People with not just one crap rear light, BUT TWO!!!

coffeecup

Maybe it's me, but these people astound me. :shock:

They're concerned enough about being seen to buy more than one rear light. They buy a light for the seatpost and then go get another one to hang off their backpack or helmet. Sounds sensible

BUT, when both lights are as dim as my chances of winning the tour, wot is the frickin point!!!

JUST BUY ONE HALF DECENT LIGHT!!!!!!!

ok, I'm gonna go lie down now.....

sithebike

I agree!!
Unfortunately I have to drive to work.... I hate it but needs must i'm afraid.
I had an arguement this morning with a bloke on a bike.
This guy was riding down an unlit stretch of road, wearing dark clothing, no reflective kit and no lights. This was at 06.30 and it was raining.
I feel very strongly about this as both a cyclist and a driver.
This is the type of idiot that gives cyclists such a bad name.

Ohh I have come over all dizzy, time for medication and sleep.
All you guys and girls out there ride safe.. do yourselves up like christmas trees, buy decent lights and keep them clean.

It might just save your life.
Be safe

cougie

I saw two blokes tonight - one with a bag on his rack blocking his light - another with his coat hanging down over his light.
I think its natural selection at work.

coffeecup

i hadn't factored in the natural selection perspective

good point

tardington

I have 2 back lights... and two on the helmet!

(the second helmet light is a back up knog one though, I don't have it on!

TiBoy

I, lit up like a christmas tree when I ride in the dark/dusk. I ride unlit country road and A roads on my way to work. The other morning I passed someone out on an unlit A road about 1 mile out of town wearing a fluro builders style waist coat and no lights front or back. The sort of madness that does not help us bikers reputation.

esamenoi

Got a good red flasher on the back and a decent whitey on the front.. I should really fix the clothing issue though. It annoys my A LOT when I'm either biking or In one of my parents cars and see a cyclist with out lights... It really makes you want to wear your lights when you see how dangerous it is..
oh how about a guy going the WRONG way down a one way street with just a back light on....

jjojjas

yup, I can relate to this after today. As I noted in another thread i had to drive in today. I saw no one one the way in, but tonight I picked my mother up from work at 7pm. I passed two guys one with no lights at all on the road (but a high viz vest :roll: ) and onother with a crap head torch and no rear :?:

I don't get it. £20 gets you at least some LED's. Surely thats better than nothing???
I wouldn't ride without lights ever. My life's just worth that bit more to me than some poxy lights. I look like a bloody christmas tree when I;m commuting (well, I'm not green, but you get my drift)

downfader

I decided this winter to become a christmas tree, LOL. So I have 2 LD610 cateye strips and a 170 for a little flasher... might do a youtube video later.

On the front I only have the 520 for the time being. Will prolly upgrade this - you can never have too many lights in reserve imo. I do plan on putting a small white front lamp on each front fork too, perhaps with them flashing too, havent decided.

I saw a guy on the bridge yesterday morning with no issues of visability. I had to stop walking and look the other way as he had two elektron lamps on his bars and a superbright headlamp. He turned his head to look at me and I went "ahhghhh, jesus christ!"

salsarider79

I have three cateye lights on the back, two of which flash intermitantly and one solid light. I have reflective strips on my trousers and an Altura white reflective jacket. My good front light has given up the ghost, so I'm stuck with two rubbish lights which do nothing to light my way. :evil:

Re: cyclists without lights. After reading these posts, I'm a fan of the natural selection thing.

coffeecup

some serious illumination going on out there. Well done guys.

