Originally Posted by
01 CAt Man Do
Until I saw this post I never considered the problems of riding a recumbent bike at night. The low viewing angle would make seeing road debris much harder. Still there are many types of recumbent's and some are not as low as others. Yours is a trike, could you post a photo so we know what's being dealt with?
It's an ICE Sprint.
Originally Posted by
01 CAt Man Do
I've seen/heard of people who have made light mounts for their Rec. that attached to the seat and place the light over their heads. This sounds like a good idea to me. You could try a helmet mounted light but that is sometimes heavy and might not still be high enough.
That would cause a problem with me, unless the beam was narrow enough not to hit the road until it got past my feet. Even the light illuminating my feet is enough to mess with my vision sometimes. On a faster downhill I stop pedaling so I don't see the light on my feet. If my legs were lit up at all that wouldn't work.
Editted to add: The narrow beam helmet light I did try worked pretty well, it just wasn't bright enough. I've already ordered a couple of different 18650 flashlights to try on my helmet, since they were inexpensive and used batteries I already have.. if they don't work I can use them camping and they give me more data points about what might or might not work.
Originally Posted by
01 CAt Man Do
Then there is this problem that you want 8-10 hrs of run time..
The only real way to get that is with a dynamo ( or dynamo assisted lamp ). I'll have to think on that a bit. Lamp heads designed for dynamo use tend to have beam patterns that are intended to have the lamp mounted lower on the bike. Then again I don't know really the height that is being dealt with or whether a dynamo lamp can even be mounted on a helmet..
I'm not sure how a dynamo lamp could be mounted on a helmet. And my current dynamo is mounted plenty low on the trike (it's between the cranks in the picture I posted).
Originally Posted by
01 CAt Man Do
This is why a dynamo specific lamp is likely the better way to go as long as you can find one with good throw/beam pattern when mounted high.
If I can find one I'll buy it.