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cheapskates's helmet light
On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 03:36:33 GMT, Werehatrack
wrote: On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 19:27:04 -0700, Dan Daniel may have said: Just curious; if you had ignored trying to get the various drivers' attention, would the helmet-mounted light have been better for picking out the pothole? I get the impression from various posters that the helmet-mounts are a mixed bag in this area. I wasn't using a serious lamp like a NiteRider or what the OP described. So I don't think that I am a good person to talk about this in many ways. My limited experience showed me that I am moving my *eyes* a lot. Having a small beam on the helmet was difficult because rather than moving my eyes at times, I had to keep my eyes 'stationary' and focus on moving the helmet to illuminate specific spots. Funny how something like this made me more aware of how I actually use my vision when cycling. I found it disconcerting all in all. With time I could probably have made it work and made it seem natural. Then again, I would have probably looked like a bobble head doll going down the road, even in daylight, as I kept my eyes stationary and used head movements all the time.... I've sometimes run with two bar-mounted lights so that I could have one aimed low for small obstacle avoidance, and another aimed higher for general visibility and large obstacle spotting. That's what I did when I was commuting through some very dark suburban side roads, and it worked well. Like you, I move my head around a lot, and it strikes me that having the light's spot follow my attention might mean that there'd be no light dead ahead when I needed it unless I combined the helmet light with a handlebar unit. I haven't done night mountain biking, but I think this is the basic setup for that- stationary and helmet mounts. So now I use handlebar lights, and I assume that I am invisible and expect the worst from cars. That's probably prudent anyway. Too many car drivers are able to blithely ignore other cars and even large trucks, which are much bigger and easier to see. I have found that adding a blinking front light has led to fewer close calls with autos at night. The Trek single white LED light is small, bright enough for the blinking action, and doesn't eat batteries. |
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#12
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cheapskates's helmet light
How does velcro work for the large light that you described in the
beginning of this thread? I've had problems with velcro having a bit of wobble in many instances, which would bother me with a helmet light. Surface area surface area - why you need the strap formed to to the helmet shape. For the big light, I used some heavier strength velcro (I believe it comes in 3 shear strengths and I used the middle one for this - McMaster-Carr if you have trouble finding it). There is a little wobble, but not much. The real problem was getting the velcro to stick to the helmet. |
#13
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cheapskates's helmet light
On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 19:27:04 -0700, Dan Daniel
wrote: Did that. Not a Niterider, but a strong flashlight strapped to the helmet. Made me aware of just how much I move my eyes and my head when riding. The period of time that I would keep the center of the beam aimed at, say, a driver coming into the road from the right to be certain that they saw me was far longer than I am used to not moving my head and looking around to remain aware of other hazards. After hitting a pothole and almost falling during one of these brief periods of getting a driver's attention was when I gave up the helmet idea. So now I use handlebar lights, and I assume that I am invisible and expect the worst from cars. Subjectively, of course, I am still alive. Why not separate the functions of illumination and visibility? If the helmet light seemed like a good idea except for the issue of remaining visible to other drivers, then a handlebar light (maybe just a good rear blinkie) would work for being visible, and a helmet light for seeing where you're going. Of course, if you've become happy with both aspects of the system you use now, no need to fool with it; and it is indeed a good idea to assume invisibility and expect the worst, or at least prepare for the worst. Trail or country road riding would seriously change the math for me. Of course; one size does not fit all. -- Rick "Light up my life" Onanian |
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