Dylan25

Hello everybody,

I've been searching my ass off on the internet for an indicator that mounts on the rear carrier of the bike.
In the image you see what is supposed to be the back of a bicycle, the light with indicators is pretty much what i'm looking for, so i'd like some help in finding my product

The only ones i can find are to mount under the saddle
So i suppose you all know what kind of mounting system i'm talking about, the one that screws onto the carrier with a bolt on the left and right.
Thank you very much

ItsJustMe

Keep in mind that indicators are of no use at all if people can't tell which direction they're flashing. At the very least they must be flashing on one side and steady on the other.

I think they need to also have a wide bar with at least 2 feet of separation between the lights or there's no way an approaching driver will be able to differentiate one side from the other until they get quite close.

No indicator is going to be as highly visible as a hand signal unless it's ridiculously large. Try Glo Gloves.

spivonious

I've seen systems like that for sale. Search for bicycle turn signals on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page...0turn%20signal

Personally, I don't think they'd help much. They're too close together to give any significant meaning to drivers behind.

SpecialX

Or make your own, like I did..
Hand signals are ok, except at night..

Make up something and build it.

Mine...

Dylan25

Haha nice!
I think i finally found one that's actually built for the lugage carier and even comes with a brake light,
ItsJustMe, i totally agree with you, but in the morning i drive my bicycle to school while it's dark and sometimes foggy, i don't need to travel any busy roads so i'm pretty sure drivers will be able to tell where i'm going.


The only cons i have is the looks of the controller, it looks like a Mc happy meal toy
But oh well as long as it works i'm fine, i also heard it had annoying beeping sounds and even a horn, but i'll take out the speaker

squirtdad

IMHO the lights are too close together to be of value. Get a good rear blinky and front flashinng light. Use hand signals (gloves with reflectors if at night)

Looigi

On motorcycles you have a solid red in the middle and amber turn signals at least 6" away on either side. The combination of the solid red and a blinking amber to one side or the other makes it pretty clear.

alaskanb3arcub

You can buy a rack mount for the rear indicator in the bicygnals set, although I think they should be included for the price of the system.

I like my set, but here is a link to a review I did:

https://akbearcub.com/blog/bicygnals-review-part-1/
https://akbearcub.com/blog/bicygnals-review-part-2/

SpecialX

That's a piece of crap..
Will break in a week or two..
I've owned two of those and they SUCK!!!

Just make a little box and strap it to the back..
Take amber lights that you can buy from an auto store and get a blinker relay (electro-mechanical) and hook up a switch for both sides..
About $20 and you're good to go..
Just grab a cheap small lead acid battery to power it.

turbo1889

I think it is possible to make a narrow 6-8 inch wide bicycle turn signal indicator that would clearly indicate direction. Just make a a large square grid of LEDs and have them activate in two different flashing arrow shapes clearly showing an arrow pointing the direction of the turn. Like this:



Obviously, the bigger the larger size you did that the better.

gsa103

A better approach might be a row of LED's that would illuminate in sequence, see the new Mustang taillights or some trucks. The motion direction would be a simple indicator and wouldn't require large separation.

Looigi

Depending on how far back the vehicle was, which direction the arrow was pointing would be difficult to distinguish. That's the advantage of red middle and flashing amber to one side, it's easier to see from a distance which direction is being indicated. Same with moving sequential lights.

SMorrison

...and now for something completely different.

This was a Ford innovation on the '64 T-Bird, and has recurred on them often, and copied elsewhere (including J.C. Whitney DIY). The advantages of being in my 60s, I suppose. You don't clear out all the trivia.

I-Like-To-Bike

I always liked Winky the White Cat (from JC Whitney) on the rear shelf of my car. His red eyes blinked in sync with my turn signals. Unfortunately the sun beating down on him ate up his fur in a couple of years.

ItsJustMe

I think people underestimate how hard it would be to differentiate direction when 100+ feet back from a bicycle while travelling 50 MPH in the rain or fog. Those arrows would be indistinguishable under non-ideal situations.

I think you really want to incorporate movement. Have the arrows but sequence them left to right/right to left.

howsteepisit

On the city busses in Eugene there is a sign that lights up a yield sign when the bus is about to leave the curb, abd by state law the bus has the right of way. Many drivers still will "not see" the sign and not yield. If they cannot pay attention to a city bus, what makes anybody believe that they would see, process, and respond to a tiny light on a bicycle?

Chris516

I am inclined to agree with this. Not just because of habit. But because of personal experience. Don't buy PlanetBike lights for the rear, because they are not bright enough and a waste of batteries. After I was rear-ended in broad daylight with Planet Bike taillight set to strobe, I went and got this: https://media.performancebike.com/ima...-NCL-ANGLE.jpg

It is far brighter, and USB rechargeable.