Personally I want drivers to think that there's some sorta alien landing going on in the road ahead, rather than just a cyclist with some flashing lights,

My LD1100 will have to suffice in the meantime

prj45

coffeecup wrote:

Personally I want drivers to think that there's some sorta alien landing going on in the road ahead, rather than just a cyclist with some flashing lights,

I disagree. Whilst I want people behind to see I'm there I don't want to distract them, also, too much flashing makes it hard for people to see which way you are moving and how fast IMO.

esamenoi

prj45 wrote:

coffeecup wrote:

Personally I want drivers to think that there's some sorta alien landing going on in the road ahead, rather than just a cyclist with some flashing lights,

I disagree. Whilst I want people behind to see I'm there I don't want to distract them, also, too much flashing makes it hard for people to see which way you are moving and how fast IMO.

Nahh I agree with the alien landing thing.. its just cool to confuse drivers :P but yeh only safe alien landings if you please guys

ansbaradigeidfran

prj45 wrote:

coffeecup wrote:

Personally I want drivers to think that there's some sorta alien landing going on in the road ahead, rather than just a cyclist with some flashing lights,

I disagree. Whilst I want people behind to see I'm there I don't want to distract them, also, too much flashing makes it hard for people to see which way you are moving and how fast IMO.

I saw a cyclist go up our street with four rear lights yesterday, all solid. Having never seen more than two around here, it looked a bit odd.

I saw this array of light when bringing Mrs Brân home after another cycling lesson. She's now pedalling for up to 20 metres at a time before losing the balance/steering and finding a wall. When we were almost home she caught the wing mirror of her Dad's car, bounced off, and toppled onto the road. Sadly she bent her handlebars (swept-back shopper ones) so there are some new ones in the post. Next lesson should be on Tuesday if they're here on time.

Today she's been suffering from a tender bottom (what with all the unplanned dismounts), but is still as eager as ever (biking will be SO much cheaper than the cut-throat bus fares aroung here).

Back on the lights, no unlit cyclists today, but four cars with dodgy lights on the ten mile round trip to pick the Mrs up from work. :evil:

downfader

prj45 wrote:

coffeecup wrote:

Personally I want drivers to think that there's some sorta alien landing going on in the road ahead, rather than just a cyclist with some flashing lights,

I disagree. Whilst I want people behind to see I'm there I don't want to distract them, also, too much flashing makes it hard for people to see which way you are moving and how fast IMO.

I do kind of agree with that, sometimes you do see other cyclists with super bright flickering lights which are too much or too direct, but then we have tothink that a cars lights are often brighter than a decent set of cycle lights.

moonio

downfader

moonio wrote:

Its Tron-Man's cousin! :shock:

accrington guy

having read through this thread I now wonder if I have suitable lights etc..
I have a high viz vest which is not covered up, flashing led light on the back and a 5 led thing on the front.. I like to think I am seen by motorists behind but now I dont know...

johnbirkby46213

accrington guy wrote:

having read through this thread I now wonder if I have suitable lights etc..
I have a high viz vest which is not covered up, flashing led light on the back and a 5 led thing on the front.. I like to think I am seen by motorists behind but now I don't know...

As well as zillions of lights (both back and front - see last few of my posts) I also wear an HV vest. Yes it looks a bit naff but as the reflectives on the HVJ will be seen miles away by car headlights I use it as my ultimate non-failable back-up system. And in the dark, no one knows who this Christmas tree is anyway.

Nick6891

i think alot of them with only one crap light just have it to stop them been pulled over and assume drivers can see them, if you have two crap ones then you must just have something wrong with you lol

downfader

accrington guy wrote:

having read through this thread I now wonder if I have suitable lights etc..
I have a high viz vest which is not covered up, flashing led light on the back and a 5 led thing on the front.. I like to think I am seen by motorists behind but now I dont know...

Test it out. With the help of a friend cycle down past them at night on an average road and ask them what they think. Or if they have a car they can sit in it and judge that way (as a windscreen will let in a little less light so you will be a little less visable from the cage, lol)

cougie

Or just lean your bike up against something in the dark and walk back 20 paces or so. See what the light looks like ?

I would advise two rear lights (at least) as how would you know if it had failed mid ride ?

