mihlbach

No, I put of with lots of stupidity of all types. Stupid cyclists are probably higher in proportion than stupid drivers. Most of the cyclists I encounter at night are on the wrong side of the road with no lights or reflectors! Having to put up with that crap is far worse than the occasional idiot driver flashing his brights at you.

BarracksSi

There isn't a horizontal cutoff on your light like there are with automotive HIDs, is there?

I'm thinking that HID is HID-bright no matter what vehicle is carrying it, and the drivers that flash you are hoping that you'd switch to "low beams" or think that it's a badly-aimed light.

banerjek

Highly unlikely in the case at hand. Except for the few miles I'm in town, I'm miles from anyplace people could walk from -- I have a sweet 19 mile stretch where I can go without needing to slow down. By coincidence, last night I got an unsolicited comment on my visibility shortly after I entered town. Specifically, I was told that I was very visible and that the reflective tape on my jersey that showed my arms and my back really helped. Other road reports I've gotten from strangers include, "Someone would have to have their head up their ass not to see you."

In the last 8 years, I can count all the peds I've encountered on one hand (all homeless people migrating) and I've never met one in the dark. There is very little nonmotorized traffic out there -- I can go months without seeing another cyclist once I'm more than a few miles from town. In any case, a good HID headlamp on a bike would be hard to mistake for a flashlight in the hand of a ped as the former is brighter by orders of magnitude, casts a noticeably different color beam, and moves at about 20mph.

There are a lot of cars out there -- I probably see a couple thousand in a day. On most days, zero give me the brights so percentage wise, the knuckleheads belong to an elite group. But this happens far more often than it used to. I've ridden thousands of miles on in the dark each year for many years dressed and lit the same, so I'm not sure why I'd suddenly appear much different.

I agree completely with this sentiment. There's no way I'd enjoy cycling or ride as much as I do if I had to do much of it in town. Ninja idiots are a menace to themselves and others, and they provoke anti cyclist sentiments among motorists.

shuffles

^ What he said.

banerjek

Correct -- there is no cutoff. I have a spot rather than a flood reflector, but there is enough wash that I get flashed on occasion. So I do what you do in a car in such situations -- just flash back to show them things are set properly. I don't consider motorists inquiring if the beam is on the right setting or aligned correctly to be a problem. I do the same with them.

I align my beam by making sure the edge of my front wheel is located in a very specific part of the beam so the aim is consistent. That position was determined by me manually checking how the beam looked from a variety of oncoming distances on level ground. I'm a bit of a lighting geek and I hate misaligned lights.

IknowURider

It sounds like you've done everything you can possibly think of to be safe. Cycling here in town is extremely dangerous, as we have a lot of fast two lane traffic and road ragers. I had someone do that the other night on a city backstreet. There were two cop cars pulled over , facing the wrong way. The cops were standing at the curb, BS'ing, and they saw me stop and wince at the approaching high beams. I sad nothing, just waited.

So I was stopped, right across the street from the cop cars, and let the driver squeeze by. He kept his brights on the entire time! (He put them on high as he approached!)

The cops did nothing. I let it go.

You could probably go crazy trying to second-guess every driver. Some may be elderly and have poor eyesight or night vision. Some are rude, etc.

One possible reason that this is happening more is because of the fact that there are simply more cyclists on the road, and so maybe either they are trying to harass you from a past bad ninja experience, or trying to identify you, are you a motorcycle cop, or a cyclist, etc?

I also agree that they might also be looking for a second or third rider behind you. Or they are very drunk and had a bad day at the firing range.

Consider just stopping if possible, for a second. This will delay you slightly, but you will save yourself lots of resentment and stress , and you won't be struggling to avoid washed out potholes . Please keep in mind I said "consider". I am not telling you how to ride.

If I am going rather fast on a downhill, I will just use my visor to block out a lot of the oncoming high- beam and maybe close my left eye to save that night vision.

Consider writing down plate numbers and getting to know people on your route. You might see that vehicle parked in town later . Leave a nice pre-printed note on his windshield , kindly requesting that if they see you again that they not do this. Explain why in nice terms. Consider Leaving your name and phone number.

