I caught on that to that too, in a big way. First, when you are running a front blinky (daytime), almost all vehicles will give you your rightofway. But, then you also have the ones, that have been use to just pulling out on bikes, and they start to, but hit the brake midway and stop. If I had a dollar for everyone that has done that in the last year, I be rich.. To the naysayers, that say the blinky is irritating, I strongly concur what your response. :)

Lately, I have been using just one blinky up front, and when I hit the trail, I take it off. IMO, the blinky is for the streets, in traffic, and to make sure people see you. On trails, and MUPs, different story, some might run the blinky there too. I don't use trails and MUPs that much, so I cannot comment. I know when I am on a trail, I have my light in my bag..

She's only going to use it on her birthday? Why not the other days of the year?

You're as bad as I am :), but that sentence was indeed poorly constructed. I should have written "As a birthday present, my wife has requested a front-facing flashing light (for daylight use)."

My only reason for thinking it wouldn't be that useful is that 99% of our riding is on rural roads, with very few intersections, so most of the cars that will see that light will be on the other side of the road.

It came in the mail, and looks good, but we can't try it out until her birthday in October.

TromboneAl, how many people here do you think got my joke?

I got it!

TromboneAl,
You might consider the new Cygolite Streak 280. It's in the $50 range, and it flashes at 500 lumens. The high beam is only 280, but seemed bright enough for urban night rides. The downside is that in flashing mode, the runtime is only 5-hours (earlier Cygolite Metros had 25-hour flash run times).

I returned the Streak 280 for a (much more expensive) Light & Motion Urban 550 so that I could get more than a one or two day rides between charges (18 hrs flashing at 140 lumens). But the Streak seemed like a quality light for a decent price. Some nice features: it starts up in the last mode used, and the"Steady Pulse" mode seems valuable for dark urban commutes.

I not totally disagreeing with you but the OP was looking for a "See Me" flashing light for front bar use. True, a lower powered ( < 200 lumen ) lamp might not be what you want for full day time sunlight use but once the sun gets lower in the sky or you begin to ride through shaded areas the lower powered lamps work very well as "See Me" blinkies. If you doubt this go into one of the local stores that sell the lamps and check it out inside the store. You'll be amazed at how well they work. If you use a higher lumen lamp for flash duties at dusk or at night you will find the reflective feedback to be "TOO Distracting"...both to the rider and to those around you.

During the day ( when the sun is high in the sky ) and I ride the two lane roads busy with fast traffic I will use my higher powered "See Me" flashers. For me that is the Gloworm X2 on "Beacon mode" ( ~1200 lumen )
and an XP-E amber flasher ( ~ 140 lumen ) on the rear. I only use the Gloworm when needed though. If it's a two lane road that allows cars to pass...yes, I'll use the Gloworm just to be on the safe side.

Otherwise when the sun is setting or at full dusk I'm happy just to run my flashing 70 lumen Axiom up until the point it is dark enough to turn on my steady lamp. When that happens I take the Axiom off my bar, switch it to "flicker mode" and mount it to my fork leg. With the GWorm on the bars and the Axiom on the fork I have two divergent points of reference for people viewing me from the front. On "flicker mode" there is little reflective feedback to interfere with what I am seeing when I ride down the road. This works for me.

When the sun gets lower in the sky I need even MORE brightness - because I'm riding out of the sun.

Since a lot of people have brought up the PB Blaze 2 Watt, I have a question: Has anyone else found the bar clamp to be impossible to mount on 31.8mm drop bars? The mount just doesn't adjust far enough to fit around the bars near the stem clamp area. I glanced at the Amazon reviews and also saw many complaints about the mount (either too tight or too loose, comes loose after a while, etc.). Right now I'm just using mine as a flashlight in my workshop.

I have two Blaze lights and 3 mounts which fit fine on 31.8 mm bars. The mount is adjustable and may not be set right in your case. On the base of the clamp under where the light mounts, there is a tab that engages notches in the band. You can push the band inward to make the strap shorter for smaller diameter bars, but you need to use a tool to lift the tab to be able to extend the band back out to fit 31.8mm bars. If you just yank the band out, you can strip the tab and it won't engage adequately anymore. Use a small screwdriver to lift the tab and pull the band forward/out until the tab can engage the last notch in the band. See tab engaged in last notch in pic below.


http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=343299

Also, position the movable friction pad on the band toward the front of the bars rather than underneath it. The toggle should be unscrewed most of the way to get it to engage in the slot of the band. Once engaged, it can be screwed in a bit before clamping if need be to reach the desired tension. Below is a pic with it as set after just removing it from 31.8mm bars.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=343300

Thanks. I fiddled around with it a bit, in the ways you suggested, and was able to get it on with a bit of effort. I guess I just wasn't trying hard enough :).

By the way, I have the "MicroBlaze 2W" which appears to be very similar, just in a smaller body (same Cree 2W LED, 2 AA batteries, same mount, etc.). It's rated for 139 vs 146 lumens for the full-sized one, but has longer runtimes in the flashing mode, and is $20 cheaper. The full-sized blaze has some aluminum in the body section, so might be a little more durable though.

Cat Eye has a removable front reflector / white LED same format as the red rear ... rectangular
wide dispersion angle of view

http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...&category=2214

Super flash headlight have a flashing mode , + a steady one .. spot angle

Hub Dynamo , There is a wired Super flash.. No Battery life concerns.
http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...&category=3679