littlewaywelt

I run four rear facing lights.
I have a planet bike superflash on my helmet and on my seatpost.
On my rear rack I run a cateye LD1000.
As a spare and limited to night use because it's not particularly bright I run a $10 planet bike 3led.

If you secure them properly you shouldn't lose them in anything but a crash. I use a little gorilla tape (duct tape with better adhesive) around the lenses to keep them from popping off and to help keep moisture out.

DallasSoxFan

My taillight is built in to the saddle that came with the bike. If I lost it, I have bigger problems to worry about.

Psydotek

I have 5.

2 Planet Bike Superflashes mounted to the left seatstay with a ziptie around them so they don't pop off (i already lost one)
1 Cateye LD-1000 on the seatpost
1 Planet Bike Blinky 5 attached to my camelbak (ziptied to the mount)
1 Cateye LD-150 also attached to my camelbak

I usually only turn on one superflash and the seatpost blinker. The rest are backup if one gets lost, runs out of batteries, or i'm having to bike in fog (then i'll turn them all on).

newbojeff

This past winter, I decided to always double up in the front and rear in case of failure.

Rear: PB superflash on the end of my rack and one on my coat.

charly17201

When I'm going to be riding after dark, I use 5 blinkies on the back and 1 on each side. If I lose one it isn't that big a deal. And, I buy them by the 'lot' on eBay.

I do also use them at 'work'. I drive a truck and backing in to some of the dark docks at stores sucks. I keep a couple in my work bag. Turn them on (non-blinkie mode) and set them down so I can line the trailer up easily. Depth perception still sucks in the dark, but at least I can put it in straight.

CliftonGK1

I have 1 on the bike and one on my seat bag. I carry spare batteries for them with the rest of my repair kit.

dynaryder

I always keep 1 or 2 of these with me,in addition to the PB Superflash mounted on the bike:
https://www.glowproducts.com/batteryo...esafetylights/

I've never actually needed one,but I'm always handing them out to folks. Usually friends who forgot theirs,sometimes to people I see riding in ninja mode,although alot of them refuse them because they don't want to bother with a light(go figure). They're cheap and I get them in bulk.

ginsoakedboy

My philosophy exactly. Recently, I rode home with only my PB-SF on the seatbag. When I got home, I reached to turn it off and saw that the guts had dropped out and only the rear part of the plastic case was left -- the part with the lights and batteries had fallen out. (BTW - anybody find this to be a common problem with the Superflash? I love the light, but I've heard that they have this problem). I about near had a heart attack thinking about how much of my 9.5 mile commute was done with no light. Now I'm going to have 2 - one on the seatbag and another on the helmet.

thehum

To anyone who's ever lost a tail/hearlight over a bump:

Zip ties and/or electrical tape are your best friend.

My Taillight used to fall off all the time but electrical tape holds the two halves of it together and the clip part of it is now zip tied onto my rack now and hasn't fallen off since.

I have the Quandrant headlight which I had to wrap with electrical tape to keep from falling off over bumps/crubs. Wrapped from the light to the inside of the bar mount.

cheers

mtnwalker

Another key to not losing lights is picking one with a good clip. The clip on my tailight curves in towards the backside instead of the usual ones that curves out. The clip also has a retainer inside the clip that further prevents it from jumping off the saddle bag strap.

BA Commuter

1 white Firefly strobe on the front and 1 PB Superflash Stealth on the rear!

No spares...

fholt

These days it's full light when I head out, so I just use 3, a 5led serfas one on the helmet (blinking), MARS 3.0 on the seatpost (solid) and a PB Superflash (in all it's splendor) on the back of the rack. When it's dark during my morning commute, I power up the blinkies on each pannier (on solid) for a total of 5.

2 Headlamps in the dark as well, 1 PB Alias Halogen, 1 LED Cateye EL530.

Machka 

They can be a friend, but even they aren't perfect.

I had one of my taillights attached to my Carradice on the Paris-Brest-Paris 1200K with the clip it came with, and zip ties ...... it stayed on over the cobblestone .... but I hit a bad bump further on, broke the attachment on my handlebar bag, and the taillight took flight.

DanitoLaboy

3 on mine

Machka 

Hey .... that's MY trunk bag!!!


Only ........ it looks pristine.

wyeast

Two rear lights. Helmet and rack trunk, plus a healthy dose of DOT reflective tape on the rear fender.

DanitoLaboy

its only 500miles old.so its still new

Machka 

I have no idea how many miles mine has covered but ... a lot, and in all sorts of weather. It now looks something like a truck ran over it ... but it still works.

ontologik

I forgot my blinky the other day, then realized the headlamp I did remember to take with me (for the dark paths through a park) has a very bright solid red function. No blinks but still something.

mechBgon

If my Nova falls off, I'll eat my hat. And I don't even have a hat!



This is one "blinkie" that I can usually tell is working just by looking in my mirror But I like fault tolerance, so I also have a blinkie on the rear of my helmet, either a Planet Bike BRT-5 or a SuperFlash. One benefit of having a helmet blinkie is that it shows over the top of many passenger cars because it's so high.

I also have Trek's bar-tip blinkies on my flat-bar commuter, and often run them when it's twilight or dark. They use one AAA each, and are also available in a road-bike model. Here's a pic of them along with a Planet Bike BRT-5 for intensity comparison:



To answer the original question, the last time I had a blinkie fall off while riding was when the lens of my Cateye LD500 fell off a few years ago. I've seen a disturbing tendency for people to put their Planet Bike brackets on upside down, which may explain some PB losses... mine stay put fine.

daredevil

mechBgon's back! Hooray! We missed you. I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I saw your name.

Folks, this guy is your lighting guru.

dynaryder

I might have to look into these. Every single barend light I've ever seen uses button cells,which can get pricey.

jpdesjar

i use lights sometimes

mechBgon

Hi daredevil! Is that an LD1000 in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

daredevil

I hope you know we were talking about you behind your back around here.

Your type of expertise is what makes these forums so valuable. I'm awful curious what happened but won't ask.

To make sure I keep this post relevant to the topic, I use both PB Superflash and the LD1000 mentioned by mech. He GAVE it to me.

As I learned from him, make sure you aim them properly to get the full benefit.