Oxford cyclists too dim to take the break that was offered

On Thu, 25 Nov 2010 12:12:16 -0800 (PST)
NM wrote:

Check out the pound shop or Tesco three for the price of two at the
moment (though why one would need three bike lights isn't explained)

A cycling family of three members? Or one person with multiples of
three bikes.

My six bike solution is two sets of lights and six sets of brackets,
plus a few universal-fit spares.



Mike

"AlanG" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:35:01 +0000, Marc wrote:

On 25/11/2010 15:28, AlanG wrote:
On Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:54:33 GMT, (Cynic) wrote:

On Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:41:27 +0000, Sara
wrote:

I'd buy them.

So go ahead and do so.

I felt certain that such an obvious market would be filled, so I just
did a 2 second search. There are entire web sites dedicated to them!

Try he
http://www.dynamolight.co.uk/

Retraction: No I won't! Somewhat foolishly I had £10-£15 in mind, not
£60-£70. Gulp.

Ah well - perhaps a note to Santa? :-)

A person who does a lot of night time cycling could probably amortise
the additional cost over a few months of saved batteries, and of
course there is the advantage of never being stuck with a flat battery
and no replacements to hand.

OTOH a rechargable torch has almost the same advantages and they are a
lot cheaper. Especially if you buy a hand-held torch instead of a
bicycle light and gaffer-tape it to the handlebars ...

I bought my daughter a set of windup LED cycle lights for about a
tenner. A 1 minute wind lasts about 30 minutes. Quite enough for most
journeys around town.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bike-Front-B...0698836&sr=8-2

I have something like the font light as a handtorch, it's OK as that,
but only OK nowhere near as good a Maglite, but it's certainly no bike
light

It's quite adequate round town where there are street lights and the
aim is more to help motorists avoid hitting you than lighting your way

You have a torch as a light on your bike.
That says it all.

Mr Pounder

On 25/11/2010 21:11, Roger Merriman wrote:
wrote:

On 25/11/2010 14:41, Sara wrote:
In article4cee69c4.9779046@localhost, (Cynic)
wrote:

On Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:03:17 +0000, Sara
wrote:

Now we have LED lights that have a good output for far less power, and
good rechargeable battery technology, ISTM that it would be a doddle
to make a light that runs from a battery (and so is on all the time),
but the battery is recharged from a bicycle dynamo and so never needs
changing.

It is such an obvious device that I would be very surprised if such a
thing does not exist. You can buy extremely cheap wind-up torches.

I'd buy them.

So go ahead and do so.

I felt certain that such an obvious market would be filled, so I just
did a 2 second search. There are entire web sites dedicated to them!

Try he
http://www.dynamolight.co.uk/

Retraction: No I won't! Somewhat foolishly I had £10-£15 in mind, not
£60-£70. Gulp.

Best £60-£70 you will spend....
I diverted on the way home , just to find a darker lane I could light up!

how much kick do they have?

It's obviously very subjective, but, I think the IQ cyo is better than
the 2/10W Smart lights I was using last year

I have found that the fenix torches work
well, though the beam is fairly narrow it's very bright so for pitch
black nights it allows one to see, plus the same power, keeps cars there
distance as you don't get lost, and any car that cuts in too close will
be in beam....
I'm sorry I don't understand any of that...

On Nov 25, 8:47*am, FrengaX wrote:
On Nov 25, 8:43*am, Doug wrote:

On Nov 25, 8:05*am, "Mrcheerful" wrote: In the Oxford crackdown on unlit cycles which netted 106 unlit bikes in a
very short time, the police issued 30pound FPNs, but agreed to waive that if
a receipt for bike lights was produced in 7 days. *The receipt was stamped
by the police. *The cyclists have then been returning the lights and asking
for refunds!! *The police have asked that any shop that refunds for the
lights get and pass on names and addresses of the serial lawbreakers so that
a 60 pound fpn can be issued.http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/...ews/8672181.St...

Pity the police do not conduct a similar campaign against faulty cars,
probably because they are motorists themselves and therefore hate
cyclists anyway, like the motorists who infest this cycling newsgroup

But they do have such campaigns. The fact that they are so common
means they are not reported.

So it follows then that because crackdowns on cyclists are not needed
very often they are reported?

-- .
UK Radical Campaigns.
http://www.zing.icom43.net
A driving licence is a licence to kill.

