Bicycling by candlelight?

When the weather gets better - soon, I hope - I'm interested in
attempted some night rides by candlelight.

I found these candle lanterns [http://www.candles4less.com/
candleholders/Candle-Lantern] that I could probably rig up to work on
my bike.

Has anybody done something similar? Do you have any recommendations?

Thanks,
Cullen
Appleton, WI

Cully J wrote:
When the weather gets better - soon, I hope - I'm interested in
attempted some night rides by candlelight.

I found these candle lanterns [http://www.candles4less.com/
candleholders/Candle-Lantern] that I could probably rig up to work on
my bike.

Has anybody done something similar? Do you have any recommendations?

If you have an Ikea near you, they sell candle lanterns very inexpensively.

You can see them at "http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=lantern"
but they don't sell them online. I got a couple last month, and they
were even cheaper than what's shown on the web site because they were on
sale.

On Feb 24, 10:01*am, Cully J wrote:
When the weather gets better - soon, I hope - I'm interested in
attempted some night rides by candlelight.

I found these candle lanterns [http://www.candles4less.com/
candleholders/Candle-Lantern] that I could probably rig up to work on
my bike.

Has anybody done something similar? Do you have any recommendations?

My troll meter is twitching wildly.

It's a bad idea. I bought a nice antique bike headlight once, to set
on the living room mantlepiece just because I thought it was pretty.
(My wife seems to disagree. She moved it into storage one day. Our
current compromise is a shelf in our family room.)

Anyway, for fun I took it on a ride one night, just on our deserted
neighborhood streets. It was useless for showing me the road. And
that's despite a much bigger flame than a candle, a crude reflector
behind that flame, and a lens in front of it.

I don't see how anyone ever rode by the light of those things.
Perhaps they functioned only to warn others of the bike's presence,
when riding on a moonlit night. Of course, the night was a lot darker
then.

- Frank Krygowski

Jobst Brandt wrote:
Cully J Carter wrote:

When the weather gets better - soon, I hope - I'm interested in
attempted some night rides by candlelight.

I found these candle lanterns [http://www.candles4less.com/
candle-holders/Candle-Lantern] that I could probably rig up to work
on my bike.

Has anybody done something similar? Do you have any recommendations?

That reminds me of a full moon group ride up Mt. Tamalpais, that
scenic mountain north of the Golden Gate. We parked on the SF side of
the bridge, rode across to the bike path from Sausalito to Mill Valley
(old Northwestern Pacific RR grade) and got on the ROW of the former
Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Scenic RR that is passable by bicycle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_T..._Woods_Railway

Although full moon, it was a warm evening and climbing worked up a
sweat. As we got farther up, one of the fast guys got a pinch flat in
his tubular so I suggested he change it now rather than damage the
rim. The moonlight being bright, he said he wanted to do that in the
shade in Fern Canyon farther up, as though the "sun light" was too
hot.

Just the same, we all got to the top where there is a grand view of SF
and the bay when it isn't foggy:

http://webmarin.com/

Realizing the hazards of descending back down the RR we chose paved
Panoramic Highway that revealed its own hazards. As the road curves
in and out of each canyon on the steep hillside, it ducks under small
forests where only the white center stripe on the road (they were
white rather than yellow then) gave an indication on where to ride.

However, on two occasions we heard but didn't see scraping galloping
deer hooves in our midst in the dark. We were damn lucky that no one
crashed. We were young and foolish and would probably have scraped
only a knee or elbow. We decided not to try this again nor advise
others to try it. Visibility is not the same in poor light from the
moon or a candle.

Jobst Brandt


nice webcam link!

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Feb 24, 10:59*am, Frank Krygowski wrote:

My troll meter is twitching wildly.

It's a bad idea. *I bought a nice antique bike headlight once, to set
on the living room mantlepiece just because I thought it was pretty.
(My wife seems to disagree. *She moved it into storage one day. *Our
current compromise is a shelf in our family room.)

Anyway, for fun I took it on a ride one night, just on our deserted
neighborhood streets. It was useless for showing me the road. And
that's despite a much bigger flame than a candle, a crude reflector
behind that flame, and a lens in front of it.

I agree that the candle lanterns pictured would make very poor bike
lights.
But I did use a miner's type carbide lamp for awhile as a bike light
and it worked reasonably well. Much brighter flame than from a candle
and also reasonably well focused with a parabolic reflector behind the
flame. Mine was a rather poor quality model and it had the
interesting characteristic that it would automatically get brighter
when on a worse road surface. The extra vibration would result in
more water dripping into the carbide and releasing additional
acetylene gas. After hitting a few potholes I'd have a 6" flame
shooting out of the lantern.

