But it seems like from this quote that you think reflectivity, or passive is superior to active lighting and it's not, not even close. Instead of putting anymore effort into reflectors I would put more into lighting. All you need to add is a helmet light and bar end lights. These are great bar end lights: http://store.somafab.com/soroflbarend.html Helmet light? Just find one at an LBS that comes with a helmet mount feature which is usually just a velcro strap. I was able to take a Cateye LD600 and zip tie it to the helmet and it appears I can do the same with my Blackburn Mars4 and neither light came with a velcro strap to strap it a helmet. I like both those tail lights because both have really good side illumination especially if the Cateye is mounted vertically.

For the sake of simplicity and optimum inconvenience/performance point of view, how about a mix of active & passive lighting? E.g. a very intense, pulsing LED with very low duty cycle (on/off ratio), coupled with abundance of reflectors, particularly on moving parts such as pedals, cranks, ankle straps, wheels, tip of "safety sticks" etc.

Intense light pulses would catch a driver's attention early and the reflectors would keep it there. Also, it wouldn't be much irritating to the eye, as there would be just one pulsing light or two (front and back). Easier to maintain, long run times (due to low duty cycle), decent perceptibility. Seems like a good compromise between cost, convenience and safety.

No, that's not what I'm trying to say. My meaning is that my passive visibility is about as good as it's going to get.

I have additional active lighting on order as of noon yesterday.

.....and for the single guys, the 300 ft method is a good one too. If one can light up a reflective sign 300 ft down the road at night, that's an indicator in that the odds are good that one is going to be seen by other road users.

I think you'll find a PBSF (or something similar) or two will get you through just about any rando event. reflective tape for the bike is not neccessary. fenders aren't required.

Only a small part of my daily commute has sight lines of half a mile. Frankly, on roads that straight, I'd be satisfied with a single tail light plus reflectors, since motorists have so much time to spot and avoid me.

I'm much more concerned with motorists who have only a few hundred feet to see and avoid me, either those turning in behind me at intersections or on winding roads. They don't have much time to accurately identify my position, heading, and speed. I want both blinking for conspicuity and steady for tracking.

Well, I bought one, and it's probably the hardest power switch I've had on any of my bike lights. I have to take my gloves off to turn it on or off, and even then I have to press it just right. I wouldn't buy it again.

Which Cygolite did you buy? Funny thing about the using gloves, any tail light I have ever bought had a difficult time turning on and off with full finger gloves. No headlight though has ever been a problem including the Cygolites; the buttons are larger on head lights then tail lights which must be smaller to fit the smaller package. My little BLT helmet light is difficult to to operate the switch with full finger gloves.

I don't fuss over the small things, to be safe you need to stop your bike anyway to turn on and off a tail light, so you have to remove a glove...how sad.

I bought the Cygolite Hotshot 2-Watt USB Rechargeable Taillight. And as I said, even with the gloves off I have a hard time getting it turned on or off sometimes. I have to press the button exactly straight on, which requires me to hold it with my other hand. Not so with my Radbot 1000, I press the button and it works every time.

Even though it claims 2 watt, I don't see a difference between it and my Radbot.

And when it's windy and 10° F outside, the amount of time it takes with my gloves off to turn the light on is enough that my hands probably won't be warm again by the time I get to work.

I find a lot wrong with what your saying. So far the reports have been that everyone has found a huge difference between the Radbot and the Hotshot; see: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...HotShot-Review and: http://www.bikegurus.com/2011/11/rev...e-hotshot.html The HotShot is so bright it's the only light that has compared to the Dinotte. In addition the Radbot is only 1 watt led vs the Hotshot 2 watt led.

And the whining over the button thing is dead, if you need your light on then turn it on inside the house before you take the bike outside to ride in 20 degree weather.

Personally I think you have a hidden agenda against the HotShot and or Cygolite, maybe you work for Portland? If you do then simply up the ante and come out with the Radbot 2000 with a 2 watt LED, or go all out and surpass the Cygolite with a Radbot 3000 with a 3 watt led and a built in recharging system.

Too late! She is all taped up to the gills. It seemed to work on my Sunday ride (90 miles) I was out after dark and everything was avoiding me. That was with one Planet Bike blinky.

I take it PBSF is a Planet Bike Super Flash ?

Plan B then will be a . . .http://www.bikebagshop.com/busch-and...nt-p-1147.html

and a Blackburn mars 4 for on the rack bag https://shop.sunrisecyclery.com/item/40489/

Or something like that

Wow.. just wow. I have no agenda against the Cygolite. I simply thought you might be interested in my feedback since you said you were contemplating one. Apparently, I was wrong.

