fuish

So like the rhyming title says, I got a new bike light. It's a Nite Rider Sol LED NiMH light. I'm gonna have a lot of fun riding w/ it. I work at a LBS now and I work late some nights, so now I'll be able to go for rides after work and not have to miss out on riding on those days because of it. I'm stoked.

Wogster

Hopefully you got a good discount, some of those lighting systems are expensive, very good and very useful, but expensive. It's not the light that's expensive it's the battery pack, not as bad as Li-Ion but still.

b_young

I love riding at night. I think people are more leary of you and give you more room. The most I have paid for a light is $15. The company has given the Ok for me to take batteries as I need too. I have 4 red lights and one white stobe on back and 2 headlights in front (one to see with and the other on flash). I am a firm believer in not having too many lights. I have co-workers that have seen me over a mile away.

Have someone look at you from a car at a distance and make sure you have enough. A lot of my summer riding is in the dark, its great.

twobikes

A bright lime green highway worker's vest with broad reflective strips positioned to be seen from behind is a good idea together with your light. Places like Wal-Mart also sell reflective tape strips you can add to the back of your helmet. For less than $3 I got a little Ray-O-Vac one cell LED flashlight that clips onto the visor of my helmet. It gives further definition to what is moving down the road toward an approaching car, gives me a light I can aim by moving my head, and allows me to look at my cyclometer or other parts of my bike. (I did make a sleeve from electrical tape so the frosty plastic around the LED does not constantly distract me while I am riding.

funrover 

I love nite rides, they are nice and peaceful! Have fun man!

fuish

Thanks everyone, I have a riding Jacket with reflective strips on it already so I don't need the vest, I'm only riding in my neighborhood and there aren't too many cars driving around after 10pm.
I don't shop at Walmart for personal reasons, things that not too many other people have experienced with Walmart... too long and hard to explain, you'd have to speak with my father...

I do get a pretty good discount, coulda gotten a better one if I had ordered it through the manufacturer but I got impatient. The light is nice and bright. It's cool. Oh and I'm a wo-man, not a man.

Mr. Beanz

I've actually done my own visibilty tests. I took my wife out to a dark road then placed different combos of night gear. Illuminte vests were ok,. Cateye rear red flashing led was ok. But the thing I liked best was the tri colored ankle straps. The movement was very noticeable at night with the headlights of my truck.

I use two front lights. A Cateye that points forward ($50). A Planetbike ($30) that lights up the ground in front of me, two tri colored ankle straps and the rear red led cateye. I live at the base of a mountain so at night I ride up to get away from traffic. Nice but coming down at 35 in the dark is kind of spooky. Even with the lights.

Mazama

I like the solitude of night: fewer cars, people and bikes.

twobikes

I lived outside Cincinnati two years, in Lorain for nearly two years, and in Amherst for eight years. I rode the TOSRV in 1974 from Columbus to Portsmouth in one day and back on the next. We slept on a concrete floor in a school, but on a leaking air mattress with a sleeping bag.

The reflective tape is available in many hardware stores, too.

jaxgtr

I love the night rides, although this year, I have been so against cold weather riding. I just can't get motivated to go out when the temp is below 55, but since it is warming up, this should be a non-issue. I use the Blackburn X3 system, works great.

b_young

55 = cold??? Thats perfect riding weather.

It does not get cold in Florida. <shakes head in disbelief>

chunkyd

The Indianapolis NightRIDE is amazing... very enjoyable!
We had a good time last year, I love the peace and tranquility of night also.

jaxgtr

Yea, 55 at night is cold.

twobikes

I was in a store and they had odd little items near the check out. I got a 9 LED flashlight for $5. It runs on three AAA batteries and seems to throw quite a bit of light. It comes with an aluminum barrel about 1 inch in diameter 4 inches long. For a handlebar mount I am thinking of four pieces of 3/8 inch wooden dowel rod notched and glued to this pattern: #. Then use a heavier rubber band to loop over the flashlight, under the handlebar, and over the other end of the flashlight. There is a nice button switch on the back end of the flashlight. It is light enough it could go onto the top of a helmet with duck tape.