cyclists without lights

baz2003uk

i am new to riding to work so before the dark nights set in i got a magic shine mj872 front OMG they are good well first ride home in the dark within 10 min i was cussed at by another cyclist telling my turn the f***ing lights down lol
well i did have them on 100%
1 good point i was well seen lol
and after that i decided that on part of my route i left them at 25% and when i reached the unlit fast road leading off the motorway i put them back upto 100%

just need to find me a super bright rear light i do have a rear but its only a cheapo i got with the bike

Kieran_Burns

baz2003uk wrote:

i am new to riding to work so before the dark nights set in i got a magic shine mj872 front OMG they are good well first ride home in the dark within 10 min i was cussed at by another cyclist telling my turn the f***ing lights down lol
well i did have them on 100%
1 good point i was well seen lol
and after that i decided that on part of my route i left them at 25% and when i reached the unlit fast road leading off the motorway i put them back upto 100%

just need to find me a super bright rear light i do have a rear but its only a cheapo i got with the bike

You should look at the angle you have the light at. If you're blinding oncoming bikes it's tipped too high and you need to point it more to the road. You want to be seen, not p*ss people off.

jds_1981

Kieran_Burns wrote:

You should look at the angle you have the light at. If you're blinding oncoming bikes it's tipped too high and you need to point it more to the road. You want to be seen, not p*ss people off.

Yes, not good if you're pretending to be a car on full beam.

bompington

Slightly OT, but I've noticed this a few times just recently:
In typical Scottish winter commuting conditions, i.e. about 8:30am, not quite totally dark but not light either, and all the cars have headlights on - except for hybrids: 3 of them in the last couple of weeks.
Are they worried that the batteries will run out?

bails87

jds_1981 wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

You should look at the angle you have the light at. If you're blinding oncoming bikes it's tipped too high and you need to point it more to the road. You want to be seen, not p*ss people off.

Yes, not good if you're pretending to be a car on full beam.

I've also got the Mj872 and ride down unlit country lanes with it on level 1, occasionally putting it up to 2 for faster downhill sections when there's no traffic about.

Baz, please, please, please don't run it on 100% unless you're off road, and other cyclists/peds aren't facing you. It's a serious danger. Angle the light down and run it on a sensible power.

If you want to see what it's like, put the light on a 'horizontal' angle, and on 100%, prop the bike up and stand 10 yards away looking back towards it. Can you see anything? Would you be happy riding/driving/walking towards that?

Please be considerate!


Anyway, my unlit cyclist story:

bails87 wrote:

Last week I saw an unlit cyclist riding along an unlit NSL road in the dark (about 6pm).

I saw what I can only assume was the same rider last night (there aren't many cyclists around here, I doubt that 2 are both that stupid!). Except this time he had a light.



Yes, just the one. From what I saw as I went past him, it looks like a small torch attached to a lanyard around his neck. He was riding along holding it facing forward. As I went past he looked over his shoulder and saw a car catching up to him. So he swung the torch over his shoulder, so now the white torch was (dimly) pointing backwards. Unfortunately he was on a winding, but flat section of road with low hedges, so it would have looked as if he was much further away, on the other side of the road and riding towards the car (white=front, so must be facing the car, right?!) that was catching up with him, rather than being close by, on the same side, and riding away.

Seriously, he won't last long while he's doing that. If I see him while I'm on my bike, I'll try to tell him how dangerous he is.

Kieran_Burns

I may be a slightly bad man...

Driving home last night, a Micra and myself got caught behind a student cyclist coming back from the local campus on a narrow windy stretch of road. The Micra driver patiently waited behind the guy and went past on the clear straight.

At this point, the pathetic little 3 LED flashing thing running on zero battery power dropped off the bike and bounced into my path.

For a split second I didn't react as I could see it was going to go straight under my wheels and my thought was "well that'll force you to get a better light you prawn"

Only for a split second...

I swerved to miss it and it bounced off the sill and into the verge whereupon the guy swung around to go and pick it up.

Like I say: I may be a bad man...

Thebigbee

Mr Plum wrote:

I've posted this before but it still makes me laugh - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LYRzlU9Qr8

Hilarious - and just about sums what the police know about cycling, full stop!

I take it the guy on the right - that was a reflector coming off the rider and cars lights - or was it a front light with a very dim battery?

Certainly didn't appear very "red" - lol - muppets

Thebigbee

t4tomo wrote:

passed a chap last night with hi vis vest but no lights. So obviously appreciates the need to be seen, but still doesn't by lights?

To be fair it was in town and his hi vis was pretty visible

I regularly see blokes riding round on full sus mountain bikes, kit, helmets, usually dark clothing - but no lights. I have no idea why they are riding around on £1K+ bikes without lights.