Doug wrote:
On Nov 25, 8:47 am, FrengaX wrote:
On Nov 25, 8:43 am, Doug wrote:

On Nov 25, 8:05 am, "Mrcheerful" wrote: In
the Oxford crackdown on unlit cycles which netted 106 unlit bikes
in a
very short time, the police issued 30pound FPNs, but agreed to
waive that if
a receipt for bike lights was produced in 7 days. The receipt was
stamped
by the police. The cyclists have then been returning the lights
and asking
for refunds!! The police have asked that any shop that refunds for
the
lights get and pass on names and addresses of the serial
lawbreakers so that
a 60 pound fpn can be
issued.http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/...ews/8672181.St...

Pity the police do not conduct a similar campaign against faulty
cars,
probably because they are motorists themselves and therefore hate
cyclists anyway, like the motorists who infest this cycling
newsgroup

But they do have such campaigns. The fact that they are so common
means they are not reported.

So it follows then that because crackdowns on cyclists are not needed
very often they are reported?

or that although they are needed it is rare that they occur.

On Thu, 25 Nov 2010, Sara wrote:

In article 4cee7776.13284921@localhost, (Cynic)
wrote:

OTOH a rechargable torch has almost the same advantages and they are a
lot cheaper. Especially if you buy a hand-held torch instead of a
bicycle light and gaffer-tape it to the handlebars ...

I think the in-laws may have something lovely along those lines for me
in month's time.

Following Mr Tosspot's advice, i recently bought an equivalent of the
gaffer tape which is slightly more acceptable in polite company:

http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torches/lockblock.html

It's working very well so far (Tosspot - thanks for the suggestion, by the
way!). I've had bad experiences with velcro on bikes before (my rack bag
is held on with it - flipping useless), but this shows no sign of coming
adrift. The straps are a bit long, given the small size of the light it's
holding, but it's a very minor annoyance.

In terms of the torch itself, like Mr Merriman ...

On Thu, 25 Nov 2010, Roger Merriman wrote:

I have found that the fenix torches work well,

Specifically the PD30:

http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torc...x-pd30-r4.html

Although that price is more than you want to spend, i think. You could try
this (30 lumens is more than enough to be seen, even if not really enough
to navigate at speed on pitch-black country lanes):

http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torc...ix-e05-r4.html

But it might actually be too small to fit in that mounting. Maybe stick it
behind one ear?

Anyway, for the PD30, i can confirm that ...

though the beam is fairly narrow it's very bright so for pitch black
nights it allows one to see,

It's fantastic for navigation in the dark, even at the lower-power
settings. I am slightly concerned that there isn't enough spillage of
light to the side to make you visible to cars which aren't directly in
front, thought. I am thinking about fitting some sort of diffuser.

My only worry is about the bezel: to switch from full-power to
reduced-power mode, which you need to do if you're not going to blind
people about town, you twist the bezel, but this actually means unscrewing
the lamp end slightly from the battery holder. It's a tiny bit, and there
is an O-ring in there, but i am concerned that i am reducing the
waterproofness by doing this. It seems like a bit of a shoddy design,
really; i'd expect a sealed or magnetic adjuster of some sort, really, or
to have all the power options selected by the switch on the back.

tom

--
Virtually everything you touch has been mined. -- Prof Keith Atkinson

On Nov 27, 2:16*pm, "Mrcheerful" wrote:
Doug wrote:
On Nov 25, 8:47 am, FrengaX wrote:
On Nov 25, 8:43 am, Doug wrote:

On Nov 25, 8:05 am, "Mrcheerful" wrote: In
the Oxford crackdown on unlit cycles which netted 106 unlit bikes
in a
very short time, the police issued 30pound FPNs, but agreed to
waive that if
a receipt for bike lights was produced in 7 days. The receipt was
stamped
by the police. The cyclists have then been returning the lights
and asking
for refunds!! The police have asked that any shop that refunds for
the
lights get and pass on names and addresses of the serial
lawbreakers so that
a 60 pound fpn can be
issued.http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/...ews/8672181.St...

Pity the police do not conduct a similar campaign against faulty
cars,
probably because they are motorists themselves and therefore hate
cyclists anyway, like the motorists who infest this cycling
newsgroup

But they do have such campaigns. The fact that they are so common
means they are not reported.

So it follows then that because crackdowns on cyclists are *not needed
very often they are reported?

or that although they are needed it is rare that they occur.

But as the harm caused by motorists is much greater than the harm
caused by cyclists why do you single out the latter for your special
attention? Are you trying to compensate for something?

-- .
UK Radical Campaigns.
http://www.zing.icom43.net
A driving licence is a licence to kill.

