+1 on Peter White's analysis and the products he stocks

companion page:
http://peterwhitecycles.com/plight.asp

I have no idea where PDX is nor have no clue what the MUP is....forgive me if I am wrong but team up with commuters in your area and let them know how to use their lamps...me I dont use them I look out for myself...the bike trail at night forget about it..I'll take the street...but that is just me.


Good luck to you and be safe out there my friend!!! :)

That's what you get for riding on the MUP with all the other 'inferiority' cyclists.
HFTU and wear your sunglasses at night like all the other kool kidz, wussy!




:D

And when that car's coming over a rise at someone...? Yeah. I don't live in flat terrain.

Also, as I mentioned before, even a beam with a proper cut-off will look very intense if all the light's coming from a small aperture. I know this from firsthand investigation with my own cutoff-equipped light. If I put a Honda Accord headlight on my bike, the "overspray" above the cutoff is still a lot more light than a bike light produces, but it's coming out of an opening about 1 foot wide by 4 inches tall, not a 1"-diameter circle.

See my point?

Again, solutions:

1) ride on roadways if possible. Oncoming riders won't be on a near-collision course with you. Assuming your beam has any directionality at all, your headlight will be aimed far to the right relative to their position.

2) don't stare at oncoming headlights. Look at the pavement illuminated by your own headlight, just like you'd do in a car.

I think it's only the fancy German ones that make any effort toward that. Certainly not the flashlights or the DIY LEDs

The German lights are very well designed and you (randy) may have noticed how well The Girl's headlight worked... it's only 3watts but very well focused and it puts light where you need it.

I run multiple lights on my bikes... one so I can be seen at all hours and this is aimed a little higher (by day) and at night I run two lights and swivel them down as to not blind oncoming motorists and cyclists. The new 2 watt is plenty bright on it's low setting and I also have a 10 watt that I use for off road riding... it is really too much for urban use.

It is just common courtesy to pay attention to how your lights are directed.

Probably because the Germans actually have pretty strict standards for bike lights, not like the free-for-all in the US

sadly lacking in the US these days

I use the German lights too, and two to three watts illuminates the road quite well and is plenty for almost all uses, beyond that is overkill

A little tip for not getting blinded by the light is to just close one eye... This will save your night vision in one eye for the minutes it takes to regain it... Oh and eat a lot of carrots :D

Complaining incessantly seems to work better in this forum.

Ok, I'll buy a $600 bicycle light setup so nobody on Commuting will get upset.

I use this when needing to clear the MUP. It leaves no one complaining about my blinding light and bad manners.....

http://www.fileitunder.com/uploaded_...wer-754684.JPG

Never seen a bike with lights that were too bright. Usually NO lights at all.

It MUST! This is your THIRD complaint about this post. :roflmao2::roflmao2::roflmao2::roflmao2:

I have been testing that new 2watt Superflash for a week and even on the low setting it is sufficient for urban riding and the beam is well directed... I could use this light in an off road setting with no issues as well.

We have such a light pollution problem here a headlight is rarely needed except on side streets and being seen is more important... I use the 5 light PB LED for this as the run time on AA rechargeable batteries is hundreds of hours and saves my main light's batteries for seeing stuff.

This light is also bright enough for daytime use which is really important.

Portland is also a darker city than Edmonton... I found many more areas to be unlit or where any streetlights were obscured by trees.

I use enough light to see the 'tards that don't buy a bright one because they think others might be offended.. :thumb:

Besides, from what I see in the movies the light has to be bright to make the zombies cower. Is that why you don't like them? :D

I wish that PB would make a dynamo version of the 2W Superflash as a reasonably priced decent dynamo headlight. The German ones start at about $110 and run upto $350 or so here.

What do you wanna bet that they're getting even brighter lights because they're getting blinded by others' lights? It's the same principle as buying an SUV or truck for its higher driving position so they can see around traffic better -- not realizing that the advantage evaporates when everyone else has an SUV as well.

Oh yeah -- +1 on the annoying lights. I've pointed my Dinotte at the ground when I see oncoming MUP users (a benefit of its O-ring mount) and they've sometimes said "Thank you" as they passed by.

On the receiving end, I've nearly stumbled off the path while walking after getting hit by bright bike lights. There's an unlit stretch across the river where a crowd of people was walking after 4th of July fireworks, and whenever a cyclist with bright lights came the opposite direction, everyone that I could see near me was looking at the ground, shielding their eyes, just so that they didn't slip off into the grass. I ended up walking my bike with the light pointed at the front wheel and my head down.

I've had a hard time reading street signs while in my car, and it has a less-defined cutoff than the one pictured. My symmetrically-beamed bike lights light up the same signs just fine.

1) Not always possible, so that tidbit of advice doesn't apply.

2) All it takes is a flash to ruin your night vision. The difference is that "badly aimed, annoyingly bright" lights are so bad that, until they finally pass, you can't see the ground at all unless you block them from your face and shine your own light straight down.

You could run a Superflash with a generator... although you need a rectifier to convert the ac to dc.

German lights have these built in to provide a steady beam and a small capacitor to provide for a stand light feature.

It would not be hard to build.

Nah. It is more due to the fact that you annoy me.

Try the Schmidt Edelux, or any of the B&M Lumotec lights that use the same reflector and lens setup.

Prefer HID? No problem. Try the B&M Big Bang.

Or to take this a step further, that cut-off does nothing if it's on a truck/SUV/SAV/Crossover/Whatever pop-culture tells the kiddies is popular now that is jacked up 5 feet off the ground.

Yes, just like the two bike ninjas that hit each other this Summer. Both went to hospital with fairly serious injuries.

And Randya, when on the really dark parts of my commute, where the Magicshine really ... shines.(sorry) I tilt the beam down when approaching other riders, especially ones with pathetic lighting, seems only polite. Sometimes I cup a hand over the top half to give me an impromptu cutoff.

I think I fall into the over kill category. One of the things that I really like about my Dinotte is that oncoming head lights don't just wash out my light -- may not be true, but I believe that makes me more visible to oncoming traffic. I run it in strobe mode during the day on every ride, ever since the women turned in front of me causing my crash that totaled out my Cannondale T1. I am tired of the the 'I didn't see you' excuse.