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Two I think. One switched on flash. The other on solid. The flashing one to gather attention. The solid one to gauge distance.

But more important to get the front lights in order I think. Getting whacked from the side is more common than being rear ended.

I use 2. One on the cargo rack another on my messenger bag. One on rack is set too a slow steady blink. The other is a fast and alternating blink.

2 - one on the bike, one on the helmet. Usually one set to steady, one blinking.

Usually two PBSFs. However, 95% of my commute is on MUPs, so I can get away without a tail light, as long as I'm careful on the 5% where cars are around.

Used lights for the first time last night since last winter. Noticed lots of folks had relatively weak headlights. That will change when the serious headlights come out to play. I was running only a single headlight, and even that was way more powerful than anything else I saw. When I break out the megalumen blaster, their puny lights will be completely useless.

2. A Bell on the seat post set to blinking mode, and a Serfas Thunderbolt (rechargeable, very very bright) on the back of the rack set to solid red.

I run two on the commuter, one flashing DangerZone on the back of my helmet, and one battery-powered trailer light I wired up myself, very noticeable and bright, and very easy to see from a distance. On the road bike I run a PDW Red Planet on the seatpost, not as bright as the light on the commuter, but I'm moving quicker on those days, so I don't worry as much about it.

Here's the light on my commuter. I prefer a big, steady light that makes it easy to gauge distance from a car to the bike vs a bunch of small lights that flash.
http://blewsclues.com/multimedia/ima...515_073148.jpg

I have one three LED blinky attached to my rear rack and a one LED red "SpokeLit" light on my rear wheel (http://www.amazon.com/Nite-Ize-Spoke...le+wheel+light). I run them at night and when visibility is low.

I find that a bright headlight and a reflective vest make a much bigger difference in nighttime driver behavior than a rear blinky. The reflective sidewalls on my tires help a bit too, but it's tough to keep them clean.

I also have an LED light on each wheel (made by Cateye) that I use in the winter when it's really dark, and wear a reflective, yellow safety construction vest. Sidewalls are also reflective, and I agree, it's a pain to keep them clean enough to be effective, another reason I'd like to switch to disc brakes.

On the front I use a Philips SafeRide on low when on the MUP, and on high when on the road, very noticeable because of the reflector size. Also run a "900 lumen" chinese light on low when on the road, as a "see me" without causing glare.

I always use 2, day and night. They are always on strobe. I find the one on my left drop bar instantly brought me more courtesy room from passing cars.

Agree 100%. I myself like to run three on a triangle. One middle dynamo rear run on steady and two rear rack mounted on the sides. Of the two sides, one run on steady and the other on blinkie.

Two is my minimum and I do it more often than not and still feel safe. Two lights, one on steady, and the other on blinking. The grater the distance between them, the better.

Yes, one will get you seen from a mile away! But I would not feel safe on traffic, specially if I had to take the lane on a fast road. Have you seen motorcycles with only one head light? It's hard to judge distance, or closure rate, specially on a dark road.

Only one blinkie on the bike, taking the bike lane only, on a well lit road, would feel like I'm just limping safely home. Double O

I usually run 3 taillights -- two on my bike and one on my helmet. My best taillight is a Dinotte 140 LED, and it is like having a red headlight on the back of my bike. However, I never rely on it alone because its batteries sometime lose their charge while I am commuting. My other lights are a Planet Bike Superflash and a DangerZone.

I usually use two taillights especially when a light is highly directional. It also depends on where I'm riding. In traffic with a lot of cars, at least 2 taillights plus at least 1 sidelight (or spoke lights :D). On short local trips or when it's not very dark (dusk or overcast), I use less.

Often I also carry back-up lights in my bag in addition to those in use, or spare batteries, or both.

I'd say at least two in case one goes out. Sometimes I run 3.

2 lights:

PDW DangerZone - steady (on seatpost)
PDW Radbot 1000 - flashing (on rear rack)

I like one flashing light to get attention, plus one steady light to help with distance and velocity perception.

Plus reflector (comes as part of Radbot)
Plus retroreflective tape on fender, bike, and helmet
Plus retroreflective panels that come standard on Ortlieb panniers


I like the suggestion of putting a light on the helmet, to get it higher off the ground and also to get more separation from other light. Have not tried that yet, though.

as I have adopted a Hub dynamo , wired LED head and taillight setup .

One is sufficient B&M toplight line plus to be precise , capacitor powered standlight
keeps it on at stops ..

the fresnel lens and 2 LEDs light up a broad line, and the rest of the lens ,
which is a reflector as well, so
dividing them up to remove one would not be possible .


I recently moved to within a couple miles of anywhere in town (which is not large).

I also run a hub dynamo on my main commuter, with SuperNova lights front and rear. I still use at least one other rear light (blinking -- the SN rear is only steady on), and sometimes a second headlight up on the bars.

I roll with 5 taillights:

A Planet Bike Superflash; mounted on the fender, flashing.
Two generic blinkies; mounted on the V-racks of the Xtracycle, solid.
A X-fire (lane marker light/tail light combo, in tail light mode); mounted between the V-racks with a couple of toe straps, solid.
A Blackburn Mars 3.0; helmet mounted, solid.

I also rock a lighted reflective vest, a Whizzz reflector, rear reflective surfaces, and a home modded yellow area light at the top of my safety flag.

I have three lights on the front:

A 110 lumen (claimed) Coleman head band light; helmet mounted (obviously), not usually used.
A Blackburn Quadrant; mounted on my front rack.
A B&M Lumotec (bottle dynamo powered) mounted on the front rack.

Both front rack mounted lights have home made breakaway mounts.

I just use one - I know I *should* run two in case one breaks/falls off/turns itself off, but I find myself too lazy to deal with a ton of lights for short trips.

