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I bought a set last week. I rode in the dark yesterday. Ride started at 7:00 pm and ended at 8:45 in the dark. The cars seemed to see me from a good distance away. No one buzzed me or swerved at the last minute. I also have a red LED blinky, bright reflective decals on my helmet and reflective ankle bands. So I do look like a Christmas tree anyway.
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I've never seen ones that fit presta valves, or I might consider them for my commute bike during the winter months...
-Trevor
It's a kludge, but valve adapters should work.
I have prestas too and I just use a thread adapter.
I had trouble with mine staying lit. They would be on for 5-10 seconds, then turn off until I went over another bump. It was as if they had loose contacts that were not sufficiently motion sensitive. Maybe I just got a defective pair, since I haven't heard anyone else complaining about this.
If yours stay on properly, I'm sure they're great for visibility.
I've used them before. I think they do very little for improving visibility. They're too dim, too low, make the wheels roll funny because of their weight, and don't last long. I think you're much better focusing on good reflective clothing such as the ankle straps you're already wearing, a bright tail light, and maybe a helmet blinkie.
I had trouble with mine staying lit. They would be on for 5-10 seconds, then turn off until I went over another bump.
Ha, no problem there! My roads are gawd awful. Potholed, tar and chip washboards that would rattle my bones if it wasn't for my carbon fiber fork and chain stays.
They're too dim, too low, make the wheels roll funny because of their weight, and don't last long.
You must not have used the ones I did. They did nothing to my wheels, they are higher than my rear blinky at the top of the wheel spin and illuminate the ground underneath me as well.
Or perhaps you are not in total darkness like me. Yes they aren't very noticeable in dusk or while under street lights. Street lights are quite rare where I live. I see maybe three on a 20 mile ride.
Thanks for you comments. We will see how long these things last. They did come with six extra batteries. Maybe that is telling me something... :)
Since they illuminate the wheels, I guess their biggest advantage would be for side visibility, rather than head-on or from-behind. But another possibly better method for side visibility is reflective sidewalls, simpler and more reliable.
On the other hand, they are active lighting rather than passive. So you could make the case for both.
Careful with Tireflys in blue or red (on the front wheel) - you'll never know when a cop in need of a few more citations to fill his quota might give you a ticket for using lighting in the color that an emergency vehicle would use.
-Kurt
You must not have used the ones I did. They did nothing to my wheels, they are higher than my rear blinky at the top of the wheel spin and illuminate the ground underneath me as well.
Or perhaps you are not in total darkness like me. Yes they aren't very noticeable in dusk or while under street lights. Street lights are quite rare where I live. I see maybe three on a 20 mile ride.
Thanks for you comments. We will see how long these things last. They did come with six extra batteries. Maybe that is telling me something... :)
I don't ride in darkness now, but in the winter I'll be in darkness 2 hours each day. For the vast majority of the route, there are no streetlights or significant light sources other than headlights from traffic. If the tops of your rims are higher than your rear blinky, I'd recommend raising your tail light.
The reason I said the tirefiles are too dim is because as the batteries die, the lights will dim. Also, if you ride in slop, spray from the road will suppress them more. Because of their height and color, I think they're not very noticeable when you're riding home in the dark and rain. If you're riding 20 miles each way, you'll probably get a couple months out of them.
For visibility, I use a seatpost mounted NR universal taillight which is visible even in bright sunlight. In the dark, it can be seen for miles. I also use a helmet blinkie as well as reflective armbands, legbands, jacket, and reflective tape on my cranks and rear fender. I have a 13W HID headlight which really seems to get attention. I think the trick is to have your lights as high as possible, but also to have things that identify yourself as a cyclist. The tireflies look kind of cool, but you basically just get this not very bright round circle near the ground.
