Yep, lights that are too bright on a MUP make it hard for anyone coming your way to see anything but your light, and therefore makes it more dangerous for all. Worse still is when there's a train of 2 or 3 all with lights too bright, approaching you.

If you have overly bright lights on a MUP you should at least have the courtesy to shield or adjust the lights as you ride by others - like high beams on a car.

Unless you are a MUPpet racer, riding with that much lights are just inconsiderate. But if you are, then race on.

Being and older person, and have a lot of road miles under my belt (cars/motorcycles), I learned a long time ago to NOT STARE or LOOK at the bright lights.
If something is coming my way, with bright lights on, I am not going to look at it, I am looking at where I am going. So, the glare doesn't bother me.
I can sense the bright lights in my periphial vision, and I know to look at it is bad. So, when brights lights are hitting you all in the face, why do you all(if any) look at them? It will just be a second or two or less before they are gone!

Just curious...

Don't use blinking mode on MUPs....PLEASE!!!!
It's my pet peeve.

And maybe you don't need the helmet light when on the MUP? You will naturally look at other riders and peds when passing and blind them.

Car/motorcycle lights aren't the same as most bike lights, because car/motorcycle lights have shaped beams with a cutoff on the top to stop too much light from splashing up onto the face of oncoming traffic. Some bike lights also have shaped beams, but most don't; combined with the fact that you pass oncoming traffic by only a couple of feet, it can make bright lights incredibly annoying, especially if they're flashing. Plus, bikes often take more than just "a second or two" to clear you on the MUP.

I'm not as old as you, but I have been driving and cycling long enough to know how to deal with oncoming brights. That doesn't mean that, even though I can deal with them, the person with their brights on isn't an inconsiderate ****head.


No, please don't.

Unless you're in a sanctioned, signed, and publicized race on an MUP; in which case, go get 'em!

Whoa, can of beans here. Most of my commute is on streets and such, maybe 15 miutes out of 75 on the minute man BIKE path. My main concern is my safety. Anyone else get to pedal with m******* drivers? Like nowhere else, really. So the minewt 150 in blink mode is really bright, like 150 feet away lighting up houses and street signs. I could put that on low for the mup sections. Too many lights could cause an accident? Please explain. Until all the users have something lit or reflective, I will continue to use what I got. Dogs and walkers appear out of nowhere, bikers with zero lights or reflectors, and such. I find helmet lights great for getting drivers attention when they think about pulling out in front of you. Also for seeing where you need to go in complete darkness, before your handlebar is turned. A bar and helmet light are better for night depth perception too.

When I'm putting up my hand to block their light and trying to look at the pavement by my wheel, I really don't know for sure if I'm going to hit something else.

GriddleCakes mentioned shaped beams. When I'm in my car and trying to read street signs, sometimes I just can't see them at all -- because my headlights aren't spraying in all directions on low beam. When I was a pizza driver, I often flipped my high beams on for a second or two so I could see them. My helmet light is better at lighting up signs -- street names, roadside signs, whichever -- than my car's low beams because it doesn't have a shaped beam with a cutoff.

That's why I prefer to NOT use it on a MUP, and stick with the B&M generator light instead, aimed below waist level.

Why do MUP walkers have to look right into the light and then complain about it. Are they not smart enough to avert their eyes for a couple of seconds?

Thanks for the clarification.. I was assumming that brights coming at you, be the same. In addition, I was thinking that on a bicycle being seen by cars is paramount!!

Again, thanks for the straighten.. BTW, define MUP... :D

Amen.

Why not?

It's like the answer to the problem, "Doctor, it hurts when I bang my head against the wall."

The outer ring of concentrated light on my handlebar mounted 2W Planet Bike might be 20 feet out. My 1/2W Planet Bike is on my helmet and points to just in front of my wheel most usually. I always ride on the MUP because I almost always have it to myself but if I do have somebody coming at me, there just isn't anything realistic they could ask of me of my lights other than what I'm doing.

Why?

The answer, of course, being, "Stop doing it, then." ;)

I have a 12 foot wide MUP in perfect groomed condition all the way from my house to my job. I never deal with a car. I never have to stop. There is never another person on it. I can make twice the time on the MUP as I can on the street, which is saturated with stops, potholes and cars. Do you have anymore answers for the masses?

I avoid the sidewalk that my township considers a bike path, but there are some bike paths that are pretty nice, particularly when I just don't want to deal with motorists. If those paths were on the way to work, I would use them every day. I understand why people in the road forum get the "don't use the mup" advice, but commuting is an entirely different matter.

I'm kind of conflicted on the bright blinky thing. I suspect that the guys I encounter on my commutes with blinding blinkies aimed at eye level just don't know any better. But my telling them about it is not going to happen. Do your thing and let me do mine, that's really fundamental to this whole bicycle commuting perspective isn't it?

I am tempted however to rig up a separate bright light - maybe a blinky- with a handlebar push button switch so I can "bright-light" them a ways off, like you would in a car. Good idea, or pointless?

Chill.

Around here, most of the best intercity routes are MUPs. Head down any of them at rush hour and the number of riders you'd see is like halfway through a TT race.

How you like the Planet Bike 2 watt Blaze? It has been suggested and rightfully so, to get some good lights on my bike if I am out there at night(commuting). Right now, the high-end lights will have to wait. I did order the 2 watt Blaze.. Hopefully it will get me by until I can get something better...

I think it a good idea. When I am in my truck, and going to down a two laner, if somebody got brights on coming at me, I blink. Most of the time they turn them off. But, if they don't my, high blink stays on...;)

I'd say the big problem is actually that the pedestrians, along with ninja cyclists, are trying to make do with no lights, or very weak ones, in a completely dark environment. As a result, any decent bike headlight (and yes, I'm including the fancy-pants cutoff-equipped ones) will trash their night-adapted vision. It's like someone driving their car with their parking lights only, or no headlights at all, then getting upset because someone's low-beams are making it difficult to get away with. "Doctor, it hurts when I do this..." ;)

I'm with you on that one. Being caged in a cramped space with iPod zombies, dog walkers, ninjas and slowpokes is not my idea of fun either. Give me a nice city arterial any day.

OK, guess what -- all you riders who think blinkies (so you can BE SEEN) on a MUP is wrong -- you are wrong. How is else is an otherwise oblivious fool gonna see you coming? BRIGHT lights on a MUP, unless it's totally unlit, is a waste and disrespectful of other users.

Blinkies are NOT just for traffic on roads.

I have to disagree. It's no more difficult for me to notice or see someone on our MUP with even a dim light than if he has a bright blinkie. In my opinion the blinkie is pointless except for riding in traffic, on the roads. Very bright lights are almost as bad as blinkies, that part is true.

I seldom ride in the street. The center line on my MUP is faded and dim and it is hard to discern the edge of the MUP and the adjacent desert. I bought the 1/2W, the 1W and now the 2 W. The 1/2 just didn't cut it at any distance from the bike. The 1W was close. The 2W weighing the same as the 1W and having the same mass, does a great job. I like the planet Bike lights because they are sleek looking and look good on my Defy. I like them because I can use rechargeable batteries and have charges within feet at both ends of my commute and they have been tough as nails thus far. I ended up put the 1/2W on my helmet. It helps me investigate glass right out in front of the bike if I'm riding where some may be.