But I'm much happier with electrically operated LED lights these days,
whether from batteries or dynamos. No need to wait for them to reach
full brightness, no acetylene gas odors, no danger of a sudden gust
blowing out the flame, and far easier and effective regulation of the
brightness.

On Feb 24, 4:30*pm, Peter Rathmann wrote:
On Feb 24, 10:59*am, Frank Krygowski wrote:

My troll meter is twitching wildly.

It's a bad idea. *I bought a nice antique bike headlight once, to set
on the living room mantlepiece just because I thought it was pretty.
(My wife seems to disagree. *She moved it into storage one day. *Our
current compromise is a shelf in our family room.)

Anyway, for fun I took it on a ride one night, just on our deserted
neighborhood streets. It was useless for showing me the road. And
that's despite a much bigger flame than a candle, a crude reflector
behind that flame, and a lens in front of it.

I agree that the candle lanterns pictured would make very poor bike
lights.
But I did use a miner's type carbide lamp for awhile as a bike light
and it worked reasonably well. *Much brighter flame than from a candle
and also reasonably well focused with a parabolic reflector behind the
flame. *Mine was a rather poor quality model and it had the
interesting characteristic that it would automatically get brighter
when on a worse road surface. *The extra vibration would result in
more water dripping into the carbide and releasing additional
acetylene gas. *After hitting a few potholes I'd have a 6" flame
shooting out of the lantern.

But I'm much happier with electrically operated LED lights these days,
whether from batteries or dynamos. *No need to wait for them to reach
full brightness, no acetylene gas odors, no danger of a sudden gust
blowing out the flame, and far easier and effective regulation of the
brightness.

Dear Frank & Peter,

Candle lamps were not successful:

"Despite the advertisement claims of power and reliability, the candle
lamp gave very little light and, as the writer can confirm, is almost
impossible to keep alight even in the lightest of breezes."

http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/candle.asp

But other kinds of early bicycle lamps were so useful that anti-theft
features were mentioned in reviews:

"J. Lucas & Son, Little King Street, Birmingham. The principal lamp
returns to its old name of "The King of the Road." It is made in four
sizes, the smallest being arranged to give as much light as the second-
sized " Holophote " of last year. An important improvement consists in
protecting the ventilation holes by wind shields. The socket is
adjustable with key, which makes the lamp difficult to steal. The
"Kinglet," "Leader," "Captain,''and "Midget" lamps are lower in price
and of good value. The " King of Bells " is known as the "New
Departure" in America, and is probably the nicest-looking bell ever
offered in this country, the dome is clear of nuts, &c., and the
action is smooth. Two circular strikers come in contact, by
centrifugal force, with a projection in the dome when the plate
carrying them is rotated by moving the finger piece. A new oblong
oiler that squirts only a small quantity of oil at a time is
introduced."

--CTC Gazette, January, 1894

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ngg...age&q=&f=false

Small site illustrating early bike lamps:

http://www.mvvcc.org.uk/features/lamps/index.htm

Extensive gorgeous photos of early bike lamps:

http://home.tiscali.nl/antiekefietsverlicht/carbid.html

Excellent and extensive site explaining early bike lamps:

http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/ecl.asp

That site's Lucas page:

http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/microphote.asp

(For other lamps, you go to the gallery, click on a thumbnail, and
wait for a large photo and text.)

Book with ~20 pages of text and illustrations about early cycle
lights:

http://tinyurl.com/yk5pvtu

A post with links to the twin-lamp facile dwarf highwheeler:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...d61543d2c01fca

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

wrote:
On Feb 24, 4:30 pm, Peter Rathmann wrote:
On Feb 24, 10:59 am, Frank Krygowski wrote:

My troll meter is twitching wildly.
It's a bad idea. I bought a nice antique bike headlight once, to set
on the living room mantlepiece just because I thought it was pretty.
(My wife seems to disagree. She moved it into storage one day. Our
current compromise is a shelf in our family room.)
Anyway, for fun I took it on a ride one night, just on our deserted
neighborhood streets. It was useless for showing me the road. And
that's despite a much bigger flame than a candle, a crude reflector
behind that flame, and a lens in front of it.
I agree that the candle lanterns pictured would make very poor bike
lights.
But I did use a miner's type carbide lamp for awhile as a bike light
and it worked reasonably well. Much brighter flame than from a candle
and also reasonably well focused with a parabolic reflector behind the
flame. Mine was a rather poor quality model and it had the
interesting characteristic that it would automatically get brighter
when on a worse road surface. The extra vibration would result in
more water dripping into the carbide and releasing additional
acetylene gas. After hitting a few potholes I'd have a 6" flame
shooting out of the lantern.

But I'm much happier with electrically operated LED lights these days,
whether from batteries or dynamos. No need to wait for them to reach
full brightness, no acetylene gas odors, no danger of a sudden gust
blowing out the flame, and far easier and effective regulation of the
brightness.

