MacTech
09-22-05, 10:42 AM
last night i went out for a quick evening ride with my mother, it was dusk so lights were a prudent idea, Mom has a CatEye 400 candlepower 5-led headlight and a single generic red blinkie on her saddlebag, (she rides an old Haro V1 MTB with WTB Slickasaurus slicks) set to solid (she only discovered it blinked after the ride)
i have on my Trek 4500 (w/ Slickasaurus); a Cygolite night-rover 12 watt halogen and a Blackburn Quadrant set to all blinking mode on the front, and on the back i have;
a VistaLite safety light/reflector set to "Cylon" mode
a CatEye TL-D1000 set to blink on both upper and lower banks
a Trek Disco Inferno set to rapid blink
all 3 on the seatpost
and i have another Disco Inferno on the left seatstay, set to solid
when i was riding behind Mom (she was using the light from my halogens) i noticed *every* car that went to pass us (a total of about 5 cars throughout the whole ride) slowed to a *crawl* and moved into the oncoming traffic lane (there was no oncoming traffic, they just pulled over as far as they could) before passing me, as we rode back to the house, Mom rode behind me for a while , and i noticed the cars seemed to pass her a little more aggresively, they gave her less space, so i stopped at the crest of the hill and let her get in front of me to keep her safer and so she could ride in the beams from my halogens
it's funny, when we ride at night, as long as she rides in front of me, she doesn't need to use her headlight, she does, though, for safety
Mom remarked at the beginning of the ride that i had too many lights on the bike, saying it was overkill, i responded "better overkill than road-kill"
*after* the ride, she didn't hassle me about "too many" lights... ;)
yes, the "Multi-Blinkie" strategy works very well
i have on my Trek 4500 (w/ Slickasaurus); a Cygolite night-rover 12 watt halogen and a Blackburn Quadrant set to all blinking mode on the front, and on the back i have;
a VistaLite safety light/reflector set to "Cylon" mode
a CatEye TL-D1000 set to blink on both upper and lower banks
a Trek Disco Inferno set to rapid blink
all 3 on the seatpost
and i have another Disco Inferno on the left seatstay, set to solid
when i was riding behind Mom (she was using the light from my halogens) i noticed *every* car that went to pass us (a total of about 5 cars throughout the whole ride) slowed to a *crawl* and moved into the oncoming traffic lane (there was no oncoming traffic, they just pulled over as far as they could) before passing me, as we rode back to the house, Mom rode behind me for a while , and i noticed the cars seemed to pass her a little more aggresively, they gave her less space, so i stopped at the crest of the hill and let her get in front of me to keep her safer and so she could ride in the beams from my halogens
it's funny, when we ride at night, as long as she rides in front of me, she doesn't need to use her headlight, she does, though, for safety
Mom remarked at the beginning of the ride that i had too many lights on the bike, saying it was overkill, i responded "better overkill than road-kill"
*after* the ride, she didn't hassle me about "too many" lights... ;)
yes, the "Multi-Blinkie" strategy works very well