New way of "taking the lane"
 

As I was getting ready to depart yesterday there was a slight sprinkle in the air and as I was turning on my lights and telling my wife "bye" she said, "Can't I just wrap you in rope lights so people can see you?"

I had already planned to order lightweights.

Then when I got home and told my wife I had ordered them she went on ebay and bought a set of these.

While on ebay she saw this.

You guys ever see anything like this? I wonder if it would cause problems.

Mostly I am just stoked that she said, "I want to make sure you are lit up good for when you start riding in the dark". Mind you, this is my first season riding and it has only been since March so it has been nice and bright each day both ways. I expected the night riding to be an issue and I make sure to point out riders at night when I am driving with her somewhere.

Plus it gives me the OK to buy stuff. YAY!!!

For .99 I might grab a couple of the ones that go in your spokes, just for awesome factor. I don't ride after dark much.

I know someone who has those light-up bike lanes and honestly, they are not nearly as visible as a good tail light. It's a gimmick; I wouldn't spend the money.

It does make you look like a Lightcycle from TRON, however.

This would be most useful in a situation where you are trying to be seen by cars coming from sidestreets, and that it an important consideration for commuters. Taillights and headlights don't always cut it for side visibility, and side visibility is also important. The only time I was ever hit by a vehicle was from the side, so I am biased, perhaps.

Visible or not, I imagine that unless the lasered bike lane was more than 5 feet to my left (the space most people give me already, especially at night), I would be getting less space while using it.

I kinda figured. That's why I threw it out there for the masses to give feedback. I've already got a rear blinky on my backpack and need to put one on the back of my topeak rack. That light would not be my primary light by any means but even if the "lane" portion is dim then it kinda defeats the purpose. My other thought is that if the lighted portion of the light were to reflect off my bag and rack in the back then does it provide a wider dispersal of the light it generates so it would not really be for the "pointed light" but more for the residual glow off of other parts.

That was my other thought. The "lane" generated is kinda narrow according to the pics. I wonder if I could find a way to twist the mount or something to provide a wider swath to the left side. 98% of my ride is in a dedicated bike lane and I would have nearly zero traffic on the right anyhow.

Agreed and that is kind of the purpose I think.

Yeah, it doesn't make the road glow red like the in the picture. There is just two red lines on the road on either side of you. I don't think a person in a car could even see them. Its an ok decent tail light, especially considering the price, but the lane thing is just a fun conversation thing with other cyclists.

This is probably the most accurate picture
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/New-Waterproo...bGw~~60_35.JPG

Never a bad thing really. I may get it just for the novelty of it now.

Do the spoke lights automatically light up when the wheel starts moving, or do you have manually turn them on and off? It seems like they could be made to be powered by the motion of the wheel itself, considering how little power those LEDs require.

Not sure. I'll let you know.

Unfortunately not, according to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IloN3Qpp2Sc.
Looks like a same product to me.

Good stuff for Burning Man next year

A friend put it on his frankenstein (MTB with electro motor, batteries, hand made :) ). I came up behind him once in a car and it was visible, quite. Works, looks dorky, but it works.

these are neat:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...ey+bike+lights

please let me know how you like the lane lights.

My wife bought me two of those spoke lights one year for Christmas. One of them didn't survive the rest of winter. The other I still have.

They have to be manually turned on and off. Very easy to forget to turn them on or off. Also, they use button batteries, which are kind of expensive to replace.

I'd much rather have a set of valve-stem lights that are turned on by centrifugal force. Can find them for Shrader pretty easily, but haven't seen them for Presta.

Gonna start searching amazon.com for an amber/yellow pair.

Try the reflective spoke tape from Lightweights. No need to turn on or off or change batteries. They are SOLID!

My problem with the valve lights was that I was afraid they would put extra stress on the valve stem and I didn't want to saw through it because of the weight of the light on the stem waving around.

Gonna run both. Gonna look look like a friggin Christmas tree now.

If those laser lane lights projected a traffic cone hologram, that would be worth something!

Cheap valve lights:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-Bike-Bicy...item20cb07c987

Let us know how you like them :)

I like the idea of those spoke lights. And yeah button batteries can be expensive (though I got a cheap multipack), but at $1.98 shipped for a new light, it might be cheaper/easier to just buy a new light.

The Phoenix Lights explained! :D

They all look like pretty cool novelty items...I just use my front and rear lights, and they seem to work pretty good.

Soon though, I will be riding in the dark. When that time comes, it would be cool to look like I'm riding a Tron-Cycle!

Get me some of those oscillating red LED's to put on my helmet and I could have the whole "Kit" thang going on!

I just ordered a couple sets of the "chopspokes": http://www.cyclelogicalgear.com/reflective-chopspokes/

Plus I use an led tail light, and a full on c cell flashlight at night. Then I also have the nite Ize spoke light too: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_4k71mbc77i_e