Dear Frank & Peter,

Candle lamps were not successful:

"Despite the advertisement claims of power and reliability, the candle
lamp gave very little light and, as the writer can confirm, is almost
impossible to keep alight even in the lightest of breezes."

http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/candle.asp

But other kinds of early bicycle lamps were so useful that anti-theft
features were mentioned in reviews:

"J. Lucas & Son, Little King Street, Birmingham. The principal lamp
returns to its old name of "The King of the Road." It is made in four
sizes, the smallest being arranged to give as much light as the second-
sized " Holophote " of last year. An important improvement consists in
protecting the ventilation holes by wind shields. The socket is
adjustable with key, which makes the lamp difficult to steal. The
"Kinglet," "Leader," "Captain,''and "Midget" lamps are lower in price
and of good value. The " King of Bells " is known as the "New
Departure" in America, and is probably the nicest-looking bell ever
offered in this country, the dome is clear of nuts, &c., and the
action is smooth. Two circular strikers come in contact, by
centrifugal force, with a projection in the dome when the plate
carrying them is rotated by moving the finger piece. A new oblong
oiler that squirts only a small quantity of oil at a time is
introduced."

--CTC Gazette, January, 1894

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ngg...age&q=&f=false

Small site illustrating early bike lamps:

http://www.mvvcc.org.uk/features/lamps/index.htm

Extensive gorgeous photos of early bike lamps:

http://home.tiscali.nl/antiekefietsverlicht/carbid.html

Excellent and extensive site explaining early bike lamps:

http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/ecl.asp

That site's Lucas page:

http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/microphote.asp

(For other lamps, you go to the gallery, click on a thumbnail, and
wait for a large photo and text.)

Book with ~20 pages of text and illustrations about early cycle
lights:

http://tinyurl.com/yk5pvtu

A post with links to the twin-lamp facile dwarf highwheeler:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...d61543d2c01fca

Cheers,

Carl Fogel


Oh, such a terrible era; people so desperate as to be
reduced to stealing Lucas lamps.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:42:09 -0600, AMuzi wrote:

wrote:
On Feb 24, 4:30 pm, Peter Rathmann wrote:
On Feb 24, 10:59 am, Frank Krygowski wrote:

My troll meter is twitching wildly.
It's a bad idea. I bought a nice antique bike headlight once, to set
on the living room mantlepiece just because I thought it was pretty.
(My wife seems to disagree. She moved it into storage one day. Our
current compromise is a shelf in our family room.)
Anyway, for fun I took it on a ride one night, just on our deserted
neighborhood streets. It was useless for showing me the road. And
that's despite a much bigger flame than a candle, a crude reflector
behind that flame, and a lens in front of it.
I agree that the candle lanterns pictured would make very poor bike
lights.
But I did use a miner's type carbide lamp for awhile as a bike light
and it worked reasonably well. Much brighter flame than from a candle
and also reasonably well focused with a parabolic reflector behind the
flame. Mine was a rather poor quality model and it had the
interesting characteristic that it would automatically get brighter
when on a worse road surface. The extra vibration would result in
more water dripping into the carbide and releasing additional
acetylene gas. After hitting a few potholes I'd have a 6" flame
shooting out of the lantern.

But I'm much happier with electrically operated LED lights these days,
whether from batteries or dynamos. No need to wait for them to reach
full brightness, no acetylene gas odors, no danger of a sudden gust
blowing out the flame, and far easier and effective regulation of the
brightness.

Dear Frank & Peter,

Candle lamps were not successful:

"Despite the advertisement claims of power and reliability, the candle
lamp gave very little light and, as the writer can confirm, is almost
impossible to keep alight even in the lightest of breezes."

http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/candle.asp

But other kinds of early bicycle lamps were so useful that anti-theft
features were mentioned in reviews:

"J. Lucas & Son, Little King Street, Birmingham. The principal lamp
returns to its old name of "The King of the Road." It is made in four
sizes, the smallest being arranged to give as much light as the second-
sized " Holophote " of last year. An important improvement consists in
protecting the ventilation holes by wind shields. The socket is
adjustable with key, which makes the lamp difficult to steal. The
"Kinglet," "Leader," "Captain,''and "Midget" lamps are lower in price
and of good value. The " King of Bells " is known as the "New
Departure" in America, and is probably the nicest-looking bell ever
offered in this country, the dome is clear of nuts, &c., and the
action is smooth. Two circular strikers come in contact, by
centrifugal force, with a projection in the dome when the plate
carrying them is rotated by moving the finger piece. A new oblong
oiler that squirts only a small quantity of oil at a time is
introduced."

