Found this kayak light when I was browsing. It'd be cool if there is something similar to this for bike :)


http://www.amazon.com/Aqua-Signal-Po...k+safety+light

NiteRider 750 looks great, but the price is high ($99). What about the following head light? Do you guys think it's good enough? Thanks - Tom

http://www.amazon.com/Brightest-Bike...ike+head+light


[QUOTE=Hypno Toad;18193869]

Found another light which might be comparable to NightRider 750 but much cheaper. What do you guys think? - Tom

http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Eyes-Re...0_SR160%2C160_

[QUOTE=tommyx;18199126]NiteRider 750 looks great, but the price is high ($99). What about the following head light? Do you guys think it's good enough? Thanks - Tom

http://www.amazon.com/Brightest-Bike...ike+head+light

IMO the higher priced lights have advantages. For me, my LBS sells NiteRider, so I got a better price and if anything goes wrong the shop will support me. I'm sure the lower priced Amazon lights are fine. Just have a good bright light, that's what is important.

Just biked through the rain in the morning commute. Dressed in a light nylon camping shirt loosely buttoned, a plastic garbage bag and a reflector vest. I don't like wearing my rain jacket because it gets too hot and sweaty inside. Bread bags around my running shoes secured with my regular reflecto straps. Very light fabric baseball cap with visor to keep the rain from my glasses.

All my lights turned on.

This evening's commute ride left me the most drenched yet. Rain was heavy enough that my quick-dry attire wasn't quick-drying, lol. I suspect if the temps were closer to 90 F like it was this summer, I'd be telling a different story, but at around low 70s F the heat from my body wasn't enough.

Next time I suspect it's going to rain like this, I'll probably wear the winter helmet instead, as it comes with a visor. I don't mind being soaking wet when it's 70 F but if it's down to the 40s I'm going to ride in my waterproof Vasque hiking boots instead, with the water resistant pants on top.

For the winter rains, I get covered with waterproof stuff.

Well... I have a waterproof snowboard helmet. Nice for the mid 30's to the low 40's, otherwise it is just too HOT :P My head seems to drench itself anyway, whether or not it is raining :P

Waterproof biking shoes are NICE. Shimano may concentrate on waterproof SPD style shoes, but other brands including Specialized have essentially the same shoe/boots with both 2 and 3 bolt cleats.

The chinese led magicshine clone lights are pretty good for the money. Amazon.com : RioRand 4 Mode 1200 Lumen CREE XML T6 Bulb LED Bicycle bike HeadLight Lamp Flashlight Light Headlamp : Sports & Outdoors

As it turned out, we had over 2" of rainfall last night. No wonder my clothes and shoes were so saturated.

I don't know if there's any handlebar tape known to man that won't get slick with that much relentless rainfall. I probably should have worn gloves - or not?

The MKS Lambda pedals also got a bit slippery but my shoes did not slide off. I did avoid high cadence and coasted in platform (3 o'clock + 9 o'clock pedals) a lot.

Put a powerful strobe on front and back for visibility. A flag won't show in the rain.
Depending on how far you have to ride, a poncho like shown *might* work if it were heavy enough. The $5 one will shred in short order. Or just use a full rain suit.
You should already know, get fenders.
KHS RC1620 is technically a semi-recumbent because it has a more-or-less vertical seatpost, and a saddle.

Hey thanks for the answer on the flags... my hub rides with one like that and it disappears. He's on a recumbent, making it even worse.

As for rain and visibility, I just received my Solas 40 rear light and man is it bright. So worth it! I have a cateye on the front. Both are usb rechargeable, which is necessary. The batteries for older lights were completely unpredictable. This Solas 40 actually has a light that indicates when you need to recharge the battery. How cool is that?

Also -- the neon yellow jackets are by far the most visible on the road. You can find a wide variety, some with reflective tape. My new one has a velcro attachment for a hood, but did not come with a hood.
There are a lot of ways to cover your head to protect from the wet, and you want to be sure your peripheral vision and your hearing are not impaired. My headgear is a helmet cover with reflective piping. I found that the bacalava wasn't good because it covered my ears, making it harder to sense when car was approaching.

