Originally Posted by
krome
I'm pretty sure my father's 1950something BMW motorcycle with single headlight did not have superior lighting than the Honda's I've ridden.
I think I was quite specific in saying 'for any given year'. If you think that means comparing a lighting system from the 50's to a lighting system from the seventies I can't help you.
I think you're missing my argument. And what does the warranty have anything to do with it?
Times change, thats good. Tech gets better, that's good. It isn't getting any darker at night now than in the 1950's and before that. Are headlights improving, you bet. Do you have to share the streets with other road users, yes. Is being considerate part of being a good road user? It should be.
I'm a tolerant sort, and I don't have to see your oncoming headlight since I'm not in Quebec, but we have rednecks on the road here who like to put illegal driving and off road lights on their trucks. Enforcement is lackluster. It can be annoying and dangerous to other road users. You're on a bicycle and feel the need for crazy bright lighting, I get that. But you are an exception.
For a tolerant kinda guy you're making a lot of assumptions. It takes a lot more lumens to light a wide area than it does to light a small area. That doesn't make what I'm using 'crazy bright'. In fact you'd run into other cyclists using other lighting and find it much more 'blinding'. It really depends on where and how the beam is aimed.
And since we're mixing automotive lighting into this conversation -HID headlights have an output of 3,200 lumens compared to 1,000 to 1,200 lumens in low-beam halogen lights. And those come standard equipment on a number of cars (again, mostly European), so don't assume that just because the number of lumens surprises you that it must be illegal or offroad equipment.
How often do you get the opportunity to criticize other road users who use blindly bright lighting? Should I turn around and chase you down to tell you that your lights are way too bright? Impractical and unwise. Just because you get complements and little criticism doesn't mean that their aren't other road users that curse your extreme lighting. Of course they did see you, so your mission is accomplished. If you are using your lights off road, fine by me.
Do you have a dimmed beam in your setup for opposing traffic?
It is kind of like the argument that when I wear this bell, I'm keeping away tigers. How do I know? Because I've never seen one.
Mmmmmmmm ...... so you wanna pass yourself off as mister reasonable, and still wanna call my lighting 'extreme'. No - there's no dimming feature in these lights, and there's no dimming feature in automotive headlights either. There's a low beam with a cutoff and a selectable high beam - same as an automobile.
Enjoy wearing your bell - I think most of your tigers are in your head.