--CTC Gazette, January, 1894

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ngg...age&q=&f=false

Small site illustrating early bike lamps:

http://www.mvvcc.org.uk/features/lamps/index.htm

Extensive gorgeous photos of early bike lamps:

http://home.tiscali.nl/antiekefietsverlicht/carbid.html

Excellent and extensive site explaining early bike lamps:

http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/ecl.asp

That site's Lucas page:

http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/microphote.asp

(For other lamps, you go to the gallery, click on a thumbnail, and
wait for a large photo and text.)

Book with ~20 pages of text and illustrations about early cycle
lights:

http://tinyurl.com/yk5pvtu

A post with links to the twin-lamp facile dwarf highwheeler:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...d61543d2c01fca

Cheers,

Carl Fogel


Oh, such a terrible era; people so desperate as to be
reduced to stealing Lucas lamps.

Dear Andrew,

Even worse, congressmen secretly cycling on highwheelers by moonlight
down Pennsylvania Avenue to avoid the glare of publicity:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...4bd4c7d9ec463e

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On Feb 24, 5:42*pm, AMuzi wrote:
wrote:
On Feb 24, 4:30 pm, Peter Rathmann wrote:
On Feb 24, 10:59 am, Frank Krygowski wrote:

My troll meter is twitching wildly.
It's a bad idea. *I bought a nice antique bike headlight once, to set
on the living room mantlepiece just because I thought it was pretty.
(My wife seems to disagree. *She moved it into storage one day. *Our
current compromise is a shelf in our family room.)
Anyway, for fun I took it on a ride one night, just on our deserted
neighborhood streets. It was useless for showing me the road. And
that's despite a much bigger flame than a candle, a crude reflector
behind that flame, and a lens in front of it.
I agree that the candle lanterns pictured would make very poor bike
lights.
But I did use a miner's type carbide lamp for awhile as a bike light
and it worked reasonably well. *Much brighter flame than from a candle
and also reasonably well focused with a parabolic reflector behind the
flame. *Mine was a rather poor quality model and it had the
interesting characteristic that it would automatically get brighter
when on a worse road surface. *The extra vibration would result in
more water dripping into the carbide and releasing additional
acetylene gas. *After hitting a few potholes I'd have a 6" flame
shooting out of the lantern.

But I'm much happier with electrically operated LED lights these days,
whether from batteries or dynamos. *No need to wait for them to reach
full brightness, no acetylene gas odors, no danger of a sudden gust
blowing out the flame, and far easier and effective regulation of the
brightness.

Dear Frank & Peter,

Candle lamps were not successful:

"Despite the advertisement claims of power and reliability, the candle
lamp gave very little light and, as the writer can confirm, is almost
impossible to keep alight even in the lightest of breezes."

*http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/candle.asp

But other kinds of early bicycle lamps were so useful that anti-theft
features were mentioned in reviews:

"J. Lucas & Son, Little King Street, Birmingham. The principal lamp
returns to its old name of "The King of the Road." It is made in four
sizes, the smallest being arranged to give as much light as the second-
sized " Holophote " of last year. An important improvement consists in
protecting the ventilation holes by wind shields. The socket is
adjustable with key, which makes the lamp difficult to steal. The
"Kinglet," "Leader," "Captain,''and "Midget" lamps are lower in price
and of good value. The " King of Bells " is known as the "New
Departure" in America, and is probably the nicest-looking bell ever
offered in this country, the dome is clear of nuts, &c., and the
action is smooth. Two circular strikers come in contact, by
centrifugal force, with a projection in the dome when the plate
carrying them is rotated by moving the finger piece. A new oblong
oiler that squirts only a small quantity of oil at a time is
introduced."

--CTC Gazette, January, 1894

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ngg...=onepage&q=&f=...

Small site illustrating early bike lamps:

*http://www.mvvcc.org.uk/features/lamps/index.htm

Extensive gorgeous photos of early bike lamps:

*http://home.tiscali.nl/antiekefietsverlicht/carbid.html

Excellent and extensive site explaining early bike lamps:

*http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/ecl.asp

That site's Lucas page:

*http://www.websolutionswa.com/pwc/microphote.asp

(For other lamps, you go to the gallery, click on a thumbnail, and
wait for a large photo and text.)

Book with ~20 pages of text and illustrations about early cycle
lights:

*http://tinyurl.com/yk5pvtu

A post with links to the twin-lamp facile dwarf highwheeler:

*http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...d61543d2c01fca

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Oh, such a terrible era; people so desperate as to be
reduced to stealing Lucas lamps.

--
Andrew Muzi
* www.yellowjersey.org/
* Open every day since 1 April, 1971- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

ah yes. both light bars on muh van under and over bumper caws
otherwise the driver cannah see are deafinitely removablfollowinguse
RFU !
the carbide tank securely fixed with red lock and grade 9 rod.
hi tech ! CTC is a beaut.