I also have a Hotshot 2w and will agree that the button is pretty terrible. I have gotten to the point where I can turn it on and off while wearing my lobster gloves, but it's not easy and I had to learn the trick. It's my only complaint with the light besides needing a different mount than my PBSF. However, the light is VERY bright and lasts a long time on a charge. I'd buy it again.

I'm still practicing. I think the combination button makes it a bit harder. Since my bike lives in an unheated garage (and seems to get the wind in the morning), I try to avoid taking off my gloves much below 20°F. I don't know if the switch is fragile or just feels fragile, only time will tell I guess.

I am impressed with the battery capacity. It's been 3 weeks and I charged it because I felt like it should need it. I'd be a little more comfortable if it had a battery indicator or if I could carry a spare battery. It might get dimmer, but I just don't have a feel for how that will look yet. I'm sure this will get better once I get a feel for the light and I might feel comfortable on my morning low traffic rides with just this light.

As it is, I just run a backup in traffic, since either of my lights might have a problem mid-ride. I run 1 blinking and one steady.

This will be my blinking since I accidentally got the 3 mode (instead of the 5 mode) Radbot 1000 last time and the 3 mode doesn't have the nice slow blink that the 5 mode does.

My Fave, Schmidt Dyno hub and wired tail lights, German also, so they don't blink.
you might add some battery backups, + maybe a Headlight on a headband,
to fix things that might break in the night, like punctures..

I looked into dyno hubs.. unfortunately I couldn't justify the cost on my winter beater. I do have a helmet light.

There are lesser-cost hubs from like shimano..
as well then a cheaper wheel, built in a machine, around them.
Planet Bike has a wired to the hub , LED handlebar light that is cheap too.

$40 usd for a Sanyo hub. I have one laying on my work bench waiting to get laced into a wheel. The rim and spokes are going to add another $47 to the price. So for under a c-note I have permanent power. I could have reused the old rim and saved $30 or so, but the old rim is showing it's age and the brake tracks are getting concave...

Aaron :)

That's not bad. How do they hold up to salt? I'm just really cheap when it comes to bikes, especially ones that will get trashed from salt.

Most of my winter bikes have less than $20 in them, unless it's something transferable, like fenders and lights. I hadn't considered the idea of re-using the hub on subsequent bikes and just buying new spokes.

Although I'd have to try my hand at wheel building to keep the cost down. I'm assuming they aren't the same size as my existing front hub, so I can't re-use spokes (yea, I realize I shouldn't anyway).

Dunno about the salt aspect of it, but at $40 it is almost disposable. The only salt I see is when I go to the beach in the summer :D, they do "pre-treat" roads around here with brine, but that means I don't ride for a couple of days. Nothing against the road conditions, just the road users. :eek:

I know of at least one person using it on a commuter and another for rando use. Both of them like the hub and have no complaints. My intended use is on a tour bike as a power supply for electronics.

Aaron :)

Well, if it holds up for the life of the bike (2 -3 years with little cleaning), then yes it probably could be disposable. I don't know enough to know if they change connections for the lights or not (since the lights are the expensive part it seems). If they don't, then it could work. Although the front wheel seems to have relatively little abuse in the winter, so assuming I stick with a 26" wheel, I could just move it between bikes as they get replaced.

All lights I have dealt with come with a pigtail and/or slip connector. Then you run a two strand wire down to the dyno hub plug. I use wire from old electronics chargers, it is already color coded and FREE! :D On a couple of bikes I added water resistant quick disconnects up near the light.

Aaron :)

I guess that makes this something to look into. Although I might try it on my summer bike this year, since I'll either have to buy more batteries or a dyno hub.

Don't remember the last time I bought batteries for lights. I went dyno (hub, bottle and BB) a few years back, best thing I have EVER done. Current crop of bikes with lights is around 12. I use everything from a 1956 Sturmey Archer Dynohub pushing an OEM incandescent that would be outdone by a large firefly, all the way up to a brand new Sturmey Archer XL-FDD that is pushing the newest Lumotec Cyo from B&M, but may get replaced with the new Phillips 60 lux

My Planet Bike Super Flashes are the only battery powered lights I have left. I haven't had to replace any batteries in them yet. If and when I do, I will steal the ones out of the TV remote and let my wife worry about it...:innocent: ;)

Aaron :)