For daytime use only. I don't ride at night. What is the *brightest* white handlebar/ankle strap *flasher* you personally know of? If a headlamp flashes brighter than the best flasher-only units, those are ok.
I've seen a few oncoming ones while driving around my lake now and then that are clearly ahead of the rest.

Drivers here are not exactly bicycle friendly, they drive all over the two-lanes, and they love their Bud Light. Which they toss out on the roadsides freely.

Thank you for any help on this.

No terrible idea, white light flashing is dangerous and unsafe. I literally have to close at least one eye and look away when someone is flashing a white light day time night time anytime. Meaning I cannot focus on what is ahead of me and I am more at risk of a crash thanks to that light. It doesn't really help with visibility it is just annoying and a super bright one just makes it even worse. In the motorcycle world they call it dazzling brilliance and it basically can distract someone to ride into you or just blind them so they cannot see you or if you are really unlucky you might get a seizure from a light like that (thankfully I don't). If you need a disco maybe just get a speaker and play your music rather than dangerous white flashing lights. If I am going to the club I am going for the music not the lighting.

If you need a light at the front that is fine get a good light with a good beam pattern and keep it solid always unless you are in a absolute dire emergency and need to get help. The only road users who have flashing bright lights are fast moving emergency vehicles. I don't love Kryptonite for their theft deterrent products but their Incite series lights are really quite nice, good beam pattern so as not to blind people and to give off really good visible light. The X6 or X8 would be a good choice but the XBR tailight is nice as it has an accelerometer that acts as a brake light.

It does suck that people cannot drive and throw beer bottles out but please don't make the roads more unsafe.

Dinotte makes some daylight viability lights. An amber front light is highly visible.

Rapidly flashing lights actually attract drunk drivers. It is better to have a slower continuous pulse.

I almost crashed on my bicycle last summer when another bicyclist came around a curve and had his flasher aimed straight at my eyes a couple hundred feet in front of me. This was daytime on an overcast day and I was wearing sunglasses.

I really think that bicyclists need to be realistic about this stuff. Even in daylight, too bright a strobe light can be a hazard to others.

Thanks for all your suggestions. You are right. I don't want a strobing/rapidly flashing light. I should have said that initially.

Pop--one or two seconds later -- Pop--etc. I've seen oncoming white ones like this with the pauses but they are too dim in many daylight situations to be noticed by oncoming cars *-- such as them turning left in front of me* in my bike lane! These are active 55 mph two lane roads. That's why I wanted a bright one.

As you say, some of these strobers have been strongly distracting, because they were strobing so rapidly. It's likely these were very bright bike headlights in flashing mode.

So, thank you for the advice, amber it is. And no strobing. The color alone may be different enough to be successful. Amber hadn't crossed my mind because I've never encountered it on a bike, in front. It turns out I already have two lights, with replaceable lenses including amber. Triangle shape, AA batteries. Halogen and visible. There are noticeable seconds pauses between flashes, no strobing. Bike cops use them.

An alternative is a white light, Bright but not flashing and not "in your face," but moving up and down. Attached to my left ankle strap. Visible and attracting notice. I once had such a light over fifty years ago, used a C battery, from the Netherlands. But it was dim hence worthless except at night.

Encountered one yesterday evening, in the dark. Blinding.
Even looking off to the side to try and avoid the worst of it.
And all the ones I've encountered have been high up, pointed straight ahead.

So those lousy drivers are always in front of you coming the other direction. Are you in the wrong traffic lane? Seems like the lousy drivers behind you would be more of a issue.

Either way, blinding the many decent drivers with a bright light seems like it'd potentially make things more dangerous by having more drivers look away from the cyclist they really need to avoid.

The Magicshine RN-3000 has a 3000 lumen day flash mode.

>Yes, of course. Never want to blind anyone. Common sense.

Being in the correct bike lane, when younger, I was once slammed in the city by someone inside a parked car who did not see me coming alongside the parked cars. Opened the door on me. Bang! Head on. I had Injuries and could have been run over by cars passing by on my left when I fell to the left side, but there were none at that time.
Summary: I need people to see me coming toward them. In daylight only. A constant light on that does not go on and off, or at least move, is insufficient (Basic perceptual principles of positively being noticed) I also wear hi-viz clothing and helmet without fail.

