night setup recommendations
 

you guys are more hardcore than I am and want to know what products, gizmos you would recommend me get to update my night setup...

I have been a fair weather commuter and I will ride a bikes direct steel road / touring bike (low end).

I use an ortlieb backpack to carry change of clothes.
I have
- a reflective vest (chartreuse).
- a cree 1200 lumen rechargeable head light (off of amazon) and white reflector for the front
- a serfas taillight with a seat bag that has reflective stripe and piping.
- a shoulder blinkie (usually worn by walkers / joggers)
- a helmet with reflective stickers on it
- a gizmo called "safeturn" which is a "turn signal" system that attaches to your wrists.
- two lights (one per wheel) that attaches to the spokes.

anything else I need? is what I have overkill? last season I was going to handle night riding but chickened out...

e0richt, your set-up already puts you way ahead of the bike ninjas out there. You have 360 lighting and reflective devices, that's really all you need, although others may disagree. I like the shoulder blinkie, but I go one small step further with a 5-LED amber taillight on the back of my helmet in addition to the red led flasher/reflector on the back of my bike. In addition to a strong LED headlight like yours, I have a white 3-LED flasher facing forward, and a medium power led flashlight on my helmet facing where-ever I look. Not to blind drivers, but to catch their eye. I also like to recommend an air-horn, like an Airzound or Delta (you pump those yourself). Like you, I also have added reflective tape to my helmets and bikes (more on the older ones). IMHO there can be no overkill. In this day and age of distracted driving, you are trying to catch the attention of obliviots who are looking down while texting in their laps, and who start rolling forward before looking up. I haven't seen the safeturn lights in person, but I like the idea. I used to have lights in my spokes, but with 180-degree flashers, I fell less a need for them, although on my old roadie I have the front and rear lights mounted on the fork and seat-stay, low enough to reflect off the spokes, I have just the front like that on my new commuter, and not on my older MTB-based commuter, but I plan on remounting the light before winter. Congratulations e0richt on a smart and well thought out approach.

Balls.

guess if you were trying to make me feel a bit small, then you nailed it... thanks for the input...

To add to this, I would add an extra (good) headlights and taillights to your line up. (Redundancy.) Your light systems will go out when you least expect it.

You have a lot more than I, just a headlight and taillight here. Main thing is just like the daytime, assume that you are invisible, always.

The secondary thing is that your route has so much to do with having a good experience. As these days start to get shorter, you'll find yourself on dark or almost dark roads before you know it. The way I handle this is that I have a daytime (summer) route and a nighttime (winter) route to and from work. The winter is about 1.5 miles longer, but I don't encounter near as many cars, and go mostly through neighborhoods.

Your gear is pretty awesome though.

T

There are two key things that got me commuting full time by bike. First was getting Dynamo lights. This eliminated the fear of dead batteries. The other was having a good bike mounted bag, so I can just hop on and go with little fuss or worry in the morning.

Otherwise I would consider your setup way over the top for my commute in Long Beach (not that more is a bad thing, just more than necessary). I have never felt like people have failed to see me. But I think that is somewhat unusual, and a feeling that took years to develop.

Not at all. You seem to have everything covered quite well. I just couldn't think of anything else that you might need.:thumb:

Afraid to ride at night. Maybe this can help. Bicycling Street Smarts - Table of Contents

You're a bit into the overkill area, which isn't always a bad thing when it comes to lighting. I've done the season with an 800 lumen headlight, two rear blinky lights (in case the battery on one dies mid-ride), reflectors on the wheels, and brightly colored jerseys

A couple of years ago I was having the same problem. I had the equipment and intended to ride at night, but just couldn't quite get myself to do it. I posted a thread on this forum about it and got some great advice. The most helpful advice was to go out in my own neighborhood for a short ride during a low traffic time. I did that several times and steadily grew more comfortable. I also would ride my regular commute route during the day time thinking about what each piece of it would be like in the dark. Eventually, I jumped in and did the full commute in full dark. It was liberating! I'll tell you what: I realized that I am way more visible at night than I am in full day light.

Also, no balls required. Ovaries worked just fine for me.

I'd say overkill. I have front and rear dynamo lights (B&M) and reflectors (red rear, front white, yellow pedals, and white sidewalls). I wear normal clothes so nothing else reflective and no helmet. Nothing blinks. Drivers will recognize me as a bicycle rider. I don't know that anything else helps and too much may actually hurt.

Absolute overkill. I commute at night and use a good headlight, good taillight, some reflective bits on my bag, shorts, jersey, etc and that is it. Ride defensively and assume that no one sees you.

I say "ride defensively" as if they CAN see you and intend to kill you.

