MacTech

last night i went out for a quick evening ride with my mother, it was dusk so lights were a prudent idea, Mom has a CatEye 400 candlepower 5-led headlight and a single generic red blinkie on her saddlebag, (she rides an old Haro V1 MTB with WTB Slickasaurus slicks) set to solid (she only discovered it blinked after the ride)

i have on my Trek 4500 (w/ Slickasaurus); a Cygolite night-rover 12 watt halogen and a Blackburn Quadrant set to all blinking mode on the front, and on the back i have;
a VistaLite safety light/reflector set to "Cylon" mode
a CatEye TL-D1000 set to blink on both upper and lower banks
a Trek Disco Inferno set to rapid blink
all 3 on the seatpost
and i have another Disco Inferno on the left seatstay, set to solid

when i was riding behind Mom (she was using the light from my halogens) i noticed *every* car that went to pass us (a total of about 5 cars throughout the whole ride) slowed to a *crawl* and moved into the oncoming traffic lane (there was no oncoming traffic, they just pulled over as far as they could) before passing me, as we rode back to the house, Mom rode behind me for a while , and i noticed the cars seemed to pass her a little more aggresively, they gave her less space, so i stopped at the crest of the hill and let her get in front of me to keep her safer and so she could ride in the beams from my halogens

it's funny, when we ride at night, as long as she rides in front of me, she doesn't need to use her headlight, she does, though, for safety

Mom remarked at the beginning of the ride that i had too many lights on the bike, saying it was overkill, i responded "better overkill than road-kill"

*after* the ride, she didn't hassle me about "too many" lights...

yes, the "Multi-Blinkie" strategy works very well

jakemoffatt

Cool.

oboeguy

"better overkill than road-kill" <-- good stuff

galen_52657

do you have the little blinkies that replace the bar plugs????

EXCALIBUR

Got pics?

kb0tnv

I got multi blinkies too. Just added the Cateye TLD1000 I love that light! Also have the 5 LED Vistalight as my rack tail light. Have a small blinkie light on my helmet. I just leave the tail light to static so that one light looks more "normal". I heard that drinks like to go after "Active" lighting. Plus it helps for drivers to get a better fix on you.

Keep Cycling,

jharte

I just added another blinkie on my commuter. It's on the left rear part of a pannier. I think it helps, too.

"Better overkill than roadkill"

Dude, that's awesome.

HiYoSilver

Drunks definitely target on blinking lights like moths to flames. Have you watch highway patrol units, they don't leave blinkies on as it is too dangerous. Solid or rolling lights are safer.

genec

What about a combination?

I used to use these three yellow "Belt Beacons" set in a triangle as my main rear blinkies with two solid red LED lights on my racks on either side of the Belt Beacons. It was quite a display.

The Belt Beacons' internal works have since corroded a bit and I have removed them for a brigher Niterider LED.

HiYoSilver

I use solid on the top row to aid in distance guaging and rolling on the bottom for attention gathering without the heavy fixation problem. I actually have a blinker on, a mini one inside the handbar covers. It's enough to see but I think small enough not to fixate on.

powerhouse

Mactech seems to have a really great setup. So do others.

Like Mactech's, my rear setup consists of one Supernebulus 5 which I clip to a knapsack or Hydropak unit. I'm also hoping to mount one on the back of my rack. In addition, I have a Cat-Eye strobe blinkie which clips to the rear of the panier I always have strapped to the rack. Motorists really seem to notice these by either slowing down behind me or passing with greater caution.

On the sides I have a Blackburn strobe so that people pulling out of driveways or side roads will know I'm coming.

Lastly, I have mounted two small beamer lights that have flash or steady modes. While not very effective after dark, they are very useful for visibility at dawn, dusk, overcast days, and during rainy or foggy weather. They were so effective that a driver of an oncoming dump truck almost ran his vehicle off the road after seeing the beamers!

Better overkill than roadkill

Savas

I installed a front blinker to ride beside a front fixed light. First ride with it, some old geezer pulling out of this driveway stops when we sees me. It worked. The oldsters come up here from Florida and drive like sh*t. They're really clueless and dangerous.

chocula

My headlight is a Cateye EL200 and I've recently started setting it to the blinking mode (most of my routes have tons of street lights, so I don't really need the solid to see what's ahead of me).

So far I haven't detected any changes in motorist behavior, but the blinking sure does the trick on wrong-way cyclists. They see me coming from blocks away and cross over to the other side of the street. It's really wonderful.

MacTech

Well, i added another light to the front of the Trek, i pulled the Cygolite Metro off my Fila (which is being retired as it's pissing me off), moved my bike computer onto the handlebar stem, and mounted the Metro on the side where the computer was, now i have *two* Cygolite halogen clusters on the handlebars *and* the Blackburn Quadrant in the middle as the "being seen" blinkie, from a distance, the Trek looks like a frelling motorcycle

the Disco Inferno on the upper seatstay keeps breaking in it's mount (frelling cheap Trek plastic mounting clip thingy), i tried superglue the last time, worked for about a week, now i'm pulling out all the stops and fixing the mount with a little dab of JB Weld metal epoxy, try breaking *now* you stupid mount....

of course, i could always ditch that Disco Inferno (keep it in the Camelbak as a backup) and bolt on the *second* TL-D1000 i purchased last week, seems to have a better mount than the Trek....