On Sunday, February 11, 2018 at 7:55:43 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-02-10 18:25, John B. wrote:
On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 19:25:57 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:
On 2/10/2018 4:03 PM, Joerg wrote:
Everyone installing a high-powered LED light on a bicycle, front or
rear, should walk towards their lit bike during daylight and then again
at night. If the light is annoying, do something about it.
I agree with this.
But I'd add, before buying high powered LED lights, check out any more
ordinary lights you have in a similar way. Have a friend ride your bike
as you observe. I've done this many times with friends.
Contrary to current myths, you do not need super-powerful lights to be
plenty visible. Any headlight that shows the road sufficiently will be
perfectly visible to motorists, and taillights need far, far less power
to make you safe.
I had plenty of opportunity to compare StVZO tail lights versus the over
there "illegal" lights such as PDW DangerZone or Radbot. HUGE difference
in visibility. This was as a motorist in Germany. Since I am also a
cyclist I paid particular attention to bicycle equipment because I
wanted to know. I also wanted to see if the purchase of some lights from
there would make sense since those wouldn't need electronics up front to
connect to the 8.4VDC power bus on my bicycles. My conclusion was that
it does not.
Where is "there"? Are you saying that the PDW light was no good and you need a 8.4VDC tail light?
At night, a watt or two is very conspicuous -- except in heavy rainstorms. The most conspicuous light I've every seen was this:
https://tinyurl.com/yb5z9ep5 (minus the "beacon lights"). A woman with that jacket was riding east-west, and I was at a stop on a north-south street, and when my light hit her, I was practically blinded -- and it was only a 5-600 lumen light.
If you are really concerned about being seen, you should use high-viz and reflectors, but I know that interferes with your super-gnarly cotton outfits. During the day, I always see the high-viz before the lights.
-- Jay Beattie.