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Night lights
I've recently started riding in the dark. At the moment I use a head torch but it's not very comfortable (as I can't get it over my helmet, so has to go round my forehead underneath the helmet). Does anyone use any other form of lighting when unicycling in the dark other than head torches? Cathy -- cathwood Say no to unicycle genre discrimination! - MrBoogiejuice http://www.chuckingandtwirling.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ cathwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/9425 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52973 |
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#2
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Night lights
underdog wrote: I figured some kind of handlebar mount light for a bike but mounted to the seatpost would work but then it's only adjustable right and left. As for a front light, depending on the bracket, there should be some way of alternatively attaching the bracket to allow up/down adjustment of the light. I did something similar to mount a Schwinn bike computer on the downtube of my uni (use the mounting bracket in a non standard way). --Tom -- tomkarches ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tomkarches's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/12418 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52973 |
#3
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Night lights
There are two reasons to use lights: one is to see with; the other is to make you visible to others. Strictly speaking, the lights should be attached to the vehicle, not the rider, to comply with UK law, but as so many cyclists use no light at all, the police are very unlikely to worry about lights that exist but are not fully compliant - especially if the rider is on a bloody great unicycle with no brakes. I have owned 3 head torches of very different design, and all of them have been adjustable to fit round my helmet. I would be surprised if yours cannot be made to fit. The problem is getting the elastic to sit still instead of slipping up the outside of the helmet. An answer to this is to get some sticky-backed Velcro discs - the hooky ones, not the furry ones, and stick them to the helmet. This will snag the elastic of the head band of the torch and hold it in place. A 3 LED head torch allows enough light for steady road or pavement riding, and easy towpaths and the like. As it is near to your eyeline, there is some back scatter from fog or dust, and it also attracts insects towards your eyes, which is a Bad Thing. Any single point of light will give you only limited information about the surface, because you don't get the full 3 dimensionel effect. The ideal is to have two sources of light, although very powerful head torches (£100 plus!) will do the business. I haven't ridden in the dark for a while (getting old and lazy), but when I did, I relied on a 3 LED head torch and carried a small hand torch (Mini Mag-Lite). I'd use the hand torch for scanning the route ahead, and giving more detail on tricky bits, and the head torch to provide a pool of light a few metres ahead of me. It is important to be able to ride by feel, so that you use the lights to tell you what's coming, but your skill to deal with what's immediately under your wheel. As for the lights to be seen with: there are various cheap and cheerful LED lights available. I have a red LEd mounted on the seat post, fairly high up, and a white LED mounted just above the fork crown. Good luck, you'll have lots of fun. -- Mikefule "We begin in the madness of carnal desire and the transport of voluptuousness; we end in the dissolution of all our parts and the musty stench of corpses." Arthur Schopenhauer. Philosopher and pessimist. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mikefule's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/879 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52973 |
#4
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Night lights
cathwood wrote: Does anyone use any other form of lighting when unicycling in the dark other than head torches? I've tried mounting lights in various places, but if the light is for seeing by (rather than being seen by) then I've found that it has to be either head-mounted or hand-held. Anything mounted to the unicycle will present problematic shadows, and usually distracting moving shadows as the legs go past on either side. Anything mounted to the body (I've tried abdominal lights) will move from side to side with each pedal stroke, which is distracting. Head-mounted or hand-held lights will remain steady as you ride and can be directed wherever you most need the light. In good weather I prefer head-mounting. In snow, rain or fog the reflections from a head mounted light will render the light useless, so it has to be hand-held. The advantages of head-mounting are so great on a unicycle that I am willing to wear a helmet in order to mount my Lumicycles to it - the only reason that I would wear a helmet on a unicycle. -- Danny Colyer http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/ Subscribe to PlusNet http://www.colyer.plus.com/referral/ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Danny Colyer's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/11637 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52973 |
#5
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Night lights
I've used 'pedals with LEDs like these' (http://www.pedalite.com/) on my 29er at night. Just watch out for rubberneckers! -- phlegm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ phlegm's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/8382 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52973 |
#6
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Night lights
You can make a pretty sucsessful headlamp at home Go to a hardware or lighting store and get a 40-50watt small lamp, (i cant remember what it was exactly) but make sure you get one of the ones that is low heat, the lower the better You then mount this either in a wire frame or in a peice of plastic tubing (hence the low heat thingy) add a switch and a 12v battery (in a backpack) and you have a bloody strong headlamp, there was one when i was at the 2006 cateye Moonride (a 24 hour mountain bike race, that we did on unicycles of course) and it was fantastic, mounted on your helmet Well hope that makes sense Cheers Dan -- nzunicyclist.dan -------- I ride for Taffy, mmmmmm Taffy -------- -------- Coke for Amanda -------- ice_cold_uni6 - "i footbagged for 2 hrs, then accidentally hit myself in the face with it" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ nzunicyclist.dan's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/12707 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52973 |
#7
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Night lights
nzunicyclist.dan wrote: You can make a pretty sucsessful headlamp at home .... I converted a maglite to a 12V DC 20 Watt Halogen for my night riding on mountain bike. [image: http://www.trappersplace.com/maglite/sideshot1.jpg] 50 watt would be big time overkill and generate too much heat. You would also need too big a battery (heavy) to power it any reasonable length of time. Even the 20 watt one I built needed a 5 lb battery which was fine for a bike but I'm not willing to carry it on the one wheeler. I also don't feel I need 20 watt for the uni. I needed 20 watt for the bike to illuminate far enough ahead to allow me to ride at high speed and see stuff in time to navigate it. Speed isn't so much an issue on the uni so I'll be modifying it to a 10 watt setup with a much lighter power source. I can probably put together a lighter NiMH cell pack that will hold up for 2 hours or so now. For those that are interested here's the project link. 'Maglite Project' (http://tinyurl.com/l7qqb) -- Trapper ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Trapper's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/10341 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52973 |
#8
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Night lights
to get a good headlamp without spending a bunch of money you're basically going to have to homebrew one much like what's posted above. the lower end Niterider lights are under $100US, and some pretty good ones can be had for around $250. Cateye makes a light call the "doubleshot" which is lightweight and incredibly bright. What you'll spend depends on how much light you need. 24 hr mtn bike racing needs as much as possible so systems for that run $300-600. riding a unicycle after dark down a sidewalk doesn't need much but $70-100 would probably be a good investment. if you can still see but need others to see you, $25-50 is probaly more than sufficient. -- markf stuck in iowa and gainfully employed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ markf's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/8102 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52973 |
#9
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Night lights
I've been looking for a decent light for night riding as well. Has anyone tried CygoLite such as the following... 'HiFlux200 B*ke Light' (http://www.cygolite.com/2-Products/2-Hiflux200-2.htm) Would the water bottle cage mount for the battery work on a Uni? -- aneedles Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ aneedles's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/12542 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52973 |
#10
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Night lights
seems like a solid light. and the battery would work fine, you'd just have to get a helmet mount for the light and put that battery in a jersey pocket or camelbak. -- markf stuck in iowa and gainfully employed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ markf's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/8102 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52973 |
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