I use them on two of my bikes and one light on my commuter is intermittent, as one of the previous posters mentioned; going off and active only going over jarring bumps. Could be the contact or the battery. The other one died shortly after I installed it and I haven't bothered replacing the battery yet. The other set on my chopper works fine. I've not noticed any effect to the ride or the wheels due to weight and on both bikes, they are bright and highly visible even in an urban environment. I'm not concerned about police as it could be effectively argued that red lights on wheels are unlikely to ever be confused with roof-top emergency lights, considering they are the same colour as brake lights or my mandatory rear blinky. I could use blue tire flys as our emergency vehicles don't incorporate red and blue as they do in the US.
I have them on my Giant. Meh. They don't last long, one would hardly ever turn on, the other would blink for hours after my bike was parked.
Reflective sidewalls are better.
--A
I have seen them in use on someone else's bike on a dark road after dusk. They're really trippy-looking. I still think a really bright headlight and tail light is probably better, but they are kinda fun.
Playing with my lights is the fun part of winter.
I had trouble with mine staying lit. They would be on for 5-10 seconds, then turn off until I went over another bump. It was as if they had loose contacts that were not sufficiently motion sensitive. Maybe I just got a defective pair, since I haven't heard anyone else complaining about this.
If yours stay on properly, I'm sure they're great for visibility.
I had the same problem with them.
I have used Tireflys for about a year everyday.
-Kids love'm make the bike guy look fun ("Hey, mom, look).
-I remember to bring a presta adapter, its attached
-They last 2 or 3 months for me on a set of batteries
-They can be seen at a good distance
-Mine are red white blue, JC whitney I think
-$5 for 1, 6 months on two sets batteries, bulk.
To adjust twist 1/4 turn and snap with a finger, wait for it to stop blinking. Repeat.
Haven't used these, but I have some HokeySpokes - much cooler (and, of course, expensive - around $30 apiece). They have ~24 leds on each piece, and I have two on my front wheel. They make real neat designs and you can program it to say a message (I set mine to say "DON'T HIT ME!"). They use persistence of vision or whatever that you see more and more with LED devices. I couldn't be happier - these things are purty to look at and seem to work real well at making me more visible.
Mine got full of water pretty readily, the seals weren't very good. Maybe I'll get new batteries (which will probably cost more that the original purchase) and try again in the fall.
If the tops of your rims are higher than your rear blinky, I'd recommend raising your tail light.
I would, but I ride the smallest WSD frame Fuji makes (44 cm) and my seatpost isn't high enough to have my small bag and a tailight. I have my tail light on my seat stays.
I also use a helmet blinkie
Where can I get one of those? I have never seen one.
Where can I get one of those? I have never seen one.
Planetbike. http://www.planetbike.com/rearlights.html (scroll down the list to see the helmet mount which swivels to stay level as you adjust your head) but I've also seen them available in the LBS and other places online.
One thing I forgot to mention with tireflies is that they are on all the time unless you remove them in the daytime. This shortens battery life considerably. To make things worse, those little watch batteries don't deliver nearly the juice that AAA's do.
One thing I forgot to mention with tireflies is that they are on all the time unless you remove them in the daytime. This shortens battery life considerably. To make things worse, those little watch batteries don't deliver nearly the juice that AAA's do.
Hmm, that doesn't make sense. Mine are only on when it is jolted. Do you actually remove the batteries?
Gee Gang. You are missing some of the other stuff on that houseofrave site that the OP gave. You could light your whole body and bike up like something out of Disney's Parade of Lights. The strangest thing was the glow in the dark hair gel.
Hmm, that doesn't make sense. Mine are only on when it is jolted. Do you actually remove the batteries?
I meant that they don't have a handy dandy off switch. Regular tail lights and head lights can be switched off at the press of a button as needed. With the Tireflies, they are on if they are on your wheels and you are rolling. This means they'll be on when it is bright out unless you want to fool around with them.
I put them on my winter commuter, around Christmas. I put a green in front and a red in the rear, more for fun than visibility, but they do light up pretty well. The green ones in particular are much brighter than the red.
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