Lights?
 

Hello, I like to bike at night, and I wear a white jacket and have a Blackburn blinkie on the back of my messenger bag. I would like to get a inexpensive front light, that has easy change from bike to bike capability, and tips for riding at night. BTW, I wear a helmet.

Try the Electronics, Lighting, and Gadgets Forum. You can buy commercial headlights for from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. Price affects power, endurance, beam pattern, style, ease of use . . .. Or make your own from a mini-Mag light taped to the handle bars through LED displays to 100 watt monsters. Your white jackets is one of the most cost-effective things you can do. Your blinkie tail-light may be street legal but also may not have the power to reach out and grab the motorists' attention. Dinotte and others make good tail-lights. I use a $10 strobe light.

Those highway worker vests will help you become a lot more visible at night. You can get one for around $20, give or take.

For a front light, go bright. You need to see and be seen. I've got a light from Nite Rider which cost me about $65 Canadian a couple of years back. It has one-watt and 10-watt settings. The 10-watt setting makes me stand out at night. The one-watt setting is okay when it's getting dark but there's still some light in the sky. If I ever choose to replace my front light, I'll go with something brighter, even if that means I have to build my own.

I just use a 1 watt LED headlight at night. A good one costs about $30 - $40. they run off AA batteries, in fact some fairly bright ones run AAAs. Throw a LED red blinkie on the back. These are "be-seen" lights--good for street-lit areas, but too dim to light up a dark road or trail.

I do have some tips for riding at night. For one thing, be very alert. I especially watch out for cars turning onto my road from a cross street or driveway. Lights, and especially reflectors, are most visible to drivers who are directly in their beams, not off to your side.

I ride further to the left (toward the center of the road) at night to make myself more visible. Riding toward the center also might give you more time/space to react to a car pulling out in front of you. I would avoid riding on sidewalks at night, as it seems that drivers would have more trouble seeing you there.

Watch for debris in the road, and slow down some if you don't have good illumination. I had a very serious fall when I ran over some bolts that somebody had dropped on the pavement. You might want to stick to familiar routes while you're first learning to ride at night.

This Electronics, Lighting, and Gadgets forum has a sticky called "Total Geekiness". Last time I looked, it has about 75 pages of great ideas for inexpensive lights. I built an inexpensive lighting system last year from specs I found there. It includes the xeonon strobe taillight you mention. This is one seriously bright flashing amber 1.8 watt bulb. The headlight is a 20 watt MRI halogen bulb. Downside is the battery which weighs 3 pounds.

Here's the taillight
http://www.allelectronics.com/images.../STROBE-3A.jpg

I've had a multi-function front light from Bell, an el cheapo, that's somehow survived a year in Alaska and multiple falls. It's plenty bright and has blinking LED. For extra light I've been using a headlamp with an insulated btty pack. I'll probably be upgrading from the Bell shortly, but it's a good light.

#1 tip for riding at night: THEY DO NOT SEE YOU. It doesn't matter how many lights you have or even if you've got sparklers and are shooting Roman candles from your handlebars OR even if they actually look at you.

Come to think of it, that would be my #1 tip for riding during the day, too.

What lights to get? Well, maybe the only specific feature that would actually be important to you would be a quick-release clamp. Most lights can be unclipped from their mounts in less than a second, but not all of their mounts are as easy to take off of the bike. Besides that, almost any light you'll find these days will be reasonably bright and weatherproof.

I'd rethink the white jacket, honestly. Even though white is bright, it doesn't stand out as much as you'd think -- it's a bland, background sort of color. Studies of automotive colors & safety often show that white isn't as safe (especially if there's snow around) as reds or yellows.

If you add reflective gear, consider using it to emphasize moving parts of yourself and of the bike. That way, other vehicles will notice that you're more than just a light bulb.

Great, not expensive front setup: Fenix 2xaa light + rechargeables. Simple, durable, bullet-proof, eco-friendly, light.

https://www.fenix-store.com/product_...51312672a9dabb

cheers

I know that riding at night might be riskier than daytime riding, but you can make yourself seen if you ride visibly, toward the center of a traffic lane or road, out where drivers are looking for vehicles to be. IMO, the worst place to be at night is exactly where I see most riders-- on the sidewalk, in dark clothing with no lights or even reflectors.

I notice this much too often. Some cyclists think because they can see, they can also be seen, so they don't bother with reflectors, lights or any other safety measures at night. This results in an accident waiting to happen.

For riding after dark, I use a fairly bright headlight and a bright flashing tail light. I also wear a reflective vest. This helps make me stand out just a little more, but I'm also considering whether to go even brighter for the winter.

I have to emphasize the importance of a good front light.

While driving home this evening, I saw a cyclist turning onto the street ahead of me -- good distance, nothing to worry about, and had a rear blinking light.

I passed him about a block later, and once I did, I realized that I could hardly tell where he was, especially since I had flipped my rear view mirror to night mode. All I saw behind me was the headlights of the SUV; I had no idea whether it was yet safe for me to move over again.

As it turns out, I didn't cut him off -- I had given him plenty of space. But, if the cyclist had a good headlight, I wouldn't have had to worry so much.

i have a similar light to the fenix P1D...got it at the auto part store for $2.50...the mount is a plastic reflector mount (got mine from a kids bike) ...took off the reflector and used zip ties to attach it to the mount....very sturdy and very cheap

In the suburbs around here there is a subpopulation of bikers who ride with extremely bright lights on their helmets and insist on shining them into the eyes of oncoming bikers on the multi use paths. When I used to go spelunking, we had a rule not to shine our helmet lights into each others eyes. It isn't that hard to be considerate of other cyclists. Not many city riders do this, it seems to be a suburban cycle commuter thing. I've learned to ride and hold a hand up to block their lights, but still don't think it is safe.

Lately, on gloomy winter mornings I've been keeping my lights on. I'm not sure it contributes much to my visibility. My lights are generator lights. What do you car people think? Do you see me better with my LED rear and generator front or is it a waste of my energy to push the generator?

I'll try to locate a pair of threads discussing this stuff lately.

One of them dealt with the cheap cost of the 3W Luxeon LED's. Anywhere from roughly 15-25 bucks depending where you get em. Some choices are Costco, WalMart, and Target.

Hmmm, not sure how you can compare it to a Fenix P1D - the Fenix is a state of the art light with a fancy CREE emitter, 135 lumens off of one cr123a battery...

https://www.fenix-store.com/product_...2d3786cdd963f8

Check two posts back ;) :
http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...4&postcount=11

If I'm in my car and checking for cross traffic, I'm much more likely to notice a cyclist with a front light. If I'm driving in the same direction as a cyclist, pass him, then check my mirrors to see if he's back far enough for me to have room to scoot back into the lane, I can spot him much easier if he's got a light, particularly anytime between evening & morning twilight (basically, any time that other cars also have their lights on).

I don't want to drive out in front of a bike, and I don't want to cut them off, either. Bike lights make it much easier to manage.