On 4/4/2021 11:58 AM, sms wrote:
On 4/4/2021 7:34 AM, jbeattie wrote:

snip

Personally, I don't care if someone wants more light that a dyno
produces, so long as it is pointed down, and the output is reduced in
shared facilities.Â* Those things are possible but just not practiced.
All cars come with high-beams, and we don't run around ranting about
high beams and how low beams should be enough.Â* Instead, we criticize
people who are constantly running high beams when it is unnecessary --
like in the MV version of a flat bike lane on a well-lighted street
with on-coming traffic.

Some sort of automatic dimming when there are approaching bicycles on a
narrow path would be nice. For wider roads, the cyclists will be toward
the right and if the light is properly aimed it won't be shining in the
eyes of oncoming traffic, whether bicycles or cars.

Except some people now call for bi-directional "cycletracks" at one side
of city streets. In that case, unthinking cyclists with hot, glaring
round beams will blind both oncoming cyclists and motorists.

It's the multi-use paths where I have an issue with dynamo lights. These
paths often have a lot of twists and turns as they navigate between
freeways, across railroad tracks, and over waterways. Some of the
overcrossings are not straight ramps but circular ramps. Some turns are
so sharp that they've installed mirrors so you can see oncoming bicycles
and pedestrians. Speeds are slow in many instances and the dynamo output
is too low for night riding on these paths.

My LED dyno lights give sufficient illumination down below walking
speed. If yours don't, you must be still using a halogen headlamp. (If
not, please tell us what you are using.)

Regarding tight turns in the dark: It's a minor problem, not a large or
difficult one. Dyno driven LEDs have plenty of excess lumens now.
Fancier optics and/or one or two side-firing LEDs could cure that
problem immediately.

The fact that this hasn't been done may indicate how few customers are
bothered by it.


--
- Frank Krygowski