Originally Posted by
unterhausen
when was the first blinking bike light offered? I guess I had a cateye that would blink. In the 70's I rode 10 miles each way to work in Wisconsin, dark both ways because we worked 4-10 hour days. I started out with reflectors, a leg light and a dyno front light. My boss got complaints about me from motorists so I added reflective tape. Not sure anyone wore reflective vests for anything back then, certainly couldn't go to a hardware store and buy one. Somehow everyone managed to avoid hitting me.
I generally use a blinky starting a few hours before dusk or on roads with a lot of overhanging branches. If they have their head down, nothing is going to help.
I'm thinking back to the venerated
Vistalite as the original flashing LED taillight. Quite kludgey how the reflective bits went back into the light, but Vistalites were the first go-to taillight and held market share thru the 90's similar to the PB superflash's market presence 7 years ago when it dropped.
Cateye also had a very early version. Vistalite also made a green flashing front light too, as an early front safety flasher. late 80s, early 90s.
RIP fellow rider.