mechBgon

Enquiring minds want to know! Is more better in the real world? Anyone commented on your commuter's blinkies? Pics of your setups? Should blinkies be considered addictive?

azesty

Three. Two red on the back, with batteries charged at different times, and one green one on the front for when I dont want the eye burner on, or for emergency if the eye burner's battery goes flat.

a

mechBgon

My mountain-commuter was usually going around with three in back (LD1000, LD500 and NiteRider) and two amber Nashbar ones facing sideways in front, and my touring bike was usually using two in back (Nova and NiteRider), so I'm going to vote 5 and 2. Although now my commute is really short.

I guess my helmet blinkie could count too.

Oh, and pic of the mountain-commuter doing that commuting thang... sort of...

Lurker1999

Oddly I've done more night-time riding than day-time but I haven't been at this for so long.

Cateye LD-1000 mounted to rack
Cateye LD-600 ziptied to a seat bag
Knog Frog ziptied to helmet
Cateye EL-400 & EL-530 strapped to handlebars

3M black reflective tape across sides of fenders, frame, seat bag
white reflective tape all over helmet

The_B.O.C.

i actually keep it on whichever bag i'm riding with. but the answer is still one.

Ritehsedad

This time of year 1 front, 1 rear. Later in the year I'll add another in the back.

slvoid

1, just 1 big humongous one.

Rowan

1 x Cateye x 5 LED. On fixed mode. Why anything else?

mechBgon

In case it fails, or the batteries run down, or you need more visibility due to nasty traffic? Just some possible reasons. Or... maybe they're addictive! Naw...

Rowan

Oh, it doesn't mean just switched on? I s-e-e-e-e-e-e.

Well, one switched on to solid mode, an identical one underneath switched off but there as a back-up in case. And often a third, somewhere in a bag, and a Cateye 3 x LED, just in case the just-in-case one also fails.

But I see no point in blinkies blinking and more that one good light on the bike at a time.

mechBgon

That's cool I like the blinking because I think it tends to catch people's eye. When you're competing with tons of vehicle lights all doing steady-burn, a blinking light might stand out better than just another steady light (I ride mostly in the city where there can be a lot of lights competing with mine).

Chris L

That's a valid point, but one also needs to be concerned with the number of drunks on the road at any given time. I've read about studies claiming that drunks are attracted to flashing lights much the same way that insects are attracted to light. FWIW, I usually run two of them, a 5-LED Vistalite and another smaller 3-LED light as a back up.

jwbnyc

I clicked on 3,4,5 because I generally use Three - Cateye 400X2 on the front and either a Planet Bike 5(seatbag), Cateye 1000 or 600 on the rear- But come Winter I'll be running Three plus a Mars 3.0 on the mess bag and sometimes a Cateye 100 (back up, lives there) on the helmet.

georgiaboy

I only have 1 blinkie. I just purchased a Surly Crosscheck to be set up as a full blown commuter with rack, panniers, fenders, etc. I want to make it as visible as possible. I will be looking at reflecters, blinkies and reflective tape.

Patriot

I have 3 blinkies, but only use 1.

The main one on the rear is my primary blinkie. I have two LED bar end plugs, but use them on solid, not blinking. Those blinking bar end lights drive me crazy while riding.

tuolumne

Speaking of which...I've been running a new Cateye LD1000 for about 50 hours now. Does each bank run on one of the batteries, or do they share battery power. In other words, since the batteries won't fail at the same time, will I still have a live bank of lights even if the other goes? Has anyone experienced this. Regardless, I have another blinky as backup, albeit less powerful by a long shot. I've had my eye on one of those blinky superflash models as a second light for a while...maybe these things are addictive.

Bekologist

Usually, a vistalite on steady on the rear rack, an additional red blinkie facing aft, and two front blinkies for redundancy, one on steady if i need more road illumination.

my panniers each have a cateye 500 attached to the bags to provide side and rear visibility, and i run flecco tape on bike, helmet and spoke flectors as well as an ANSI vest as we get into the darker season.

so, average number of lights run at night: 4. sometimes 6.

when i tour in the off season, the rainy, dark season around the northwest, i am usually running daytime visible blinkies on the panniers, and the front vistalite on blink, for daytime conspicuity as well.

i also use a slow-mo-vehicle triangle, one is dork-taped to my commuter bike with zip ties and a spoke, so it hangs off the left side of the back of the bike, not centered. i believe this makes the bike appear larger from behind.

i don't bother about 'extreme' daytime vis around town on my commutes (although i'm running the slo mo triangle), but have taken to running my superflash on 'extremely noticably blink" during the daytime and hours around dusk/dawn.

mechBgon

Both banks use both batteries, so unfortunately they'll both dim at the same time.

Are SuperFlashes addictive? Of course not, I "only" ended up buying three

froze

when you said blinkies I voted for 4 since I use an amber flasher in the front, barend lights, and the main rear taillight.

n4zou

4 blinkie. 1 Amber up front, 2 Amber one on each side of the front mounts for the rear rack, and 1 Red on the rear.

mechBgon

What amber ones do you guys use? I wish I knew of more models. I know of the Planet Bike one, the rarely-seen Cateye TL-LD170-F that I used to have one of, and there's a Zefal that doesn't seem to be in any stores. And then the Nashbar ones and clones of them. Any others?

Flimflam

I answered 0 and 1, because while my rear light (yes, only one right now - that'll change when I'm back on the rig) is a blinky, I only use it on solid.

I've been strongly considering a dynamo hub, just apprehensive about spending that much on my bike that only cost ~$125CAD - while I've been off riding, I've been reading here a lot about visibility options, etc. so I will be doing something dramatic (using a vest, using tape, getting more lighting and a helmet light) to ensure I'm more visible when I next head out.

SSP

Yesterday morning a co-worker mentioned that he was easily able to see my Planet Bike Superflash blinkie from about 100 yards behind me. At the time I was eastbound, and the sun had only been up an hour (it was about 20 degrees to the right of my direction of travel).

Given the significant ambient backlight, that's a pretty darned good endorsement of the Superflash. And with a price of $19.95 (at biketiresdirect.com), I think it's the clear winner in the "most lumens for your buck" race.

Rowan

Blinking creates the problem of *not* being able to track the light. Yes, it might attract attention, but the flash creates a real problem for other road users if you are moving. I have found this especially so with green, yellow and blue-white blinkies on the front of bikes -- and accurate perception of a bike's position is definitely needed! Is it moving forwards, sideways or backwards? It happens with red blinkies on the back as well... and you can imagine the confusion if a red blinkie is on the front!!!!

I sometimes wonder if people look critically at other cyclists and identify how well they may or may not be seen in varying light conditions. Reference my post on another thread about reflective vests and how ineffective they might be... unless the wearer swaps it with someone else and actually observes it doing (or not doing) its job.

Likewise, how observant are cyclists when they drive motor cars and come across other riders with their lighting equipment. It could be argued that randonneurs are the most susceptible to these issues because of the distances they ride, and in the experience of many, simpler and *predictable* lighting and reflectorising are often the most effective.

fifty5

Two white on the front and two red on the rear.