Get ready for rain..this winter is gonna be wild. :) Nancy in Seattle

Went for the test ride yesterday with the Vasque + water resistant pants + Pearl Izumi jacket combo, . The rainfall was more like a mist than the 2" downpour that soaked my skateboarding shoes. But it was a good preview of what to expect. Climbing the Telegraph-Eisenhower overpass my initial thought was "this isn't working". The Vasques felt slippery on the pedals and this contributed to my tentative pedaling on that initial climb. OTOH, the big surface area of the pedals helped keep the Vasques from slipping off entirely, as long as I avoided high-cadence spinning. After about 40 min. of riding, I felt more comfortable pedaling with the Vasques and finished with a good climb up the hill to my house, which is steeper than the overpass, using a more horizontal torso posture.

I'm going to start saving up for a pair of Chrome Storm waterproof boots - probably a better overall solution for riding in both rain and fall (and colder) weather.

I took the shade visors off of my helmets (are you talking about the top visor, or goggle visors?)

I noticed that the shade visors were obscuring my vision while riding in the drops... so they were removed.

I haven't been on any double-century rides, or very wet rides since removing the visors, but vision is important.

I do wear glasses which helps keep some of the rain out of the eyes.

My Bern Brentwood came with a summer liner and flip visor:

http://urbanvelo.org/wordpress/wp-co...ernjeffg01.jpg

The winter liner also has a visor. I don't have the winter liner yet so I don't know if it can be flipped out of the way like the summer one.

My Rudy Project Rydons do a good job of keeping rain out of my eyes, but it wouldn't hurt to reduce the amount of water getting onto them. I just ordered a cycling cap to wear under my summer helmet when it rains. I got the idea of wearing a visor in the rain from these very bikeforums - so it's not just me.

The visor may help some with the rain.

I just noticed that when riding in the drops (especially with my bike with the low bars), that my neck just doesn't bend enough to put the eyes level. So, I'm essentially looking up all the time, and I was seeing the last inch or so of the visor.

I could still look ahead, but it was less comfortable to get the full field of view for safe riding.

Perhaps an alternative would be to find the point where it enters my field of view, and just shorten it.

I ride a hybrid w/ trekking bar, so I don't think I lower my torso as much as someone riding in the drops. I did however angle my torso fairly close to horizontal when I ran into some headwind. I don't think I look up as much.

I forgot to mention that cycling gloves improved my grip considerably on those wet Lizard Skins taped bars. However, I also lost the ability to use my "palm pivot" technique to quickly switch between the side grips and the front grips on the trekking bar to quickly access the brake levers, shifter, and bell.

Are there any tires designed for wet road? I couldn't help riding my bike last Saturday right after the rain stopped and crashed at a corner when making a right turn :( I felt the tire(s) slipped before the bike crashed.

Actually the more tread pattern the less rubber you have for traction .. bike tire contact patch is too small to hydroplane ..

steel plates and paint on the pavement require you to be aware that they are slick..

and rain right after a long dry period the streets will be slick from motor oil leaks ..

Want to get a Trike ? , 3rd wheel will offer stability..

I have no problem crashing with my wide and cushy tires - no rain needed! ;) It's usually when I make too sharp of a certain, at a certain speed or higher. Doing said turn on sand or gravel increases the odds significantly.

Everyone saids rim brakes like mine don't work in rain, so the fear of not being able to stop usually prevents me from going fast in the rain, and thus prevents me from crashing due to bad turns. Turns out my brakes work just fine in the wet, btw, but no reason to push it.

I see your flag but... But a flag often blows fore and aft whilst the bicycle is in motion and thus is invisible to folwing vehicles. How about a large Slow moving Vehicle triangle behind your seat?

On an upright bicycle full fenders couples with mudflaps really cut down the wheel thrown spray especially in standing water or heavy rain.

One thing about super bright lights especially strobes is that they can temporarily blind other bicyclist or motorists. this is moreso the darker and the less ambient light there is. I've had numerous times on dark/poorly lighted roads where an aproaching bicyclist with a very bright light (especially one on strobe mode) blinded me to the point where I had to slam on the brakes of my bicycle because I could no longer even see where the road was.

Cheers

Thx for the input! Just order this,

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006IW554/...I1LC9S3M87HPVJ

Plan to put it at the back of the seat.

Tom