I regularly ride a bit more than three feet to the left of parked cars that I pass, simply for this reason. Nobody looks in their mirrors for bikes before they open the car door. But I try to avoid the busier roads where riding further into the traffic lane is not much of a hazard.


I used to commute on a motorcycle. It became quite clear to me that bright sunny days, everybody saw me unless they were playing with the cell phone. On those bright sunny days, it did not matter if my headlight was on or off. But the darker overcast days, other drivers often did not see me, even if I had my headlight high beam on. I had a quartz halogen headlight with H4 bulb, high beam was 65 watts. Both low and high beams were bright enough to ride at night at highway speeds, but even with a light that bright, a lot of car drivers on days with overcast seemed to have poor vision.

My rule of thumb was that if I could not see shadows, I was extra careful and acted like I was invisible. I had a high viz vest over my leather jacket. If a 65 watt high beam was not enough to be seen, don't expect to find a small battery powered light on a bicycle to be much better. Keep your head on a swivel.

Cygolite 960. Excellent battery life. Rechargeable.

Sounds like you are already doing quite a bit. Just don't go crazy with the light brightness or where it's aimed. Maybe a unfocused light is better. I don't know.

Many of the drivers you are worried about are probably drivers that other drivers worry about too. Some take chances passing even when it's a car coming the other way instead of a cyclist. Besides a light, perhaps you should also have a front and back facing camera. Some videos of really aggressive driving might get local law enforcement motivated to patrol those areas more.

I don't find that with a web search. Maybe it's out of production. But they have plenty of models. Well made, good mounts, good service.

My Cygolite 500 lumen works great for a daytime flash. It's probably too bright for an oncoming cyclist on a bike path -- but there, I could aim it downward and also switch to the dim LED long-term flash mode. It uses an easy stretch rubber strap, so aiming it downward during a ride is simple.

It's perfectly reasonable for oncoming drivers during the day or around sunset.
I do mostly daytime riding with a small group. My single, sharp flashing taillight is 150 lumens. Sometimes, the riders get way up the road, and if I come around a bend, their flashing tail lights a quarter mile ahead instantly catch my eye, even in noon sunlight. It's an instant "bike rider ahead" visual. I want the distracted cell phone drivers to see me well before they get close. Same thing with the flashing 500 lumen headlight. I always run head and tail lights.


I'd say 400 to 800 lumens is good. Those new mountainbike 2000,3000,4000 lumen lights are way too much. I used to ride solo with a 2000 lumen Dinotte wide beam, which was great for night time city riding, aimed downward. The pool of light on road was similar to the coverage of a car's headlight -- good. Now, for getting home after sunset if the ride took too long, my 500 lumen light is fine for moderate bike speeds, probably under 20 mph to have enough warning of road hazards.

950
Had a out of memory experience
Thanks Noglider

Fully agree. I used to drive a motorcycle on highways at night, on high beam it was around 1200 to 1500 lumen with a 65 watt H4 bulb. Used Hella or Cibie headlamps with a really good well cut lens for a very good beam. If that is enough for 60 mph, the lights that put out several times as much light for a bicyclist really make no sense.

For a couple decades I drove a pickup truck with motorcycle H4 headlamps instead of the sealed beam lights that came on those trucks. They were a fantastic upgrade.

On my bicycle I find that just using a constant on dyno powered headlamp, either a B&M Luxos U or a B&M IQ-XS seems to make the on coming traffic more careful, and these certainly are not enough to blind anyone in daytime.

If you're speaking of nighttime, as others have suggested I'd strongly recommend a headlight on steady mode. If you're insistent in having a second headlight, then perhaps adding a slow pulsing one would be useful. I've seen this combination on narrow country roads, at night. It's highly visible, and it doesn't (at least in me) induce any sort of vertigo or "draw" as an oncoming driver. On my bike I use the CygoLite Metro Pro 1100 USB, with cn select both brightness level and the steady/pulse/flash mode. CygoLite does make even brighter headlights, but IMO for street/MUP use the Metro Pro 1100 (or their newer Velocity Pro or Ranger series) works well.

On the darker/dappled country lanes I often ride (and drive), during the daytime I've seen numerous oncoming cyclists over the past decade. Dozens of different types and intensities of lighting ... and by far the most readily seen cyclists have been those with the brightest flashing headlight. At night, best unconfusing visibility seems to come from a strong steady beam. Hard to not see them.