I get away with a Cygolite 750 in the front and a Hotshot Micro on the rear (bright as hell). Run them day and night. Your best defense is your own wits.

I have a suggestion that I have not used myself but when I was considering a cross country tour I was going to use. That is to go to a police website and buy a blue and red flashing light for a bicycle

Nothing grabs the attention of the intoxicated driver; any driver for that matter; like the flashing blues.

and when you are riding at night you are subjected to what I would say is a ten fold increase in intoxicated drivers. put an alert on google news for "bicycle fatality". you will see that most are at night or early in the morning. its really sobering (no pun intended) to read those google news items for bicycle fatalities-helmets don't help when bicycles are slammed into at 50 mph from behind. and it seems as if there are 2 or 3 a day.

I am not sure that those color lights are legal on a bike. I know that the police on bikes here in the city and on campus use those.

My most important light is a helmet mounted headlight. 700 lumen Niterider. My route is mostly on twisty, dark MUPs, so the other lights are not as important. Also have the same light on the bars, a helmet mounted L&M 180 taillight, and a rack mounted PBSF.

Even with all that, some peds are so unaware of their surroundings, they sometimes don't see me until I'm 10' from them. However, cars definitely notice me.

Sounds like all you need is courage, which will come with experience.

I just learned how to ride a bike this year, and I've been progressing at overcoming various fears:

- Fear of descending
- Fear of being within 500 feet of cars
- Fear of collision with bollards and other objects
- Fear of riding at night.

I now commute to work by bike a couple of times a week. Once in a while a car will pass me closer than 3 feet away and it doesn't rattle me. Descending hills of various steepness - no problem. 2 night rides under my belt for this summer. My combo of dyno hub lights, USB-charged helmet light, wheel reflectors, and hi-vis pannier has been fine. I added some reflective stickers to my frame to personalize it a wee bit more on the cheap.

I might add some Monkey Lights spoke lights since they include a skull pattern, for my cycling group's Halloween ride. They would definitely take my lighting setup into the overkill category, but it's more for the festive look.

I would agree with Gian Doofus except with the ovarian comment, I'm chormosomomaly challenged to agree with her. Once you find out you've got enough light and the things you want to avoid can see you better than you can see them you'l find it's liberating to ride at night. And then want to have enough redundancy to feel even more comfortable at night.

This was my thought, too. I'm sorry.

Tired of always screwing with batteries daily, I use a front hub dynamo to power Wired , head and taillights.

Plus I dont live in NJ..

I have reflective tape on the bike to help avoid side impact crashes, but the spoke lights are probably going to cover that for you. What kind of spoke lights are you using? I've been thinking about adding some to my setup.

Does the vest go over the backpack? With that headlight light, I wouldn't worry about people missing you from the front. However, I like to have a decent visibility from the rear.

I bought velcro ankle bands to help prevent longer pants from becoming stuck in the chain. But, you could always just use your sock.

I assume you have the standard frame or mini pump, patch kit that requires glue, spare tube, etc.

Cell phone! It is the ultimate bail out tool.

Do you have photos? I'd like to see all of this.

I saw a Trek road bike the other day that was (factory?) painted completely in Hi-Viz neon green/yellow. I don't know... not my taste, but I would absolutely take that over a 'normal' paint job festooned with a multitude of reflective patches. Gag! A Hi-Viz jersey or jacket are going to send way more light back to a drivers eyes than any amount of frame reflectors. But, you probably aren't convinced. C'est la vie.

I'm sorry, however, I can't let you waltz away on the "patch kit with glue" thing. What's up with that? Have you tried glueless patches? I'll bet you haven't. Even the crap ones do a decent job. The ones from Park Tools are as good as a new tube. Better actually, you get a dozen of them for half the price of a new tube! I've had them hold air for so long that I got another flat in the same tube somewhere else. Glue on patches are headed for the same fate as that which befell CRT televisions and computer monitors.

Also... not all of us have someone in a position to "bail us out" on the other end of a cell phone connection. Some of us have to be self-sufficient. And that's ok. Builds character. When you've walked two miles in the rain with a cracked frame you can have a little more perspective on life when you run out of ketchup on Fish and Chips night.

The tape is actually black. It is applied over top of factory lines on the frame. During the day it simply blends in, and at night it adds some extra visibility. While I do wear Hi-Viz items, I wanted the little bit extra from the frame itself.

I haven't had a flat in many years, so I've been unable to try them out. The best that I've heard of any glueless patches are that they'll get you home so you can put a better patch on.

I'm actually not in a position to have someone bail me out. My phone exists simply so I can call someone who might be expecting me (work, roommate, etc.) and tell them that I won't be there on time. Two miles in the rain wouldn't be an issue. However, the time it takes to walk 15-20 miles could be an issue.