On Friday, August 29, 2014 7:51:05 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 8/29/2014 7:01 PM, Joerg wrote:
Frank Krygowski wrote:
The problem is that (at least in the U.S.) few people ride at night.
People think it's hideously dangerous. And of course they all have
cars. So the market is small.
And most of those who do ride at night tend to do it pretty rarely, only
in near-ideal conditions, because they're doing it only for fun. So
they tend to be pretty easy on their equipment. If it lasts only 50
hours, they'll get perhaps ten years use out of it.
That is because hardly anyone commutes anymore which is sad.
Oh, but that's not true! Everyone knows that bike use is surging! Why,
as this article states,
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slate...t_popular.html
"Bicycle Commuting Rates Rocket From 0.5 Percent to 0.6 Percent in Only
32 Years!"
According to the League of American Bicyclist's usual modus operandi,
that should be trumpeted as a 20% increase!!! ;-)
Serious
commuting means including winter and then one or both trips will require
lights. So 50 hours would be gone in a month or two. I run through
batteries as if it was popcorn. Environmentally not so cool. Luckily the
front one on the MTB is Li-Ion but one of them already starts to fade.
Yep. Another couple reasons to love generators or dynamos. They last
damned near forever, and low temperatures don't bother them.
Also, regarding one of your specific complaints, most people don't see a
need to run wires from a central battery to a taillight. AA or AAA
batteries in taillights last a long, long time and are easy to buy and
change.
You cannot get any serious light out of AAA and that's all you normally
find. A 2W LED will suck AAA dry in very few hours.
Do you really need 2 Watts into a rear red LED? Even bog standard red
LEDs are pretty efficient, in terms of lumens per watt. And since
you're moving with traffic, motorists generally have plenty of time to
spot you.
Everyone else has heard this from me before, but: I heartily recommend
enlisting a helper, and observing your bike and it's nighttime equipment
in your normal traffic conditions. Have your helper ride the bike, and
drive past him from various directions.
I've done this every once in a while since about 1978 or so. (Actually,
in '78, I did the riding, my wife did the driving, and my son did the
note taking.) I've also done it several times with bike club members, a
couple times as a formal "night lighting workshop."
I mention this because people have invariably learned that it doesn't
require huge outputs of dollars or lumens to make a cyclist very
conspicuous at night. Except for my now modern headlights, most of my
night equipment is very ordinary, and there have been many times (at
least six) that I've gotten spontaneous compliments from motorists,
pedestrians, and other cyclists on how well my lights and reflectors
show up. (And don't forget, reflectors and reflective tape can work very
well - especially low on the bike, and on moving parts.)
You should try testing your bike's lights that way. It may give you
peace of mind.
--
- Frank Krygowski
Joerg has often lamented tthe breakages of lights he's tried. In the severely rough usage he subjects them to I think and exposed wire from a dynamo would be very quickly snagged and broken or ripped out of the hunit or dynamo.
Many AA or AAA tail lights are quite bright especially on trails and some are too bright for a following rider.
I bought two very bright high-beam type headlights. I wanted an extra battery for my long overnight rides. I use one of the lights in conjunction withmy Cygo Lite Rover II light.
One of the high-beam type headlights developed a break in the cable where it plugs into the battery. After repairing the cable the light only operates in the blinking mode. Ah well all is not lost since i painted the lense amber and mounted it as a rear light Quite bright, blinking and amber = something motorists know should be avoided by them. A cheap red reflector on the rear of the seat post makes the bike night legal under Ontario, Canada law.
Cheers