Not too sure about £ shop lights - but better than nothing I guess.

I picked up these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330654946257? ... 1438.l2661 for £9.99 delivered, with batteries on an Ebay deal - only 30p more now.

The front light is fantastic! I have used Smart Polaris and a Smart 1W front light. This light blows it out the water. I would be confident going on unlit roads with this front light, it really is powerful with a large spread.

The brackets are the same as Smart brackets - so I guess they are all made in the same Chinese factory and rebranded or not.

Used with a Smart 1/2 watt kidney on the rear there is no excuse for someone to not see me.

symo

I have knocked two over in the park on the way home last night, turned a corner and ran into them both, all in black without a light between them. I felt guilty doing it.........................for a nanosecond, before shouting "Get some lights".

Kerguelen

Mr Plum wrote:

I've posted this before but it still makes me laugh - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LYRzlU9Qr8

Not a local phenomenon. I've also seen Lothian & Borders' finest doing this.

No comment was offered of course - no desire to 'accidentally fall down the stairs'.

baz2003uk

baz2003uk wrote:

i am new to riding to work so before the dark nights set in i got a magic shine mj872 front OMG they are good well first ride home in the dark within 10 min i was cussed at by another cyclist telling my turn the f***ing lights down lol
well i did have them on 100%
1 good point i was well seen lol
and after that i decided that on part of my route i left them at 25% and when i reached the unlit fast road leading off the motorway i put them back upto 100%

just need to find me a super bright rear light i do have a rear but its only a cheapo i got with the bike

i did forget to add after the cussing by the other person i did angle it down more and also move it from the handle bar to the top of the suspension fork
we learn by are mistakes and as i said i am all new to this

anyone recommend me a good rear light

and are the monkey lights a good investment for being seen

jds_1981

If you want to stay sooper bright....

http://magicshineuk.co.uk/categories/Rear-Bike-Lights

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... 0000000000

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... XPOLIGH500

bails87

Smart are good, R1 and R2, or the RSP Astrum. I'm not all that impressed with a Cateye TL610 I've got.

Or the MJ818 (what i've got) to link up to the MJ872 battery.

I'd always have at least one spare though, in case one breaks.

jimmypippa

t4tomo wrote:

passed a chap last night with hi vis vest but no lights. So obviously appreciates the need to be seen, but still doesn't by lights?

To be fair it was in town and his hi vis was pretty visible

I've twice passed one in high viz workclothes and no lights, on the section of my commute with no streetlights, which is a fast country road. :?

Blue Meanie

I like to turn my front light off when cycling on unlit backroads, and 'navigate by the stars' :-) Obviously, I turn it back on when I see approaching headlights.

meanredspider

I get blinded by a bike coming the other way some evenings. I just have to aim my bike broadly to the left of the light and hope for the best. There's no need for a light that bright on a road - at least not that ill-aimed. It's far beyond "being seen" and well into "not being seen because you've blinded them". Does concern me a bit this arms race of brighter and brighter lights. I'm guessing it won't be long before there's legislation to limit the power of lights for road use as the technology allows the kind of lights that people have started using on the road.

UndercoverElephant

meanredspider wrote:

I get blinded by a bike coming the other way some evenings. I just have to aim my bike broadly to the left of the light and hope for the best. There's no need for a light that bright on a road - at least not that ill-aimed. It's far beyond "being seen" and well into "not being seen because you've blinded them". Does concern me a bit this arms race of brighter and brighter lights. I'm guessing it won't be long before there's legislation to limit the power of lights for road use as the technology allows the kind of lights that people have started using on the road.

This. Some lights I see are astounding, end up having to ride looking towards the side of the road so I don't look directly at them - I imagine that motorists have to do the same. Strange thing is, my B&M Cyo is astoundingly bright, illuminating the road superbly but very well controlled, I was riding next to a guy with a Magicshine (3 times as many lumens as my light) and we took turns with turning one of the lights off: Mine was actually brighter on the road, definitely the better to see with, his was waaaay brighter everywhere else.

medoramas

There is an easy trick how to not blind other cyclist (especially on the country lanes, where every light seems to be at least twice as strong) - simply cover your front light with your hand. Yeah, be a nice cyclist!

bails87

Yeah, i do that.
I have more of a problem with poorly angled HID headlights on cars though.

meanredspider

medoramas wrote:

There is an easy trick how to not blind other cyclist (especially on the country lanes, where every light seems to be at least twice as strong) - simply cover your front light with your hand. Yeah, be a nice cyclist!

I try to do this, especially when waiting in a passing spot on the single track roads. Not see easy to do for the 100 yards that I get blinded for.

Gussio

Restoration of death penalty thread >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>