Helmet lights

Last night I cleaned my bike, and so took off the light and the
cyclocomputer. I forgot to put them back on, such that I rode into work
without a headlight. Not wanting to ride home entirely with only my rear
blinkies, I put a flashlight on my helmet with strapping tape, which I
thought was pretty resourceful of me.

I was wondering how people do it who regularly only use helmet lights. It
seemed like I only illuminated the road when I was in the drops. When I was
on the tops or the hoods, I felt like I was visible to cars, but the light
wasn't aimed at the road at all. I can imagine having a helmet light as a
supplement, but as one's only front headlight, it seemed inadequate.

Comments?

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato and .net for .com

Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm

Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at:
http://bookcrossing.com/friend/Cpetersky

In article 2TUwb.232937$ao4.835328@attbi_s51,
"Claire Petersky" writes:
Last night I cleaned my bike, and so took off the light and the
cyclocomputer. I forgot to put them back on, such that I rode into work
without a headlight. Not wanting to ride home entirely with only my rear
blinkies, I put a flashlight on my helmet with strapping tape, which I
thought was pretty resourceful of me.

It was resourceful of you. You did yourself proud. Your approach
is reminiscent of the "No Excuse Headlight" described at:
http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/chapter8a.htm

I was wondering how people do it who regularly only use helmet lights. It
seemed like I only illuminated the road when I was in the drops. When I was
on the tops or the hoods, I felt like I was visible to cars, but the light
wasn't aimed at the road at all. I can imagine having a helmet light as a
supplement, but as one's only front headlight, it seemed inadequate.

Comments?

I guess store-bought helmet lights are more swivelably aimable
than a taped-on dofernow.

But I figure the mounting height of a headlight is critical for
illuminating the road. I think even most handlebar-mounted lights
are typically too high up for casting enough shadow to see in 3-D.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"Tom Keats" wrote in message
...

In article 2TUwb.232937$ao4.835328@attbi_s51,

"Claire Petersky" writes:

Last night I cleaned my bike, and so took off the light and the
cyclocomputer. I forgot to put them back on, such that I rode into work
without a headlight. Not wanting to ride home entirely with only my rear
blinkies, I put a flashlight on my helmet with strapping tape, which I
thought was pretty resourceful of me.

It was resourceful of you. You did yourself proud. Your approach
is reminiscent of the "No Excuse Headlight" described at:
http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/chapter8a.htm

I was wondering how people do it who regularly only use helmet lights. It
seemed like I only illuminated the road when I was in the drops. When I was
on the tops or the hoods, I felt like I was visible to cars, but the light
wasn't aimed at the road at all. I can imagine having a helmet light as a
supplement, but as one's only front headlight, it seemed inadequate.

Comments?

I guess store-bought helmet lights are more swivelably aimable
than a taped-on dofernow.

Yup. And some are more swivelly than others. My Sunsport is brilliant --
easily aimable, but it holds its aim too. I can reach up and tweak it at any
time. I think this is very important for a helmet light, especially one with a
narrow beam. Some are only adjustable via a ratchet-type thing, which is not
convenient or fine grained enough -- practically useless.

Also, helmet lights have grown popular with mountain bikers, who tend to ride in
one position, not two or three. The Sunsport works fine for me without having
to re-aim for the tops or the drops, but this may depend on your personal riding
position(s).

But I figure the mounting height of a headlight is critical for
illuminating the road. I think even most handlebar-mounted lights
are typically too high up for casting enough shadow to see in 3-D.

The handlebar vs. helmet light issue gets debated to death in MTB circles, with
some people convinced they need at least one of each at all times. I do have
one of each, and I can choose freely between them. It doesn't make a whit of
difference, as long as there are enough watts aimed in the right place.

I can imagine having a helmet light as a
supplement, but as one's only front headlight, it seemed inadequate.

For me, a good helmet light is plenty to see by, in fact I prefer it. However,
I think a handlebar light is necessary for riding in traffic, to present the
"light signature" of a bicycle. It's also legally required in many states.
Mostly, I use a Sunsport on the helmet, and a Cateye Micro on the handlebars.
The Sunsport is to see by, the Cateye is to be seen, and be legal.

Matt O.

As this being my first year commuting in the dark I didnt have a
handlebar mounted light to start off, so when night started creeping
in I just resorted to my backpacking headlamps and they worked fine,
but not enough to see the road in front of me. That wasn't a concern
though as I have a fairly well-lit urban route. When I finally made a
purchase of a Cateye EL-300 and used it soley, I noticed a huge
difference, mainly I didn't feel confident in being able to get
drivers attention as I could by swiveling my head with a headlamp. I
think I like having both!



--
--------------------------
Posted via cyclingforums.com
http://www.cyclingforums.com

franklen wrote:
: purchase of a Cateye EL-300 and used it soley, I noticed a huge
: difference, mainly I didn't feel confident in being able to get
: drivers attention as I could by swiveling my head with a headlamp. I
: think I like having both!

Dual lights seem attractive because of the overkill and the
redundancy.

Remember the same for rear lights and don't forget about
reflectors just to be on the safe side. Sometimes I encountered
people riding completely without lights and it was the reflectors
in their pedals which really helped me to see them.

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi