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Car flashed lights at me

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Old 08-19-09 | 10:57 AM
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Car flashed lights at me

Last night riding home at about 10:30pm, I had a car flash it's lights at me because one of my two bike lights was pointed slightly high. I guess they are pretty bright. I'm using the NiteRider Mini Newt X2.
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Old 08-19-09 | 11:17 AM
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It makes me grin, when they flash me. That means that they really did see me. You don't want to blind them, though. You just want your lights to be annoying enough not to ignore. You may consider using a dimmer setting, if you are going to point that light at their faces. I point my 130 lumen handlebar light right at eye-height for most drivers, and point my brighter helmet light at the road in front of me. I've had many fewer close calls with people turning in front of me since I set up my bike this way.

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Old 08-19-09 | 01:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Pinyon
It makes me grin, when they flash me. That means that they really did see me. You don't want to blind them, though. You just want your lights to be annoying enough not to ignore. You may consider using a dimmer setting, if you are going to point that light at their faces. I point my 130 lumen handlebar light right at eye-height for most drivers, and point my brighter helmet light at the road in front of me. I've had many fewer close calls with people turning in front of me since I set up my bike this way.

Unfortunately this aiming technique tends to blind cyclists coming towards one on a multi-use trail(sometimes worse than car headlights from adjacent roadways), my pet peeve with the bright lights.
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Old 08-20-09 | 04:00 AM
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Long ago, I considered putting European-spec headlights on an American car to replace its standard headlights due to their being worthless for highway speeds. I was impressed with the carefully engineered beam patterns including sharp vertical cutoffs so oncoming drivers were not blinded. Are there no bike headlights engineered to have sharp vertical cutoff?
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Old 08-20-09 | 04:57 AM
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Its actually very dangerous for other cyclists depending on the terrain. I once had a group of high beam cyclists coming towards me and I was going at a fairly high speed on rough terrain. I panicked the way through with one hand on the brakes and one to cover their beam. I'd never want to encounter that again. Please be considerate to other cyclists!
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Old 08-20-09 | 05:25 AM
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Originally Posted by duffer1960
Are there no bike headlights engineered to have sharp vertical cutoff?
Yes, but to the best of my knowledge, they're all for dynamo generator systems. The Schmidt eDeluxe is an example.
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Old 08-20-09 | 05:58 AM
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Busch & Müller Big Bang will do it. They offer a converter lens if you want to go off road. otherwise it has a very good cut-off.

Way outa my budget though.

https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/bigbang.asp
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Old 08-20-09 | 09:08 AM
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Originally Posted by coldfeet
$975.00 I think I am going to be sick
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Old 08-20-09 | 09:15 AM
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It's really too bad there aren't any P7 systems with proper cutoff for road riding. It shouldn't really cost any more than a round beam system. OK, maybe the machining for the case would be a little more complex for a really good system with an LED firing down into a curved reflector, but still, what would that do, push a $90 system to $120? I'd pay it gladly.

Maybe GeoMan can convince MagicShine to put something like this out, it'd be perfect for commuting.
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Old 08-20-09 | 10:00 AM
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$975? Man, that's a year's supply of ... I dunno, something.

They must not move a lot of product at that price.
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Old 08-20-09 | 06:28 PM
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At $975, that light would cost more than my commuter bike!
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Old 08-21-09 | 06:20 AM
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Originally Posted by Cyclon
At $975, that light would cost more than my commuter bike!
At $975, it costs more than THREE of my commuter bike.
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