How much are cyclists prepared to invest in lights ?

[dlx1]

^

Shame it don't flash tho

 

[plurker]

I worry that this would dazzle drivers in their rear-view mirror tbh

 

[gentlegreen]

I worry that this would dazzle drivers in their rear-view mirror tbh

I know what you mean.

I'm working on alternatives for cyclepaths, perhaps I'll do something for when I'm sitting in a queue of traffic.

Thinking about it, I may just add a dimmer switch ...

 

[gentlegreen]

^

Shame it don't flash tho

My front one does now - but only as a warning :-

The "horn" button is very sensitive - operates the front lights through relays .. I've started making a flasher that will cut in if you push and hold the button for more than a second or two.

 

[Cloud]

Very little...

I ride on footpath where I live as they are empty at night and lights would give me away.

Rather than the high viz approach I take the stealth approach and no I dont ever have a problem with running over pedestrians.

 

[Wolveryeti]

I personally think the way forward is lights you can attach to yourself. I ride with a head-mounted miner-style lamp with a scavenged clip-on rear light that I've sellotaped to the back. Piece of piss to put on and take off, but you can't really wear a helmet with it, which might put some people off. Some people also laugh at you, but to be fair I've had a lot of positive comments as well.

I reckon they should invent something that you could mount on your shoulder.

 

[gentlegreen]

We need to separate "being seen" and "seeing where you're going", and different sorts of situation.

The problem I witness daily - apart from inadequate or poorly-aimed lights, is people using the one sort of light for varied conditions during the course of their ride - ie. riding a mile or two on a cycle path after a short distance in traffic without re-aiming or switching lights.

Flashing high power front lamps are my daily bug-bear - the weirdest of all being ones that are actually aimed at the ground which would actually be pretty useful if the rider just put them on continuous - I'm guessing it's a battery issue. ? They would drive me mad if I was trying to see where I was going.
The ones aimed at my eyes, make me want to kill.

Flashing lights - especially front ones are usually just a poor substitute for size and power.

I suppose mauvais's high power lamps aimed at the road and thus giving a sizeable area of light to be seen by cars from medium distances are a decent compromise if you only want to carry a couple of physically small lights and most of your riding is off-road.

Personally, having started my two-wheel "career" on motorcycles over 30 years ago, and also having experience of driving, I have never found any single shop-bought bicycle light adequate for all circumstances.

 

[Kanda]

You can't really tell from these but I'd hazard a guess that that's comparable to my lot.

Here's someone else's pictures of the Dinotte rear light:

Following you would be like following someone with their foglights on when there was no fog wouldn't it???

 

[mauvais]

Following you would be like following someone with their foglights on when there was no fog wouldn't it???

A bit, except that it's pointing down. Plus you're not stuck behind bikes for very long, unless you're on one, in which case put some effort in and overtake

In seriousness I have had to spent a bit of time walking a long way back up the road to understand whether they're blinding or not.

Even so I think both of these are visible from half a mile away in good conditions. They have different power settings - I think those photos are high - and I ride with them on in the day too.