Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Lights: 2 like car, or 1 like motorcycle

As 2 head-/brakelights are the norm on the street, is there a noticeable benefit to using 2 side-by-side lights on the front or back of a bike?

Obviously, there's more light to illuminate your way, but do you think it would help drivers notice your bike on the road?

As 2 head-/brakelights are the norm on the street, is there a noticeable benefit to using 2 side-by-side lights on the front or back of a bike?

Obviously, there's more light to illuminate your way, but do you think it would help drivers notice your bike on the road?

I like running 3...one on my helmet and 2 on the bike. More illumination and redundancy if one...or even two... goes bad. One will get the job done but I've had enough experience with system failure to not depend on just one.

Redundancy is always nice... I have 2 spare lights on my bar I never turn on just for that purpose.

I use one MR16 in the front like a motorcycle and a 170 lumen CREE LED headlight.

As 2 head-/brakelights are the norm on the street, is there a noticeable benefit to using 2 side-by-side lights on the front or back of a bike?

Obviously, there's more light to illuminate your way, but do you think it would help drivers notice your bike on the road?

I can see what you mean, it's not only a matter of having twice the light output or an additional light source in case of one lamp failing, it's the extra bulk twin lamps grant to the vehicle and thus the extra respect it gets from oncoming motorists.
See for yourself - if you are a driver- how that works for the motorcycles you face.Think of those touring motorcycles lit up like Xmas trees, no chance you miss them.
Two lights on handlebar as far from each other as possible is the way to survive oncoming traffic and have a wide side throw, plus a helmet light for side crossings -a bright strobe mode turned directly on drivers' screen is a serious warning.

I don't know if you need 2 side by side like a car, but I always have 2 (one on the bars and a headlamp). This way you have a spare, and it is much easier to fix a flat with the headlamp then with the other.

Also, always have at least 2 blinkies. It's too easy for one to quit, or the batteries die, or the light fall off, and with blinkies you might not notice till you get home. If you need 1 blinkie you need two.

mimis got the idea--I'm talking about how drivers associate two lights placed side-by-side on a horizontal plane with vehicles.

I don't drive, but I've walked down the street or ridden in cars and seen a single light (white or red) and it's taken me a while to realize that it was on a bike, and that the bike was on the road.

I don't have any experience riding in the dark, so I was just wondering what people think of riding with a dual-light setup.

:)

The real benefits aren't redundancy (which is still good to have) or extra light, it's the fact that it's easier for others to figure out how far away you are and how fast you're moving.

I can say that, after putting two headlights on one of my bikes, I had much fewer near-incidents of people stepping out right in front of me.

IMO, side-by-side is probably better than one each on the helmet and handlebars, yet both of those options are a lot better than having only a single light of any kind.

I posted in another thread recently:

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I'm pretty convinced that it's not because of the extra light but because it's much easier to see that two headlights are a vehicle and not just some extraneous light source, and it's easier to judge their distance because of how they diverge as they get closer.

That second point was taken further by Honda in their own safety motorcycle concept --

http://world.honda.com/ASV/motorcycle/

(adding a link to their video -- go to about 4:55 for their take on conspicuity enhancement)
http://world.honda.com/HDTV/ASV/ASV-3-motor/index.html

There aren't any people out and about when and where I ride... It's all about redundancy for me.

As 2 head-/brakelights are the norm on the street, is there a noticeable benefit to using 2 side-by-side lights on the front or back of a bike?

Obviously, there's more light to illuminate your way, but do you think it would help drivers notice your bike on the road?

2 lights = better!

I say this from experience, and as another poster has mentioned, the motorcycle industry agrees. 2 lights give onlookers something to mentally "triangulate" and get a sense for how far away/ how big you are.

Personally i used to have a 25 watt halogen, about 700 lumen, very bright. I was ALWAYS "seen" by cagers but they occasionally cut me off anyway. Whenever I chased them down they were apologetic, said couldn't judge the distance.

Now I have 2 bright led flashlights. Cagers tend to think I am a motorcycle & have yet to cut me off. My co-workers (who pass me on my commute) say they can recognize my placement & speed better.

From now on out I am sticking with 2 front lights.

my 2 cents.