Flashers

SteppenHerring

Pet peeve when I'm cycling or driving: yes, you've got 3 nice, bright back lights and that's great but they're all on flash - at slightly different frequencies. When I'm riding it gives me a headache and when I'm driving, well, it's a lot easier to judge distance to a constant light than a flashing one. So, how about leaving one or two on flashing to attract attention - which is good - and having 1 or 2 on constant?

meanredspider

There's a school of thought that says you might want to keep drivers guessing a bit as it makes them more cautious...

CiB

2 on constant, 1 flashing, and the same at both ends. So far it's worked.

I also have those reflective ankle bands with built-in flashing LEDs for the dark unlit country lanes but it did occur the other night that it might be sending a mixed signal to oncoming motorists who see approaching them a pair of decent white lights & a flashing white but with flashing reds moving up & down further down. On balance the Christmas Tree approach along with the 'keep em guessing' seems to be working so far.

pangolin

Thinking about it all 3 of my rear lights are on flash usually Well one pulses rather than flashing.

Partly an economical decision, they run out slower on flash.

Again, it seems to work. Though I guess we don't hear many posts from those it didn't work for...

rubertoe

I use 4 lights on the back, R1 and R2 on the bike R1 solid, R2 pulsing. A generic cheap but bright Smart light on my back pack that is solid and a smart mini on the lid that is flashing.

TBH, as long as I am seen and drivers are more cautious around me then tough.

sketchley

Two lights at rear, one flashed the other constant. Helpfull that despite being from same company one press of one and it flashes one press of the other and its constant.

veronese68

Sketchley wrote:

Two lights at rear, one flashed the other constant. Helpfull that despite being from same company one press of one and it flashes one press of the other and its constant.

Coincidentally I have this too. Or at least I will when I'm back on the bike.

jonomc4

I have one rear light - never been hit from behind

mudcow007

I run R1, R2 an magicshine MJ818

R1 flashing

R2 flashing

MJ818 - solid pointed at the floor 2-3 foot behind the bike creating like a giant red halo around my rear wheel

need sunglasses if your following me sucka

walkingbootweather

meanredspider wrote:

There's a school of thought that says you might want to keep drivers guessing a bit as it makes them more cautious...

I often don't do all the buttons up on my rain coat for this very reason. Then again just wearing a rain coat with lycra shorts seems to make everyone I meet quite cautious :?

As far as rear lights go - one solid and one flashing is what I do.

Ouija

Rather than shine flashing lights into the eyes of motorists coming up behind you, irritating them, another option is to illuminate yourself instead. Take an insanely bright Cree XML-T6 based chinese torch, stretch a orange or red balloon over the head and then mount it parallel to your seat post so that it's either pointing down towards your cranks or up towards the underside of your seat (works better if you put some sticky backed silver foil on the underside of your seat) and then set the light to flash in either slow SOS mode or rapid standard flash. Depending on the thickness/colour of the balloon rubber the brightness gets knocked down from 1000 lumen to about 300/400 lumen. But, most importantly, rather than shining directly into the eye of the motorist it simply illuminates your back, legs, frame (mines silver) the trees and road all around you, creating a puddle of very noticeable light all around you. Makes you very noticeable but very little focused light hits the motorist, causing them to shield their eyes.

The strobe does make you look like your doing a stop-motion robot dance at a disco though.

Kieran_Burns

District 3 in not-so-fecking-insanely-stupid-bright-mode steady beam means me, the bike, the road and anything I'm passing glows red. This works

The LD1100 is just there for sh*ts and giggles to be honest.

daviesee

If the lights are no brighter than car lights, what's the problem?
If they are brighter, why?

SimonAH

Not quite sure how he's done this - but Tynan on LFGSS posted this a few years ago;

http://www.lfgss.com/post170948-1.html

I like a LOT :-)

cookdn

jonomc4 wrote:

I have one rear light - never been hit from behind

Generic 3xLED light on constant, Smart R2 on pulse. I will probably augment/replace the generic 3xLED light with something a bit more powerful (second Smart R2 or mj818 ?).

With only one light I would be constantly nervous that it had failed and I was now unlit. For me >= 2 is a more reassuring approach.

Best regards
David

UndercoverElephant

SimonAH wrote:

Not quite sure how he's done this - but Tynan on LFGSS posted this a few years ago;

http://www.lfgss.com/post170948-1.html

I like a LOT :-)

Nice! I would imagine it was a glass-fibre seatpost with a regular light in it. Looking at the clamp, it would appear to just bolt on to any tube of a given size.