One favorite activity of motorists here is they drive with no headlights, just their parking hazards. Could be battered vehicles with electrical problems or just plain defiance . I see this a lot more here than bright lights.

Also consider that if you blind them with your HI-D's and they crash, (or swerve and hit a cyclist in the shoulder to their right) then you have to live with that.

BarracksSi

Well, you're doing what you can, then.

It still bugs me that hardly any lights are made with a shaped beam. You'd have to order some European stuff that's approved for road riding since nearly every light in the shops is better suited for going off-road and helping to avoid things like tree branches.

Since I haven't yet gotten a dynohub for my road bike, I'm close to getting a Light & Motion Vis360 helmet setup ( https://www.bikelightingsystem.com/vis360.html ), but I'm still thinking of a way to fab a glare shield for it.

rob!

I notice the issue with high beams even when driving; people don't seem to care that traffic is oncoming anymore.

On my bike I wave my hand in front of my headlight a few times and it usually does the trick; in my car flashing high beams (keyword: flashing) at the oncoming car is rarely as successful in getting them to turn theirs off.

Randochap

It's the water.

banerjek

I drink only mineral water in the winter. From a ride earlier this week....

thump55

High beams cannot penetrate my sunglasses.

I also painted the lens on my light black to match my sunglasses.

Cars always give me more room when approaching from the rear, so now I ride backwards all the time.

unterhausen

I haven't really noticed a change in this, it's always been this way. Usually after they get an eyeful of the helmet light for a while they dim. But there are some that never do. My basic thesis is that a lot of people just feel more comfortable driving around with their brights on. It's great -- for them. I passed some guy on the interstate last weekend and he dimmed until I was about 50 feet in front of him, then the brights came back on. Flashed my brights, he dimmed for about 15 seconds. Flashed my brights again, lights dim for 15 seconds. I have no idea what this person was thinking. My guess is dementia

vladav

Bannerjek, you didn't respond to it directly so I'm assuming maybe you haven't tried?

$3-5 experiment: Reflective Ankle Bands

The sinusoidal bobbing (front/rear view, circular from lateral view) is unmistakeable to drivers. If the flashing persists I'll paypal you the $3...

banerjek

Already wear them -- mine are better than the ones in the link. For about $10, you get significantly better quality/visibility/durability

Unlike the case with cars, I actually prefer if they leave their brights on when coming up from behind because it illuminates the way for me too. However, drivers couldn't be expected to guess that.

vladav

weeeelllll, that's all I got to offer... at least it's brights instead of buzzing

Thanks for the recommendation I'll have to check them out, but I can't tell what the brand/source might be?

fiataccompli

yeah, those look useful...do tell

banerjek

Crud -- labels are long worn off mine since I've had them for years. However, the reflective part is good as new.

However, they should be easy to get because you'll know the good ones when you see them. Rather than having just a bit of tape on top of fabric, the reflective part will be multilayer and sewn onto the band. You'll be able to tell when looking at it in broad daylight that it will reflect plenty.

I would check the running section of a sporting goods store or the LBS. Most of the stuff is not very good, but the better stuff should be in the right ballpark. When I looked for "reflective ankle bands" on Amazon, it pulled up a few that look decent. I have used the Jog-A-Lite and can vouch for them. I've used something like the Nathans before, and they're ok, though not quite as visible as the Jog-A-Lites.

Do not get bands that have LEDs or glowing crap in them. The pitiful amount of light they put out does not contribute nearly as much to visibility as a great reflective surface and these products they actually have less reflective material in them (because they contain a light source). Active and passive lighting serves different purposes and you need both.

I used to put high quality reflective tape from automotive stores on my cranks as well. But I think if you have good stuff on your ankles, you're adequately covered.

I don't mind getting buzzed as much as most cyclists. In fact, when I see vehicles setting up to buzz me in my mirror, I drift left. This serves the dual purpose of giving me more space to handle the actual pass and freaking out the people who want to scare me -- if you do what they don't expect when they purposely act like idiots, you'll find they get a lot less aggressive.