Bike Forums - Too bright of a bicycle light?

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- - Too bright of a bicycle light? (https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/776846-too-bright-bicycle-light.html)

I find blinking lights to be very visible and eye catching. I run one on the bar day and night. I also run a steady light on the helmet and bar as well. I use spoke lights for side visibility too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdefran (Post 13395680)

Just a figure of speech...I want to be visible.

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

A lot of people find the above hard to understand!! On the bicycle, "being seen", IMO, should be priority one. I for one, do not want to come in contact with 3000+lbs of steel moving at 50+mph because they didn't see me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdefran (Post 13395680)

I don't use MUP for my commute, just dark and unlit roads for the most part. My objective is to have good enough lighting to have clear visibility ahead of me while traveling 18-20 mph, and definitely be bright enough to catch road kill that may be in my path. I don't want stress the retina of drivers or be an obnoxious pain in the ass on my bike...just stand out and keep my space.

Another good point. I am sure if you did use the MUP or bike trail, you would tone the lights down a little. But, for in traffic, we need first to be seen that we are there, and second we need to see what is in front of us..

IMO, all neccessary points.. ;)

I wouldn't considering my lighting too bright (I haven't been pulled over yet, in either day or night setting, despite coming across law enforcement vehicles) but a driver did yesterday...she flashed me with her brights for Pete's sake. I am running two (2) 1000 lumen flashlights on strobe, maybe it gave her a headache.

Quote:

Originally Posted by boatrider (Post 13397841)

I'd like to meet the cop that writes a ticket for a bicycle being too bright, and visit the court system that upholds the ticket.

While I doubt that would happen under State/Provincial law, it is possible to be fined for having too many headlights under Municipal Bylaw. The City of Red Deer, Alberta has a bylaw that states you can have no more than three headlights, due to the potency of some of the headlights out there. I don't know of anyone ever being fined for exceeding that limit though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heatherbikes (Post 13673959)

At night I bike against ferry traffic and it is really hard to see, especially in the rain.

And why are you cycling AGAINST the flow of traffic? A better thing to do, would be to wait till the ferry has unloaded, then go. That way, you don't have to worry about a flood of vehicles behind you. I'm assuming you've just gotten off the ferry from Swartz Bay or Gulf Islands.

Fargowolf- why are you arguing with me and assuming I am at a ferry terminal? I live on a penninsula with one highway. Ferry traffic comes in every 2 hours in long strings of impatient cars weave up the coast that love to leave their highbeams on. When I bike home from work, i am coming against high volumes of traffic. sheesh!

Seeing fine with 120 lumens-perhaps in a city with ambient lighting it's okay, but when my bike light battery runs out, it runs at that, and I cannot really see on dark rainy nights.

And remember, when cycling in traffic, your eyes constantly being hit by headlights that are massively bright, and you don't go blind, how is a little bike light going to blind anybody from a moving distance?
Super bright lights are not just trail lights. Again, follow the logic, if cars can have 3000 lumens or more beaming out of each headlight, how can a cyclist compete?