Hmmm...

coopster_the_1st

3 Smart rear lights, 2 on seat stays, 1 on saddle bag. All on constant.

To me a flashing light says I'm a cyclist and a motorist acts accordingly. So having them on constant keeps them guessing and hoping they slow down

The other reason for 3 is I have no issues if 1 fails while I am on my journey

jonomc4

Never had a light fail on me - they let you know when they are running flat - I replace the battery - no problem. I have folloed some cyclists with rear lights to bright and pointing upwards - I found it dangerous following them (and annoying).

SteppenHerring

For me, I have a Smart rear light and one of those long 4 LED Cateye jobs. The Smart goes on constant and the Cateye goes on "Knight Rider" mode for the commute (so there's some movement). I do use the Cateye on flash for TTs (upright to be more aero) what with not wanting to end up smeared along the A24.

pangolin

jonomc4 wrote:

Never had a light fail on me - they let you know when they are running flat - I replace the battery - no problem. I have folloed some cyclists with rear lights to bright and pointing upwards - I found it dangerous following them (and annoying).

I've had a light fail.

If you had never yet had a puncture, would you not carry a spare tube?

chedabob

SimonAH wrote:

Not quite sure how he's done this - but Tynan on LFGSS posted this a few years ago;

http://www.lfgss.com/post170948-1.html

I like a LOT :-)

Looks like some kind of EL Panel wrapped around the seatpost:

http://www.surelight.com/EL_parallel_panels.htm

dhope

UndercoverElephant wrote:

SimonAH wrote:

Not quite sure how he's done this - but Tynan on LFGSS posted this a few years ago;

http://www.lfgss.com/post170948-1.html

I like a LOT :-)

Nice! I would imagine it was a glass-fibre seatpost with a regular light in it. Looking at the clamp, it would appear to just bolt on to any tube of a given size.

Hmmm...

Was a normal seatpost with a thin EL layer wrapped around
http://www.lfgss.com/thread5820.html

So just get some of this
http://electroluminescence-inc.com/ELtape.htm

and you're sorted.

redvee

I'm running a MJ818 on the seappost flashing, a Mars 3.0 on the rack constant and a Fibreflare on the pannier bag to give some more width on constant too.

Topaxci

I like to think I have a decent combination of lights and reflectives.

5 forward facing, helmet and bar end triangulation to make myself look as big as possible. With only the smaller light in the center of my bars on flash.

Rear has 5 lights, though 2 of these are little reflective LED strips which I have on flash with the rest on constant.
Plus reflective spokes and big reflective panels, I hope I can certainly be seen, seem to be getting decent amounts of room on what is pretty much an urban commute.

SteppenHerring

Topaxci wrote:

I like to think I have a decent combination of lights and reflectives.

5 forward facing, helmet and bar end triangulation to make myself look as big as possible. With only the smaller light in the center of my bars on flash.

Rear has 5 lights, though 2 of these are little reflective LED strips which I have on flash with the rest on constant.
Plus reflective spokes and big reflective panels, I hope I can certainly be seen, seem to be getting decent amounts of room on what is pretty much an urban commute.

Post if you ever get a SMIDSY.

cookdn

Topaxci wrote:

I like to think I have a decent combination of lights and reflectives. [....]

Hmmm, perhaps I should install the spoke reflectors that I got from Aldi over the summer. Are those bar-end lights you have there? A few of the natives were using them overnight at the Rad-am-Ring 24h race, quite effective from behind.

Best regards
David

meanredspider

Topaxci wrote:

I like to think I have a decent combination of lights and reflectives.

Ever thought you might produce less CO2 if you drove a car....?

Topaxci

Cheers, I actually got SMIDSY'd twice this year (which cost me a bike and a week in hospital) both in broad daylight by cars pulling into me. So now it's dark I'm taking no chances.

All the lights are either powered by rechargables or CR032 which are dirt cheap if you buy bulk. So shouldn't have too much fade or additional cost problems.

Are those bar-end lights you have there? A few of the natives were using them overnight at the Rad-am-Ring 24h race, quite effective from behind.

The lights on the bar ends are actually a pair of Knog Frogs which are wrapped around the very end of the bars, they're angled slightly down so as not to dazzle but still visible from quite a distance.

Hmmm, perhaps I should install the spoke reflectors that I got from Aldi over the summer

I got a set from Aldi earlier in the year too but found they were a bit big for my spokes, so gravity kept sliding them up and down like spokey dokeys. The set I have came from Amazon, a bit more expensive but they fit very snuggly and tend to stay put.

Kieran_Burns

Spoke reflectors from Halfords

Very, very good

SteppenHerring

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Spoke reflectors from Halfords

Very, very good

I have those. One pack distributed across 2 wheels. I haven't been killed even once since using them.

rolf_f

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Spoke reflectors from Halfords

Very, very good

These are the same as the Aldi ones but twice the price (but more available!).