On Nov 28, 7:14*am, Doug wrote:
On Nov 27, 2:16*pm, "Mrcheerful" wrote:



Doug wrote:
On Nov 25, 8:47 am, FrengaX wrote:
On Nov 25, 8:43 am, Doug wrote:

On Nov 25, 8:05 am, "Mrcheerful" wrote: In
the Oxford crackdown on unlit cycles which netted 106 unlit bikes
in a
very short time, the police issued 30pound FPNs, but agreed to
waive that if
a receipt for bike lights was produced in 7 days. The receipt was
stamped
by the police. The cyclists have then been returning the lights
and asking
for refunds!! The police have asked that any shop that refunds for
the
lights get and pass on names and addresses of the serial
lawbreakers so that
a 60 pound fpn can be
issued.http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/...ews/8672181.St...

Pity the police do not conduct a similar campaign against faulty
cars,
probably because they are motorists themselves and therefore hate
cyclists anyway, like the motorists who infest this cycling
newsgroup

But they do have such campaigns. The fact that they are so common
means they are not reported.

So it follows then that because crackdowns on cyclists are *not needed
very often they are reported?

or that although they are needed it is rare that they occur.

But as the harm caused by motorists is much greater than the harm
caused by cyclists why do you single out the latter for your special
attention? Are you trying to compensate for something?

-- .
Motorists (and pedestrians) are less likely to harm cyclists if they
can actually see and avoid them at night. That is one of the main
purposes of lights on bicycles. The front light also allows the
cyclist to see where he (or she) is going, and to avoid all the
potholes in our appallingly maintained roads. Why are many cyclists so
reluctant to fit lights when it's in their own interests to do so?

Derek C

On Nov 28, 8:03*am, Derek C wrote:
On Nov 28, 7:14*am, Doug wrote:

On Nov 27, 2:16*pm, "Mrcheerful" wrote:

Doug wrote:
On Nov 25, 8:47 am, FrengaX wrote:
On Nov 25, 8:43 am, Doug wrote:

On Nov 25, 8:05 am, "Mrcheerful" wrote: In
the Oxford crackdown on unlit cycles which netted 106 unlit bikes
in a
very short time, the police issued 30pound FPNs, but agreed to
waive that if
a receipt for bike lights was produced in 7 days. The receipt was
stamped
by the police. The cyclists have then been returning the lights
and asking
for refunds!! The police have asked that any shop that refunds for
the
lights get and pass on names and addresses of the serial
lawbreakers so that
a 60 pound fpn can be
issued.http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/...ews/8672181.St...

Pity the police do not conduct a similar campaign against faulty
cars,
probably because they are motorists themselves and therefore hate
cyclists anyway, like the motorists who infest this cycling
newsgroup

But they do have such campaigns. The fact that they are so common
means they are not reported.

So it follows then that because crackdowns on cyclists are *not needed
very often they are reported?

or that although they are needed it is rare that they occur.

But as the harm caused by motorists is much greater than the harm
caused by cyclists why do you single out the latter for your special
attention? Are you trying to compensate for something?

-- .

Motorists (and pedestrians) are less likely to harm cyclists if they
can actually see and avoid them at night. That is one of the main
purposes of lights on bicycles. The front light also allows the
cyclist to see where he (or she) is going, and to avoid all the
potholes in our appallingly maintained roads. Why are many cyclists so
reluctant to fit lights when it's in their own interests to do so?

Probably for the same reasons they see the futility of wearing hi-viz
vests and helmets when in the presence of dangerous drivers,
particularly those who have lost control. Also, and this seems to be
an accepted fact if government adverts are anything to go by, some
drivers just do not pay enough attention and thereby put other road
users at serious risk, including cyclists complete with lights, vest
and a helmet.

-- .
UK Radical Campaigns.
http://www.zing.icom43.net
A driving licence is a licence to kill.

Derek C wrote:

Motorists (and pedestrians) are less likely to harm cyclists if they
can actually see and avoid them at night. That is one of the main
purposes of lights on bicycles. The front light also allows the
cyclist to see where he (or she) is going, and to avoid all the
potholes in our appallingly maintained roads. Why are many cyclists so
reluctant to fit lights when it's in their own interests to do so?


Actually the front lights specified to be fitted at night by law are
pretty useless for seeing where you are going and most of us here
supplement them with lights more suited to that purpose.

But I suspect the real reason for the reluctance is they get stolen if
you leave them on the bike so you have to remember to bring them with
you and take them off whenever you leave the bike. It would be much
better if manufacturers took the German approach and fitted decent
dynamo sets to all their bikes.


--
Tony