"Dim your light please"...
 

This phrase was politely said to me as I was night commuting with my Magic Shine light last week. If you're not familiar with the Magic Shine light, check out the thread about it in the Electronics section of this website and you'll find that it is an extremely bright light. Most of my commute is on a trail so my headlight is the only source of light that I have but despite this, I still use the lowest setting as I do not want to blind other riders.

I noticed that other riders block their light as they pass me and I can only assume that the rider who told me this phrase expected me to do the same as well. The only problem with that is--I ride a recumbent. So with my light mounted by my feet, I do not have the luxury of being able to block my light with my hands. So how should I handle this? I am able to block the light a little with my feet, but doing that is very awkward and I'm unable to keep pedaling if I do this. Should I just apologize if I get comments about this in the future?

That's a toughie. Can you mount it on your helmet? Anywhere hand-reachable you can mount it?

who cares

put the battery pack where you can reach it, and switch it to low when someone is coming?

Most bike lights do not have a good beam pattern with a sharp upper cutoff to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. I wonder if you could attach an opaque shield extending out over the front of the light that would block the light from hitting the eyes of other cyclists once they get close to you and are above the level of the light.

It shouldn't have any effect on lighting up objects that are at or below the level of the light and would still make you very visible to car drivers from a distance. But it would cut way down on the brightness seen by nearby approaching cyclists.

Maybe you are pointing it too high, into their faces.

All lights I've seen have the switch on the light, not the battery pack.

It's probably the same sand-in-his-chamois guy who told me last week to "Cover my effing light", if the trail you refer to is the Sammamish River Trail. Did he cover and uncover (manual blink mode) at you before scolding you?

If you're riding a Giro 20, then your light is already much lower than the average diamond-frame rider who mounts on their handlebars or helmet. You'd have to point the light in an essentially useless fashion (center spot straight forward) for there to be enough top-spill that it's in anyone's eyes.
I have my Supernova E3 (which I know is an extremely bright lamp) mounted under my handlebar bag, below my front front rack, on the drive-side of the bike, and angled down... yet this dude still yelled at me.
As I stated; some people just need to rinse the sand out of their chamois and get on with their life.

A bit off topic, but for people who have MagicShine, how/where do you mount the battery pack? I attached mine underneath top tube, but doesn't seem like all that secure. Also the battery pack has the plastic rings, but no additional, separate, velcro straps were provided. So not sure what those are for.

Thanks.

randya would love this thread if he weren't banned.

I get cars flashing their lights at me sometimes. My Cygolite isn't particularly bright compared to what some of you run, but I guess that's at least a sign they can see me.

I have mine in a cheap, waterproof Bell handlebar bag, along with the bottle for my Airzound. I read about MS battery failures due to exposure to rain before I got my unit so I thought it was best to use this bag, which I've had for ages. Plus, I already have enough wires and cables without running one more to the back of the bike.

I don't think the op can really do anything about this situation.

having said that, i will admit that i sometimes find those "car-headlamp-on-a-bike" lights a little annoying, maybe even obnoxious. but my commute is reasonably well lit, and those kinds of lights are probably overkill. either way, it's always just a slight inconvenience, and i never have to stare into those tiny suns for very long anyway. I don't get why somebody would actually ask you to turn your light down, as if it really mattered that much.

my 0.02.

Yes, this was on the Sammamish River Trial and the guy did cover and uncover his light as well. Perhaps we both had altercations with the same person.

I honestly do not know what to do to solve this. I do ride a Giro 20 so the light is mounted pretty low to begin with. Also I was aware of how bright this light is so I made precautions to insure that it was pointed down a bit and not into other riders eyes. I was considering making up some sort of contraption that would cover and uncover the light with the use of a line or cable, however something like that would be too tedious and not worth the hassle.

I did say "sorry" as he was passing me by and I'm beginning to think that's the only thing I could do in this type of situation.

easy, get a real bicycle. :innocent:



<ducks into the shadows> :D

If on a bike trail, I would try to point the light lower. If on the road, I wouldn't worry. I ride with two headlights, one which is on steady and pointed down to illuminate the road in front of me, the other on flash and pointed straight ahead - that one is to make sure that oncoming traffic is aware of me. That said, I only have a very short stretch of my commute on a bike trail, most of it is on the road.

Tell him, "It doesn't go any lower, sorry.". Unless you've got it pointed too high, being blinded is not an issue. I have my MS pointed about 30ft. ahead of me, and even on high it's not "blinding" by any means. If someone has a problem with that, they are just being an oversensitive ass.

On the road I point my 9W SBIII right into the cager's face and use blink mode at full power. On the MUP I point it down and run it constant, lower power. I need the higher power blink mode to be seen by all the drunk drivers.....

Don't even apologise. This guy's just got an issue.
Here's how I have mine mounted, and he swore at me to cover it. (Yah. Good luck trying to reach the danged thing!)
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._2441361_n.jpg

I had a guy in a BMW yell that my running light was too bright.

1 Watt LED with half-dead batteries.

Not all roadside grievances are legitimate.

That was the only thing keeping this thread from looking like Deja Vu all over again. I've only seen the topic mentioned twice that I can remember if the few years I've been here, and they were both in the past week.

I was really glad I had a bright light last week when someone lurched around the corner while I was stopped at the stop sign. He was finally able to notice me in spite of the tinted window and whatever else they were doing that was more important than paying attention when I aimed the light at where his face should have been, and lurdhed out of the way.

I have an earlier MS with the long cord on the lamp. That is bundled up on the bottom of the stem and secured with a velcro strap. Then the battery pack is wrapped around the stem.

I put a zip tie on those two plastic loops as insurance against the velcro letting go. The battery never comes off the bike, I just pull it into the garage and plug it in to charge.

Do what you can within reason, but otherwise, don't sweat it. You're on a recumbent, you can't reach it, and you've already got it set on the non-max setting. People will have to deal.

Just yell "Sorry! Can't reach - it's a recumbent!" and be on your way.

I actually managed to lose the little pouch for the battery of my MagicShine, so I've just been carrying the battery in my jacket pocket with the cable sticking out. Less than ideal, I'll admit.

I keep it pointed so that the center of the beam is hitting the road about 20 or 30 feet in front of me. So far no complaints, though I did get one comment that I could "use that to light a prison yard." I do like the idea of putting a little shield on the top, which should be simple and not effect the function. It's probably overkill for the city, but cars (and peds) DO see you coming! Any cyclist looking right into my light is probably on the wrong side of the street.

Most of the other riders I see around here at night either have no light or tiny, barely visible lights.

Magicshines do have a lot of spill, so pointing it down will really only help so much. I know mine lites up my commute like crazy. I'm trying to get better at covering it when passing other cyclists.

Sounds like the guy's an ass. I wouldn't worry about it.