Originally Posted by
cyccommute
No, not everyone has multiple bikes. But some of us, myself included, do. Having 7 dyno setups at $200 per set up would be prohibitively expensive. At roughly $25 per light unit, having one dyno set up at $200 per set up is prohibitively expensive.
Yes, FOR YOU, apparently a dyno wouldn't be economical. But that isn't the same as saying it isn't economical for others.
Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Rechargeable batteries would have to be very poorly treated to last only a year or 2. Three to 7 would be a more likely lifespan and, with the rapid changes in technology, that's going to be 2 to 5 generations of lighting. The LED lights I toyed with...the operative word being toy...7 years ago pale in comparison to the lights today on cost, output and run time.
Yes, we have had this conversation before. You believe in coddling equipment, I (and most people) don't. I leave the batteries on the bike in unconditioned space subject to normal heat and cold. They only come into air conditioned space when being charged. They don't last more than two years before their life span is too short to be useable. Of course, those cheap chinese batteries last even less time than that.
And 'generations' of lighting simply don't really matter. If one's current lights provide enough light NOW, the next years lights that provide even more are not needed. All too many people have started to treat all commercial goods like computers and always want the latest generation...
I know people who are perfectly happy running the same dyno set-up they purchased 10+ years ago...
Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Go for a ride on an unlit road way some time. You need hardly any light to see with and you need even less to be seen by. I will agree that in an urban environment, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of light sources within 500 feet of you at any given time. There is an ocean of light sources. A single low output...even 500 lumens is a low output...light has to compete with all those light sources. "Be seen" lights aren't. They don't illuminate your path and they are far too dim to be seen against hundreds of lights that are throwing out several times what the "be seen" light is giving off. Out in the middle of no where, that "be seen" light can be seen from miles away. In the city, not so much.
I ride on a mix of unlit and lit roads at night all the time. In terms of seeing the road surface, any light that allows you to do that in the dark does it just as well when street lights light the surface. Any light bright enough to overcome the bike's light on the surface is bright enough to not need any additional light from the bike.
For the purposes of being seen, one doesn't need a carbon arc lamp with a bat signal in the city (or anywhere else for that matter). Those drivers who can't notice any lights bright enough to see by, aren't paying attention. And one could have the sun in their face and that will not change.
Originally Posted by
cyccommute
And I'm not sure what you are saying about "reflectors which put the power of the driver's light source..." I've never of an automobile's light doing me much good. If they are following behind me, they tend to mask a weak light (several very bright ones are a different story) and if they are coming at me, they are too far away to do me much good. In either case, the amount of light my light is putting out and the shape of the beam have nothing to do with the car's lights.
At night reflectors put some of the much brighter light from a cars headlights back toward them. Supplementing the light on one's own bikes. This is even more so in daylight when no bike light is particularly noticeable. Unfortunately the full complement of reflectors (front, rear, front wheel, and rear wheel) are rarely installed (or kept on) bikes in the U.S.
This is not a issue of light for the cyclists to see with (their headlight does that fine), but rather an issue of improving a cyclists 'be seen' scenario. And frankly is far more important than any on-bike light sources for maximizing one's 'be seen' profile.