Smart Half Watt - about a tenner.

fossyant

God knows what a female student must have thought of me whilst we were cycling down past the Hospitals on the A34 in Manchester..... she was on a dark bike, dark clothing, and no lights. It was also raining.

I have 2xCateye 510's on the front, with a 3w Cree Torch, on the rear a 1w Blackburn Mars 4.0 on steady, a Mars 3.0 on flashing, and a Cateye LD600 on steady. And 4 x flashing LEDs on my rucksack - two pointing rear, two pointing front/side....

So that makes 10 lights.....and the buggers still don't see me..... :shock:

downfader

fossyant wrote:

God knows what a female student must have thought of me whilst we were cycling down past the Hospitals on the A34 in Manchester..... she was on a dark bike, dark clothing, and no lights. It was also raining.

I have 2xCateye 510's on the front, with a 3w Cree Torch, on the rear a 1w Blackburn Mars 4.0 on steady, a Mars 3.0 on flashing, and a Cateye LD600 on steady. And 4 x flashing LEDs on my rucksack - two pointing rear, two pointing front/side....

So that makes 10 lights.....and the buggers still don't see me..... :shock:

She was prolly a medical student. You want to see how these b****rs ride at my hospital. Then they will chain their knackered 60 quid tesco special up against my mates bike and break his handlebars, etc. :?

coffeecup

fossyant wrote:

I have 2xCateye 510's on the front, with a 3w Cree Torch, on the rear a 1w Blackburn Mars 4.0 on steady, a Mars 3.0 on flashing, and a Cateye LD600 on steady. And 4 x flashing LEDs on my rucksack - two pointing rear, two pointing front/side....

So that makes 10 lights.....

That's an awesome setup. I love it!!!

Anybody got more lights than this????

cougie

Currently MTbing at night with :

Fenix L20D on high on bars.
Fenix L2D on high on helmet.
P7 on Full for the off road on bars.

Smart Superflash on bike.
Smart LED on backpack.

Reflective gloves, overshoes and big patches on jacket.

Tyreflys on valves.

If I'm on my road bike - that has reflective tape all over it, and another Cateye on it as well. Oh and reflective tyres.

singlespeedexplosif

coffeecup wrote:

fossyant wrote:

I have 2xCateye 510's on the front, with a 3w Cree Torch, on the rear a 1w Blackburn Mars 4.0 on steady, a Mars 3.0 on flashing, and a Cateye LD600 on steady. And 4 x flashing LEDs on my rucksack - two pointing rear, two pointing front/side....

So that makes 10 lights.....

That's an awesome setup. I love it!!!

Anybody got more lights than this????

haha - that's ace. I can't say that I can outdo this but my setup (9 lights) is:
Front: L&M Arc on the helmet, Tesco £10 special on the bars.
Rear - two Cateye Holy Hand Grenades, 2 Cateye LD600s, 1 Smart 1/2W and two photon backupz on my helmet.
I'm tempted to go out and put 2 more on now so that I can outdo the ten-light setup

singlespeedexplosif

wrt the original post - surely 2 crap light is better than 1 crap light. Not in any way nearly as good as 2 GOOD lights, but more light = better every time. If one crap light fails or the battery runs out, this person still has 1 crap light running. Better than nowt..

doog442

if he's gone to the trouble of two lights on the back im all for applauding the bloke as he's gone to twice the trouble of many death wish merchants....

also how do you know he wasnt at the end of his 1hour commute and the lights were failing?

suprised the OP didnt berate him ' Oi ..2 crap lights mate ...' which sure beats the 'Oi get some lights mate' thread we usually see.

cougie

Saw another two dodgy cyclists tonight - I think they were the only two I saw anyway !

One guy - has his LED on the back - but man it was tiny little dots of red - just underneath his saddle. Wasnt floating my boat at all - really really small light.

Other guy - in his ultra reflective hi viz motorway workers long coat - with the tail of it hanging over his rear light ! D'oh !!