Xfire bike lane safety light

memsley89

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57520654-1/xfire-safety-laser-light-makes-a-portable-nighttime-bike-lane/ (please excuse the americanism and the use of 'bicyclists' numerous times!)

Your thoughts? Would it really make motorists allow extra space while overtaking?
I guess the "we have a 5-feet-to-pass law" means this device makes more sense over there.

If it really is as bright as they say it is (how bright is '5mW?') it'd be fun atleast to have bike LAZERS :P

davis

They mandate 5 feet of room? Wow.

veronese68

But that light isn't marking anywhere near enough room, let alone 5 feet.

cookeeemonster

hmmmm....want one.

but lets be honest, it'd never ever be that bright or be as good as the pic implies (or wide enough as someone said)

cookdn

Manufacturer/Distributor's video, but if gives you an idea of effectiveness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix2sNGhXJ2c

jonny_trousers

I can't help but think it might just end up distracting drivers from watching where they should be going.

bobinski

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I can't help but think it might just end up distracting drivers from watching where they should be going.

+1

saw one being used on Upper st while in car with Ms B and we agreed highly distracting. That may be down to the novelty factor...

The Ors

You can see the lasers shining right on his legs!

How far can you ride like that before it saws your legs right off?

desweller

The Ors wrote:

You can see the lasers shining right on his legs!

How far can you ride like that before it saws your legs right off?

Yeah - eventually some evil cyclist will use it to hold the world to ransom for ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

prb007

Ordered one a couple of days ago; hopefully should be here in a week to ten days;
will let you know my opinion...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI. ... 0595347118

lighty89

I ordered one off eBay the other week.
They are really good, suprisingly bright the laser is as well!

memsley89

Excuse the thread resurrection... I forgot to post:


It's actually really awesome, smashes rechargaebale batteries though (at most a couple of hours)
It appears that motorists give me extra space when overtaking, think it just confuses most!

bobbygloss

They look good when you're standing over them, but how noticeable are the lines from further away?
I followed someone with a similar one, and until I got within about 10m it just looked like a normal light.

The Rookie

That 5feet loks very like 18" to me, I guess it was measured by a women who's husband was claiming THAT was 12"!

I'd consider that on that red line was too close anyway, our highway code says we should be given as much space as apssing a car (yeah as if!)

mrc1

This is likely the most vague post ever but I was listening to Radio 4 a few weeks back and there was a programe about young entrepreneurs and one of the ladies on it was developing a light that shines a cyclist icon on the road behind the bike. Sounded quite interesting but I can't for the life of me remember its name.

daniel_b

The Beginner wrote:

That 5feet loks very like 18" to me, I guess it was measured by a women who's husband was claiming THAT was 12"!

I'd consider that on that red line was too close anyway, our highway code says we should be given as much space as apssing a car (yeah as if!)

I'm going to hazard a guess here that the '5ft' is the distance between the two lines?

tetm

mrc1 wrote:

This is likely the most vague post ever but I was listening to Radio 4 a few weeks back and there was a programe about young entrepreneurs and one of the ladies on it was developing a light that shines a cyclist icon on the road behind the bike. Sounded quite interesting but I can't for the life of me remember its name.

http://www.blazecomponents.com/

sketchley

Been thinking a lot about these. Does anyone honestly think a couple re laser light lines would stop close pass from a car. More likely driver will see it as how close they can be rather than must be and pass closer than they might. If they were going to squeeze in a gap they still will. The only practical application is to make the cyclist highly visable at night; I would have thought it would be better to use a wide angled light mounted on the seat post pointing down to illuminate a big red spot on the ground and hopefully illuminating the rider and bike as well.

walkingbootweather

Sketchley wrote:

Does anyone honestly think a couple re laser light lines would stop close pass from a car.

If you set it to 'stun' it might

mrc1

tetm wrote:

mrc1 wrote:

This is likely the most vague post ever but I was listening to Radio 4 a few weeks back and there was a programe about young entrepreneurs and one of the ladies on it was developing a light that shines a cyclist icon on the road behind the bike. Sounded quite interesting but I can't for the life of me remember its name.

http://www.blazecomponents.com/

That's the one - thanks.

desweller

Sketchley wrote:

Been thinking a lot about these. Does anyone honestly think a couple re laser light lines would stop close pass from a car. More likely driver will see it as how close they can be rather than must be and pass closer than they might. If they were going to squeeze in a gap they still will. The only practical application is to make the cyclist highly visable at night; I would have thought it would be better to use a wide angled light mounted on the seat post pointing down to illuminate a big red spot on the ground and hopefully illuminating the rider and bike as well.

Seems like a needlessly over-complicated way of doing what this used to do:

Kieran_Burns

Sketchley wrote:

Been thinking a lot about these. Does anyone honestly think a couple re laser light lines would stop close pass from a car. More likely driver will see it as how close they can be rather than must be and pass closer than they might. If they were going to squeeze in a gap they still will. The only practical application is to make the cyclist highly visable at night; I would have thought it would be better to use a wide angled light mounted on the seat post pointing down to illuminate a big red spot on the ground and hopefully illuminating the rider and bike as well.

Hope District 3 then.

Aimed down at the wheels when you have spoke reflectors on makes for an astonishing display and the entire road behind you is bathed in a red glow

walkingbootweather

DesWeller wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

Been thinking a lot about these. Does anyone honestly think a couple re laser light lines would stop close pass from a car. More likely driver will see it as how close they can be rather than must be and pass closer than they might. If they were going to squeeze in a gap they still will. The only practical application is to make the cyclist highly visable at night; I would have thought it would be better to use a wide angled light mounted on the seat post pointing down to illuminate a big red spot on the ground and hopefully illuminating the rider and bike as well.

Seems like a needlessly over-complicated way of doing what this used to do:

Looks like a useful device to stop pedestrians and mobility scooters from passing too close

sketchley

Do you get double points if you have a saftey lollipop on each side?

desweller

Sketchley wrote:

Do you get double points if you have a saftey lollipop on each side?

It's a short step from 'safety lollipop' to 'Ben Hur hub spikes' isn't it.

rolf_f

walkingbootweather wrote:

DesWeller wrote:

Looks like a useful device to stop pedestrians and mobility scooters from passing too close

OK, we know it doesn't look cool - but imagine it in carbon weave, with black reflectives and tungsten carbide bits sticking out the end so that if anyone does pass too close they get a modified paint job

The Rookie

Yould still look a prat......doesn't matter what you make it from it still adds aero drag as well!

walkingbootweather

Rolf F wrote:

walkingbootweather wrote:

DesWeller wrote:

Looks like a useful device to stop pedestrians and mobility scooters from passing too close

OK, we know it doesn't look cool - but imagine it in carbon weave, with black reflectives and tungsten carbide bits sticking out the end so that if anyone does pass too close they get a modified paint job

Yes but it's on the wrong side (assuming you are riding / driving on the left). This would only be useful (in the loosest sense of the word) to discourage close passing on the left.

rolf_f

walkingbootweather wrote:

Yes but it's on the wrong side (assuming you are riding / driving on the left). This would only be useful (in the loosest sense of the word) to discourage close passing on the left.

That's quite an assumption given that most people drive/ride on the right! And the bike doesn't exactly look British.

Ian.B

Apropos, I passed a chap this morning with a large 'keep left' roadsign on the back of his backpack. I wasn't sure if he'd stuck/sewn it on at the wrong angle or was encouraging people to cut up the inside.

desweller

Look, it's the only bloody photo I could find on Google all right? I mean, what do you even call it? Safety squirrel lollipop? Sticky-out reflector?