Disruption of the light throw
 

If this was your bike and you were riding more after sunset due to the changing season, would you be concerned enough about beam disruption to look for other mounting alternatives.

Asking for a friend

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...550f3e49c.jpeg

And just how are we supposed to know how much "beam disruption" is occurring?

Friends don't let friends use electric tape on their bars.

The light is positioned beside the bag. You can determine height by the relation of top of bag to handlebar.

Can of corn.

I wouldn't ride that bike. I have my night light under the bars and on centerline.

Not a fan of junk on the bars. Gotta keep it clean.

If the bag blocked too much of the beam, then I would look to mount the light elsewhere.
If the bad didnt block too much of the beam, then I would not look to mount the light elsewhere.

Seems pretty simple, Big D. I trust that you will be able to figure this out on your own, since you never listen to the opinions of the unwashed masses anyways.

Mounting elsewhere presents a challenge as the bag is deep

Put your bike in a dark garage or something and see how the light actually looks.

Every single thing about riding a bike presents a challenge for you.

Buy a new bicycle and bags to accomodate the light's beam pattern.

I dunno Big D, WWLD

yes. Tried that. Definitely disruption. Not convinced it would affect safety. Other mounting options are not plentiful though.

Ideally below the stem but nothing seems available that will get the light low enough

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ca5e92a64.jpeg

I posed the OP's question to ChatGPT.

Dayum, that's a lot of baggage on a bike that's ridden around town.

Tidy Cats sux.

you are the one who brought up mounting the light elsewhere.

there is a garmin mount on top of the bag. A Garmin mount headlight seems to be the most straightforward solution here:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/j8YAA...V/s-l1600.webp

I prefer to have my light mounted on my helmet. I can point my 1000 lumen light anywhere and see everything without any disruption.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...21dbd4bdef.jpg

For the win! ^^^^

Using the Garmin mount never occurred to me and I don’t need the Garmin for the commute. I need a new light only downside

visually so much.

IKR. That couch looks like a murder was committed on it. :roflmao2:

Wonder where he pilfered the photo from.

Falsely accusing people of murder and stealing pics ?. You sound like a deeply disturbed individual. Go get some counseling and meds for your deeply depressive state..

I would have used a black zip tie to blend in more better. I have seen better sofas on the curb.

A light for commuting is not about you shining at people it is about good visibility and that doesn't really provide it. People need to know where your bike is and is going not where your head may decide to turn. Helmet lights are fun but are a tertiary light unless mountain biking where it is less about other seeing you.

In the end for a good front light if your light can be mounted either right side up or upside down, that is not an ideal light for a bicycle. a good bicycle light should have a shaped beam pattern so you aren't blinding people, casting a good wide light for good visibility and allowing you to see everything you would need to see and allow people to see you. The typical U.S. bike lights that aren't STvZO or follow similar lines don't do that and are basically a flashlight or are so dim what is the point.

As much as I am not a fan of Kryptonite for other products their lights in the X series are quite excellent and aside from maybe size and looks are great lights and Lezyne also does some excellent STvZO style lights that are quite good. I have used Light and Motion and NiteRider and they are good quality lights no doubt but the beam pattern isn't great. However most of my commuting now is done with actual Dynamo lights and those are pretty much all STvZO compliant and really do an excellent job and some of them even have a high beam function when I need an extra pop of light.

As always solid lights at the front are ALL you should ever use. Unless you are an emergency vehicle in an emergency keep your lights solid so you aren't blinding others and making it hard for people to see. There is never an absolute non-emergency situation where a white light should flash.

Plenty of cyclists run helmet mounted lights. I can adjust the brightness so as not to blind people and still be visible. I ride on the trails in the dark so a powerful helmet light is necessary for me. When I ride in urban area in traffic I just use lower setting.

My racks also have reflecrive tape.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fd086b7bdf.jpg

Is that better ?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d187d05f84.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...00a8a64230.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...257d26361a.jpg

No disruptions.

On a trail 100% a helmet mounted light is handy but on paved areas not really super useful and still would much prefer a better beam pattern and on the bike so people can see where my bike is going. Anywhere I am dealing with pedestrians I want my hands on the bars not playing with my lights. People just simply never need to see where anything but the bike is going and with a good solid front light they can do that as well as allowing you to see and not blind people. A helmet light would just be a fun accessory for me in paved areas on a trail and I do mean a trail as in mountain biking or actually off-road, not paved, that is a different story.

Reflective tape is fun and is not a bad thing but lights are crucial. Anything that is not visible from a naked eye is probably not going to be visible to a car without headlights and I see way too many of them these days. Certainly it is better than nothing but being actively visible is the key. I worry about passive stuff after the active lighting is dialed and on point.

I would ditch the front bag and instead have a rear rack where a trunk rack or pannier can be hung. Vision at night is bad enough as is, so why add an additional obstruction?

I use a light to be seen not to see. Plenty of ambient light on my commute. Passing by Blue Jays Way and Bremner onto Martin Goodman. Total bedlam out here for game 1. Bigger than T. Swift by far.