Advocacy & Safety - Safety Light Recommendations

Hi, Everyone. I ride a Trek 850 with a rack and rear panier. I ride both short and long distances from dawn to dusk on sunny, cloudy, and rainy days.

When it's come to getting safety lights, I have had big ones but fall off my shirt pockets, come loose when screwed to the rack, or can't be seen behind the panier. There are others that can attatch to the back of the panier but are few, if any. Last I've seen others that are just so small that no one can see them.

Do any of you know how I might be able to work with what's available? Do any of you have suggestions of what safety lights might work best? I'm open to suggestions of what you use or how to afix such lights.

I look forward to your soonest replies.

Powerhouse

Wrong forum... Mod's please move to where ever it needs to go.

Moving this to Advocacy and Safety.

--J

I had a similar problem as rack trunk blocks rear reflector on seat post. So I use the Cateye TL-LD1000. LBS mounted on rack with Al strip. It fell off last Friday from metal fatigue. I reexamined the rack and mounted it directly and it's working ok. There doesn't seem to be any problem with screw coming loose from light or plastic housing shattering. When I have it turned on, I gets lots of extra space by vehicles.

For front sides, put amber side markers on the front forks.

I installed a set of Viewpoint bar-end lights (http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=17651&subcategory_ID=4322) on my Trek 520. It seems to be quite visible to cars, although it's not easily seen by other cyclists when riding close behind. I also use a Blackburn Mars (http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=19994&subcategory_ID=4322), which is clipped to my seat wedge.

My LBS has one of these:
http://www.serfas.com/lights/TL-1000.html

sitting on the counter by the register, in a glass of water. It is the brightest I have seen, I'd say it's 4-5x brighter than the Super Nebula 5 I have, and that's got two more LEDs. Also, as you may have guessed from it sitting in the glass of water, it is definitely waterproof. Wish I'd had a few extra bucks to pick one up.

Neon Green Tire-Fly's

They're blinkies that go on yoour tire stems, when you move they blinkie and fast enough they look like a streaking circle. They're tiny, light and pocket sized, fit to presta with a 29 cent valve adaptor and are super visible from the side and any angle except directly rear or front (but not too bad from there actually...)

And a set of mini keychainsized push lights that attatch tou your helmet. The movement of a light on a helmet in darkness is more obvious than anything.
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=101&subcategory=1066&brand=&sku=10401&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

Two flashing halogen lights from Radio Shack. Uses C-cells. Using glass paint, paint one blue, the other red.

I had a similar problem as rack trunk blocks rear reflector on seat post. So I use the Cateye TL-LD1000. LBS mounted on rack with Al strip. It fell off last Friday from metal fatigue. I reexamined the rack and mounted it directly and it's working ok. There doesn't seem to be any problem with screw coming loose from light or plastic housing shattering. When I have it turned on, I gets lots of extra space by vehicles.

I'll second the recommendation on the CatEye TL1000. Super freaking bright. Two banks of LEDs with 4 modes (flash, solid, random, tracer) selectable independant for each. Total of 10 LEDS, including side lights. Did I mention it is freaking bright!?! Do not look at it directly! :D

Thanks, Barenakedbiker. I welcome your imput. But don't you think that the state troopers and county mounties I often see here in Maine might object?

Powerhouse

I had a similar problem as rack trunk blocks rear reflector on seat post. So I use the Cateye TL-LD1000. LBS mounted on rack with Al strip. It fell off last Friday from metal fatigue. I reexamined the rack and mounted it directly and it's working ok. There doesn't seem to be any problem with screw coming loose from light or plastic housing shattering. When I have it turned on, I gets lots of extra space by vehicles.

For front sides, put amber side markers on the front forks.
Whatever happened to you using the method I suggested to you back in Oct?


You're not alone. We either need to buy better products or look for someone to provide an aftermarket adapter.

For example, I really like my new cateye taillight, but the mount sucks. It was only designed to mount to seat post. I have it mounted on rear rack. 2 ties to hold down, and two to align right and left. The rack has perfect holes and plate that if they had a screw receiving holder, I wouldn't have to keep on replacing the broken ties. For now my solution has been to replace each tie that breaks with a thicker tie.
Simple fix go to your LBS and ask for a reflector bracket like this.
http://img62.exs.cx/img62/5676/reflectorbracketlg.jpg
Take the piece that I've indicated and remove it from the rest of the bracket. You can use the screws and nuts from this bracket to attach it to your rack using the vertical holes. (you'll find that they'll line up beautifully)
http://img127.exs.cx/img127/6246/reflectorbracketholes.jpg
Remove the quick release portion of your light bracket and attach to the point shown in the diagram below.
http://img82.exs.cx/img82/3993/reflectorbracketmountinghole.jpg

This method works a LOT better than zip ties. I use this method on customer's bikes and have had no complaints

I like the VistaLite Super Nebula 5 rear light attached to back of rack. The light has 5 leds & is relatively flat and comes with a screw to attach the light to a mounting bracket on the back of the rack. Setup is relatively easy.

On the seatpost, I like a CatEye TL-LD1000 and a TL-LD600. Yes it is alot of lights but between the 3 lights - one should be working. (FYI - I added the TL-LD1000 light after starting a commute with semi-trucks on a narrow 4 lane road).

Good luck...

I use the Sigma Sport Cube light (http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=19234&subcategory_ID=4322#) and the Cateye EL400 (http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=101&subcategory=1067&brand=&sku=9978&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=) for the front.

I find these to be very easy to install, stable, efficient, long range and affordable. Front will mount anywhere on the handlebar or fork, rear also anywhere on seatstays, seatpost, rack... without the need of any tools.

They are extremely easy to mount and dismount, fit in the back pocket or saddle bag.

Follow Raiyn's advice posted above. I've done the same on a couple of bikes.

On some of my bikes with rear racks, I have had to build a metal bracket to hold the rear light. When I used too thin a piece of metal, it eventually broke. Get one that's thick enough that it's hard to bend to shape.

Make sure the LED light is pointed straight back. Flimsy or soft mountings that point the light off to an angle are no good.

To supplement the rear light, add an automotive reflector or two. I zip-tie these to the backs of my bags. As long as they supplement the rigid rear light, a little slop is okay.

Be sure to see
http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledriving/library/lights/lights.htm

-Steve

The more lights the merry. The Cateye LD1000 is a very bright light that can even be seen in daylight, if you want something a little less expensive and almost as bright-the Cateye LD600 has 5 LED's and is about $20 less then the LD1000, and when mounted vertically all 5 LED's are very visible from the side.

Then combine that tailight with barend lights and reflector leg bands and people will notice you.

On the front you probably have a headlight but you should add a flasher to attract motorist attention to you. A headlight by itself on a bike is too small of a lighted surface to grab the eyes of most motorist no matter how bright the beam is; most motorist are looking for a headlight the size of a car or motorcycle, your bike light will look like a flashlight. Vistalite makes a very bright flasher.

I've seen people with the Cateye LD-600 mounted on a seatstay.

Mine is mounted on the seat tube between the seatstays just below the seat post where the top of the light rests against the seatbag. But this can be made to fit on the seatstay or attached to a pannier rack with Raiyans method.

Whatever happened to you using the method I suggested to you back in Oct?

I had the bike in for it's adjustment and mentioned the problem with the light, so they mounted it on the alum strip for free. I didn't need to adjust the angle of the light. Your solution is ideal if need to adjust the alignment of the light. If direct mount fails, I'll buy another light and get your adapter.