Lights for road riding

sinus wrote:

While flashing may be more visible , it also is seems to
scream out "slow bicycle". I have been turned in front of a number of
times with clearly flashing lights. I think distance perception is
harder for an oncoming vehicle.

I think you're correct here..

I've had many a vehicle wait for me with my 3W white luxeon+10deg lens
on the front, when they had plenty of room to get in front of me....
but on the flipside, I had some bloke ask me the other night "where are
your lights?" when I went past him.... so I clearly need to add a
wide-angle light to the arsenal.

duncan

dgarry wrote:
Hi all,
Just wondering are using for a front light for night time road riding
.. I'm looking for a light so that I'm see and I can see with it also..

Any suggestions?

Yep, you're in luck.

A few months ago Torpedo.com had dual beam halogen light sets for $99NZ
and half the newsgroup ran out to buy them. I've got a set and am
quite happy with them.

Well now they're clearing out their last stock of them:

http://www.torpedo7.com/page/austral...nce/ACLRH-20_C

Travis

In article
,
TimC wrote:

On 2006-09-04, Artoi (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
In article ,
dgarry wrote:

Hi all,Just wondering are using for a front light for night time road
riding.. I'm looking for a light so that I'm see and I can see with it
also..Any suggestions?ThanksDavid-- dgarry

I was in the same boat recently. The key is how much light do you need
to see.

Riding in Sydney inner West, I bought a front white and rear red combo
set and found it to be more than adequate. It's 5 white LEDs at the
front and is good enough to supplement the street lighting up to 10m and
it's clear enough for others to see. The rear red has 7 LEDs and has
various flash pattern. The brand is called Basta. I think it's pretty
widely available. The other advantage is that it runs on just 2 AA
batteries for the front white. So it's relatively light.

Note that any flash pattern that doesn't simply flash all LEDs on then
all LEDs off, is next to useless.

This one does flash per your description.

I've seen lights that have 9 LEDs, and one of the patterns is to
continually scan up and down, a single LED at a time. So it's now 9
times less bright, and from 200m, you wouldn't be able to tell that it
is scanning at all -- it just appears as a constant light 9 times less
bright than what it should be.

The rear red light has 3 options. Steady on, flashing all 7 LEDs,
scanning.
--

TimC Wrote:
On 2006-09-04, Artoi (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
In article ,
dgarry wrote:

Hi all,Just wondering are using for a front light for night time
road
riding.. I'm looking for a light so that I'm see and I can see with
it
also..Any suggestions?ThanksDavid-- dgarry

I was in the same boat recently. The key is how much light do you
need
to see.

Riding in Sydney inner West, I bought a front white and rear red
combo
set and found it to be more than adequate. It's 5 white LEDs at the
front and is good enough to supplement the street lighting up to 10m
and
it's clear enough for others to see. The rear red has 7 LEDs and has
various flash pattern. The brand is called Basta. I think it's pretty
widely available. The other advantage is that it runs on just 2 AA
batteries for the front white. So it's relatively light.

Note that any flash pattern that doesn't simply flash all LEDs on then
all LEDs off, is next to useless.

If you alternately switch half on, then you simply are left with a
light half as bright, as from a distance, you can't pick the scanning
pattern.

I've seen lights that have 9 LEDs, and one of the patterns is to
continually scan up and down, a single LED at a time. So it's now 9
times less bright, and from 200m, you wouldn't be able to tell that it
is scanning at all -- it just appears as a constant light 9 times less
bright than what it should be.

--
TimC
Beware of Programmers who carry screwdrivers.
Even worse, I think, is 'blink' is too slow... some cyclists spend a
good part of the time invisible because of this. If it is too slow for
a glance to *always* see it, then it is impossible for a driver glancing
in a mirror to see it.

ali


--
alison_b

In article . com,
"Duncan" wrote:

sinus wrote:

While flashing may be more visible , it also is seems to
scream out "slow bicycle". I have been turned in front of a number of
times with clearly flashing lights. I think distance perception is
harder for an oncoming vehicle.

I think you're correct here..

I've had many a vehicle wait for me with my 3W white luxeon+10deg lens
on the front, when they had plenty of room to get in front of me....
but on the flipside, I had some bloke ask me the other night "where are
your lights?" when I went past him.... so I clearly need to add a
wide-angle light to the arsenal.

I suspect more of a case of single light vs two headlights of a car.
Distance and motion is harder to judge when there's only one point light
source.
--

"Artoi" wrote in message
...
In article . com,
"Duncan" wrote:

sinus wrote:

While flashing may be more visible , it also is seems to
scream out "slow bicycle". I have been turned in front of a number of
times with clearly flashing lights. I think distance perception is
harder for an oncoming vehicle.

I think you're correct here..

I've had many a vehicle wait for me with my 3W white luxeon+10deg lens
on the front, when they had plenty of room to get in front of me....
but on the flipside, I had some bloke ask me the other night "where are
your lights?" when I went past him.... so I clearly need to add a
wide-angle light to the arsenal.

I suspect more of a case of single light vs two headlights of a car.
Distance and motion is harder to judge when there's only one point light
source.
--

One thing I've noticed with a single light on roadbars, is that the hoods
and your hands can obscure the light to traffic from the front left around
45 degrees. Commonly this is on roundabouts with traffic entering on the
left. I took an idea from dutchie (I think?) and stuck one of those little
flashers on my helmet with velco. Dorky...but effective.

Adam

On 2006-09-04, adam85 (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
One thing I've noticed with a single light on roadbars, is that the hoods
and your hands can obscure the light to traffic from the front left around
45 degrees. Commonly this is on roundabouts with traffic entering on the
left. I took an idea from dutchie (I think?) and stuck one of those little
flashers on my helmet with velco. Dorky...but effective.

Oi! Is not dorky!

--
TimC
Ah, so many of life's little problems can be solved by head
vaporisation. -- Zixia in ARK

Artoi wrote:

In article . com,
"Duncan" wrote:


sinus wrote:

While flashing may be more visible , it also is seems to
scream out "slow bicycle". I have been turned in front of a number of
times with clearly flashing lights. I think distance perception is
harder for an oncoming vehicle.

I think you're correct here..

I've had many a vehicle wait for me with my 3W white luxeon+10deg lens
on the front, when they had plenty of room to get in front of me....
but on the flipside, I had some bloke ask me the other night "where are
your lights?" when I went past him.... so I clearly need to add a
wide-angle light to the arsenal.


I suspect more of a case of single light vs two headlights of a car.
Distance and motion is harder to judge when there's only one point light
source.
--

Here's an idea. Headlights in the brake/gear levers.

Briftights™

--
BrettS

In article ,
BrettS wrote:

Here's an idea. Headlights in the brake/gear levers.

Briftights�

Bar end lights are already available I thought. Here comes the Christmas
tree!
--

dgarry wrote:
Hi all,
Just wondering are using for a front light for night time road riding
.. I'm looking for a light so that I'm see and I can see with it also..

Any suggestions?
Thanks
David

Make your own! It's not hard to make basic lights, and the quality is
only limited by your imagination and materials.

I have several examples he

http://www.thefathippy.com

You can do better! ;^)

Tony F