Originally Posted by
krome
My tolerant bit is on an individual level. If you feel the need for extreme lighting (as in you [Burton] are an outlier, which you admit to) in your riding, fine. The market currently doesn't cater to you, so you made your own. Fine, I get that. You're in Quebec so I won't be crossing paths with you. Therefore your specific lighting is a non-issue to me. I'm not using outlier as any sort of insult, if a majority felt the way you do, there would be lighting on the market that catered to your needs. There are some HID bicycle lights on the market intended for off road use, they might meet your requirements.
Put your system on the market. See how many you sell.
Around here, there are a lot of cyclists who ride with no lights. Personally I think it is an accident waiting to happen. It is illegal, but because there is apparently no rash of accidents, enforcement is slim to none.
Is it darker now than in the past?
HID's on bicycles and motorcycles have proven to be finiky and unreiable. A version of what I am using is available without beam cutoffs and has already proven to be both effective and reliable in MX racing. That version is closer to 6,000 raw lumens.
Currently what I am using (with beam cut-offs) has been developed as a proof of concept for a manufacturer of electric bicycles here in Quebec. And at this point it being seriously considered as either standard equipment or as an optional add-on. So I have very little interest in trying to marketing it to the majority of general cyclists that seem to think that anything that costs more than $9.99 is too expensive. I enjoy the development end of things.