I use a vertical format Cat-Eye on the seat-post, a Planet Bike Super Flash (PBSF) on the seat bag and another PBSF on my helmet. Front light wise I have both a NiteRider MyNute headlight on the handlebar and a Topeak white flashing light attached to the right side fork blade.

I use reflective ankle bands but don't have any reflectors on my pedals. Don't know if anyone makes pedal reflectors for Shimano SPD mountain bike pedals, but if anyone knows of any, please advise.

Rick / OCRR

... maybe some reflective spots on the heel of your shoes , Rick

I feel like I'm at my minimum (when it is dark), with three:

1) A fender mounted light.

2) One on the back of my helmet.

3) A very bright detachable rear light.


For the first, I feel like this is kind of my back-up light. I run it all the time (day or night, year round), but it isn't terribly bright, despite being a 1 watt light. It seems like this light is only really visible to the direct rear as well. On the plus side it is always there, and runs for a long time. I'm using the Portland Design Works Fenderbot, they say it'll run 100 hours on its two AAA batteries, but I'm running rechargeables and swap them out long before that. I never worry about this one going dead because the draw is so low on it though. Another plus, is that I don't worry about this light being stolen.

If I had a rear rack, I would prefer to mount a light there. Mounting a rear rack on my daily driver is a little tricky and so I've got a front rack and a large saddlebag instead. Compared to fender mounted lights there are better ones you can put on the back of racks, especially racks with mounts, and having the light a little higher would make it a little more visible, or visible earlier. But, I'm running a defense in depth anyway, and this light is just one facet of that for me, so I'm okay with the fender light being not as effective as a good rack light.

For the second light, I'm still running the Planet Bike 3-H Blinky. This is still going strong after three years daily use. I really like having a light mounted up so high, especially since I am often on hilly terrain and so my lower lights could be hidden from view for a time by a car approaching from the rear. This light seems adequately bright and lasts a long time on the single AAA that powers it, even with rechargeables that are probably getting a little old. There are brighter lights, but for now I am committed to running rechargeables, and personally, I'm content with a charging ritual instead of the wires and battery box of the more expensive systems that I frankly can't afford anyway. The PB 3-H is pretty lightweight too, and some of the fancy helmet lights I've looked at had a very heavy battery pack. Another light I don't have to worry about being stolen as I always take my helmet with me if I am going to be out of sight of my bike.

Lastly, I run a Mars 4.0 clipped to my large saddlebag. I love this light! Superbright, and with decent side visibility too. This I feel is my main rear defense and it gets priority with freshly charged batteries. I'll admit to a weakness for aesthetics, and to me this light is quite attractive in shape and design, it looks like a giant jewel.


I'm nearly content with this layered defense, I feel it pretty well covers everything; I've got a dedicated rear facing light is well aligned with traffic approaching directly behind me, another mounted up very high that is moving around, and a super bright one. With three lights more or less aligned vertically, I should read as "bike" to all but the most distracted driver, and should get nearly anyone's attention.

The one thing I am considering adding this winter is some small Fiber Flare lights mounted on my seatstays to provide better side visibility (they will probably contribute to rear visibility too, and will be red). My one hesitation is that I am back in college and I worry about them being stolen, but I think I am going to go ahead and risk it.


Of course, my side visibility isn't too bad as it is! -

http://imageshack.us/a/img51/2294/lebp.jpg

But is passive, and relies on lights hitting it.

I love good reflective tape!

http://imageshack.us/a/img850/8795/tw3p.jpg

I only run one Hotshot on my road bike, but would like to get another one.

I had a woman waiting at a stop sign tell me once that she appreciated me having that light flashing back there, and this was in overcast daylight.

seven.

Thanks CaptCarrot! I just ordered them from ebay. Looks like they'll make my two side mountain SPD's one side only but hopefully the weight of the reflectors will bring that side down so click-in will still be easy.

Rick / OCRR

Don't thank me just yet - I only took 30 seconds browsing for them but I did read comments saying it's not surprising they are optional as the can be a bugger to fit.

I'll agree you should have both but I guess the answer as to how many and of what depends to some degree on your riding environment and what you feel safe with. Most of my riding is rural and small town and I mean SMALL. There are reflectors marking almost every driveway, mail box, culvert, etc., etc., etc. to the point most drivers tune them out unless they are looking for a specific one to find a friend's driveway or whatever. While the reflection of car headlights on a bike reflector may be brighter than my blinking light in my AO the blinking light will get noticed much sooner as it is something out of the ordinary. It's been my experience that with a single steady tail light and a reflector cars came up on me much closer before responding to "something" in front of them. With the red strobe they give me a lot more room.I have long since upgraded from that 3 LED blinkie light to a rack mounted 5 LED tail light with strobe, a matching yellow front light and most recently a 6400 Lumen 5 LED headlight with Hi, Low and strobe. Some may say my headlight is overkill but wandering wildlife is as much of a concern on my ride as motor vehicles, I need to see the sides of the road just as much as what's in front of me. It's the first headlight I have actually felt comfortable with.

If people actually want to get noticed why don't they use flashing blue tail lights? (and headlights for that matter). In many jurisdictions they are no less illegal than flashing red tail lights...

And given that drivers think cop when they see them, it will certainly garner their attention faster than any other option.

Blue lights are only allowed on emergency vehicles and at K-Mart where I live. I think you could get by with blue reflectors here but it is a common color for driveway and mailbox markers so may not get the desired attention in rural areas like mone. It may work for more urban areas though.

I should probably add that my trunk bag has reflective strips back and sides and my handlebar bag has reflective strips. I have red reflective tape on the back of my helmet and had strips of 2" wide reflective tape sewn to the front and rear of my cycling jacket which already had reflective stripes on the sleeves.