Too close for comfort!!!!!!!!!!

always_tyred

Headhuunter wrote:

These Dinotte lights, am I right thinking that they take standard AA or AAA batts? How do they get them so bright on standard batts? Do the batts fit into the body of the light or in some kind of separate battery pack?

Battery pack. The light itself is fixed via an o-ring and you also have the option of a heath robinson type mount if you don't like the angle it sits at just bungeed to the seatpost.

I have the Li-ion version. I think you get about 3 hours on full/constant. Its not that bright or powerful a light really (3W I think), just exceptional for a rear light, so with a bank of 4 AA's you probably get quite a reasonable run time on flashing modes.

mrchrispy

got a dinotte and it pointless running a smart 1/2 at the same time....its stupid how bright it is, its expensive though but worth it if it make drives slow while hey figure out what the hell you are.

I wonder if you can run the exposure redeye from an external battery pack, that'll be a lot of light for not much money!

BentMikey

mrchrispy wrote:

got a dinotte and it pointless running a smart 1/2 at the same time....its stupid how bright it is, its expensive though but worth it if it make drives slow while hey figure out what the hell you are.

I wonder if you can run the exposure redeye from an external battery pack, that'll be a lot of light for not much money!

Yes, you can run the Exposure from a piggy back battery - that's what I'm doing as mine is far away from the front light on my recumbent.

I'm not so sure it's pointless running a second rear light like a smart 1/2w - it's not so easy to notice if your rear light goes out, so having two gives a bit of redundancy.

mrchrispy

god point and tbh I do run them both as the dinotte does have a habit of diconnecting its self and it's difficult to notice.

would that be the official exposure piggyback battery?
35 for the light and 40 for the battery...starting to look like dinotte money, some kinda DIY battery would be much cheaper.

Rich158

duncedunce wrote:

Rich158 wrote:

It's Station Road, from the roundabout off the A2 through Betsham going towards Southfleet Road. I have though about using the London Road through to Dartford but that can be even more lethal at times.

For me it's pretty much the only route unless I go out of my way, and just about every country road is a rat run where people go way too fast

Not nice Pepper Hill to Southfleet Road, particularly the bits either side of Betsham itself: narrow lanes, high hedges and no kerb/pavement/bail out - at least London Road has visibility, pavements, speed limits, usually enough traffic to moderate the speed and the odd GATSO (but bigger hills!). Possibly preferrable in the winter rush hour ish?

markshaw77 wrote:

Yeah - tricky one - options are limited by crossing points across the high-speed rail line

Only other option is to cut through past the Ebbsfleet Eurostar terminus from Thames Way and then pick up the cycle path that runs adjacent to the A2 and comes out on Roman Road and the go past the Hospital and into/round Dartford from there - tricky to see on Google maps if you haven't used it before, but if you're interested just shout and I will plot it manually on bikehike

Well, not somewhere I often cycle, but if you have time I'd appreciate a map of that route as it might prove useful at times.

For Rich it might provide an alternative, especially if he can use the route out of Gravesend, past the new police HQ towards Ebbsfleet Utd's ground and then take a left up past the Eurostar Entrance towards Swan Valley, then down to the A2; although that first bit up to Ebbsfleet seems a bit of a racetrack.

Rich, are you going through Bean? If so, what about a bit of a zigzag through Foxhounds, Park Corner, Sandy Lane. Much quieter roads as they go nowhere in particular (so the WVM probably don't use them) but they add a lot of slower cycling to the route and are isolated if anything goes wrong, so maybe not ideal.

As others have said, I am not sure the issue was your visibility (particularly if your rear lights were working well) but rather the type of rat run that area is, and I don't know what you can do to improve matters, other than change your route.

Personally, I'd still opt for the London Rd option or markshaw77's route? As you say, though, not much option getting from one side of that area to the other. How about moving to Dartford :twisted:

I tried the route through Bean this morning, much better and pretty much traffic free cheers guys