For a headlight: https://www.performancebike.com/bikes...400158__400158, I could never find anything bright enough. This is far brighter than anything I have tried, and it is also USB rechargeable.

ItsJustMe

That's great, but what is it? All we have is a picture.

OK, I found it from the brand name:
https://www.performancebike.com/bikes...400751__400751

Looks almost identical to the Serfas Shield, same light output, significantly cheaper. As I just lost my Serfas last week, I may buy one of these.

Not real happy with the reviews though, mentioning the bad clip. A bad clip on the Serfas is why my Serfas is sitting in a ditch somewhere right now. It actually fell off 3 times, the 3rd time I was unable to find it.

BTW I agree that the Superflash is woefully inadequate by modern standards. The Serfas Shield or the Axiom you show are good at 60 lumens.

Also good are the MagicShine taillight, which at $30 if you already are running a magicshine headlight and can tap it onto that battery is a great deal. The Cygolite Hotshot is pretty good at about 40 lumens but the light from it is exceptionally spotty - a laser beam pointing straight back, much less effective to the sides. The Knog Blinder series are good, the 4 light version being 44 lumens and they have the most evenly distributed light pattern I've ever seen. Totally uniform over about a 120+ degree angle.

howsteepisit

Chris - How do you know the driver did not see you, and that they would have seen you with a brighter taillight? Perhaps the driver who hit you was one of the legions of road rage drivers who ram cyclists with no consequence that you seem to think are widespread/

I-Like-To-Bike

Might have been one of those Cell Phone Using Zombies wandering aimlessly on the highways we hear so much about on this Forum, and have nothing to do with Road Rage.

Then again we can always expand the definition of Road Rage Endangering Bicyclists to include any and all use of a cell phone by a driver; and to top it off, fabricate any statistics we like to convince ourselves, and anybody else who might listen, of this menace.

SpecialX

WAYYY too expensive..
best way is to make your own lights and put It together yourself.

Buy lights and and a relay and build it the way you like it.

Bezalel

I'm thinking of starting with a set of truck clearance lights, leaving the red lamp in the center and replacing the outer ones with amber.

turbo1889

In another thread another poster suggested a good idea. Just put amber blinky lights on the ends of the handlebars. Properly set-up they could be seen for over a 180-degree arc from back front and side with them only not being seen on the off side. Mounted as far apart as your handlebars are wide so its obvious which side they are on.

With narrower handlebars like the road bike drop bars it wouldn't probably be the best plan but on bikes with mountain bike type straight bars would probably work like a charm. I'm thinking bright 2+ watt amber LED encased in an armored plug in end piece that plugs into the hollow end of the bars with the top armor plate serving to keep the flash from going up into the riders eyes to mess with your vision at night but allowing it to be seen by others from the back, side, or front. Combined with a middle headlight(s) and middle rear tail-light would probably do the trick nicely, plus you don't have to run wires very far if you mount them on the bar ends and put the controller on the bars.

turbo1889

As to headlights, my "best case" headlight would be a totally waterproof aluminum housing round bullet headlight about 5"-6" diameter streamlined nice big replaceable dome shaped lens on the front with built in refractors to spread the light around while still lighting up the road ahead without shining right into other road users eyes like car headlights were designed to do before they started making those annoying headlights for cars that seem designed to just p*ss everyone else on the road off by deliberately burning into their eyes with at least five or more T-6 or better LEDs with a master adjustable brightness control knob (infinite variable knob not fixed settings one cycles through) that can be varied from anything from about 200Lm to 2,000Lm for the "dim setting" then a button on a short cord with handlebar mount that acts like a dimmer switch and when pressed with a quick thumb press makes the light go into "brights" which a little more then doubles its output from the master "dim setting" controlled by the knob so the bright setting goes up proportionally with the dim setting. All this powered by a sealed battery plug that can be hooked up to any 3V to 12V external battery pack of any capacity size one desires and the electronics adjust for the voltage automatically.

And most importantly of all, while in use the electronics of the light make it "throb" with a regular soft true sin-wave type 2-cycles per second brightening and dimming a little above and below its current brightness setting both on the dim and the high-beam setting just like an old magneto powered motorcycle headlight so it doesn't flash annoyingly like a tactical strobe and blind people and make everything it lights up "disco flash stop motion" for you as the rider but does serve as a "to be seen" light just as much and as well as being a "to see" light.

FenderTL5

All you'd need is a couple of small momentary switches that you could press with your thumb to activate.
One on each bar, the wire(s) would only need to be as long as the grip.