For taillights, I myself use a pair of CygoLite HyperShot 350 lights. Very bright, and the intensity can be adjusted. Setting one to a bright flashing and the other to a pulsing or a steady, it's impossible to miss. I've seen a variety of cyclists out during evening and daylight hours with this specific twin combination, and it's a stellar way to be clearly seen.

I use these. Good combination of functions (three levels of brightness and one flashing mode), battery life and size.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8WZ9YPF...sin_title&th=1

You make all good points. No more motorcycles here, because of my age but mainly deer coming fast from out of the brush and smaller animals jumping from the ditch that would throw me. This is rural. I have had 10 cycles, over the past 44 years, as commuters and for trips, with two USA coast to coast trips before the Interstate highways. From DC way up into Newfoundland and Down into Mexico also. So I developed a sense of looking at oncoming cars long before they get near me. Still had an elderly gent turn left in front of me in New Mexico with no turn signal, and I went down. Two years ago in middle of afternoon on clear straight road above my big lake, a young guy slowly came across the line into my lane. Bright sunshine. Hardly any traffic. When I saw this beginning in the distance, I pulled my car over onto the shoulder and sat on the horn. He finally "snapped out of it" pretty close to me. Jerked his wheel and almost ran into his ditch. He wasn't texting. He was talking on the phone facing forward looking straight ahead. But his mind was elsewhere. Scary.

A blinking and/or moving light up and down on the person or vehicle attracts attention much more than a steady light, when on a bicycle . The car door opening on me was in a major city where I could not have ridden further left because of moving traffic. The best I could do was try to pedal slower and try to see if the parked cars were empty. That usually worked fine. Usually means exceptions. On that occasion I could not ride on the sidewalk because of so many people there. And if you fall off the bike into traffic when people are rushing to work, you will be squashed like a squirrel. Same if you go down on your motorcycle in rush hour traffic at 50 mph or faster. We don't always have desirable options.

"No problem is too difficult to be solved by a theoretician."

A flashing white light facing forward is useful in preventing (or at least minimizing) drivers from pulling out in front of you or making that left turn into you as you're crossing the intersection.
The trick is to NOT aim the light in a manner that will blind oncoming traffic (auto or bicycle.) I've been on MUPS where some riders seem to have the lights aimed so high squirrels in the tree branches are getting flashed.
When aimed properly they work as intended. JMHO.

Some of the B&M dyno powered headlines have some extra LEDs that shine above the horizon when the light sensor tells the electronics that it is daytime. Those can be pretty bright. The light in the photo is a Luxos U.



In the B&M catalog it refered to Daytime LEDs for that light.

I have the B&M IQ-XS light on my rando bike and light touring bike, their catalog also lists Daytime LEDs for that light too.

That said, when touring, my dynohub is usually used exclusively for battery charging, but sometimes when I am concerned about visibility in daytime I will run the light on instead.

But these are constant on lights, not flashers.

Tourist in MSN: Where is the picture with the daytime light on? I'm impatiently waiting for the Bush&Muller High beam Dyno Light to be available. It will have the daytime Mode also. I am also thinking about the Dinotte Amber flashing light for the front of my bicycle. I'm hoping someone doesn't get triggered at the amber flashing light on the front and try to make it some kind of legal issue.

I can say the Supernova M99 DY Pro is excellent but would be excited to try the B+M as I have the IQ-X on my touring bike and that is a really great light. I am also excited about their Turntec stuff for e-bikes as it seems like a cool system.

If you are worried about someone having an issue with a flashing light at the front which you should as it can be dangerous, then I would suggest to avoid using it entirely. Having not been flashed in the face by an amber light I don't really know how my eyes will do but with white light 100% I need to look away and usually I close 1 eye completely making everything more dangerous. It sucks because my life is put more at risk because someone had to flash a white light so the safety they thought they were getting actually makes it more dangerous for cyclists. Thankfully I don't get seizures or I would probably not be able to ride my bike.

veganbikes: Fast flashing lights can effect some people with medical conditions. The Dinotte lights have a slow pulse setting. I also never use any kind of flashing light when it is dark because they can disorient other road users. I know on the front a flashing light in darkness or low light would be a problem for me.

I emailed Supernova a while back and asked them at what speed their high beam would work. They told me it would start working at around 16 kph. Is that your experience with this light. Bush&Muller is stating that theirs will start working at 10 kph. I am impatiently waiting for the light to show up and get a review.