of ninja cyclists?

Seriously though - from personal experience (I ride to work in the dead of night), not a whole lot of cyclists at night are lit (well... some may be lit, but not like that ). I have no doubt some, I dare say most, aren't even aware of the fact lights are required by law.

Not really, because a child seat has very little to do with safety in regards to interaction with other traffic. It's the same reason I'm in favor of mandatory lights, but not helmets. One is a danger to the rider and other people, one is purely the cyclist's own risk (in all but the most abstract sense).

EDIT: Also, FWIW, I'm not pushing for this law or anything. I think there are a whole helluva lot more important things to worry about at this point. Just saying I'd support it if the time came.

DataJunkie

In that case I will order it from probikekit or smuggle them in from canada.

CbadRider

If comments start getting political, this thread will get moved to P&R.

BarracksSi

Kid's bikes sold at Toys R Us in Germany have dyno setups.

They're basic bolt-on lights just like anything else. Probably worth $15-20 if sold separately. No big deal to put nicer lights on.

OC Noob Rider

Stupid idea.