Offroad Bicycle Lights

[mrcharly]

Yes it does dazzle if shone in the direction of passing cars people, but its tester to be seen than not.

I do a *lot* of cycling. My normal cycling commute is 150miles a week, supplanted by weekend and overnight rides of anything up to 200miles in 24 hours.

I don't actually agree with your above statement. If your lights are dazzling a driver, that driver can no long judge your road position, direction or relative speed. Neither can a cyclist coming the opposite way (which is a particular problem on narrow cycle paths).

Bright light yes, dazzling, no. You can have a flood of light on the road and enough spilling at driver height to be seen. If you are worried about being noticed, add a 1/2watt front light and put it on flash. A flashing light on the road says 'Cyclist' to any driver and gets attention more than 1000 lumens.

 

[joe.ford]

a 1/2watt front light and put it on flash. A flashing light on the road says 'Cyclist' to any driver and gets attention more than 1000 lumens.

I would rather have a pair of bright lights (set up so the oncoming traffic isn't blinded) so that the cars may mistake me for something bigger, rather than a flashing light that tells them I'm a cyclist and easier to bully out of the way

So far I have had a tractor pull right over and let me through, a couple of mad white van man types and the other mad drivers you get at night on the lanes pull over and let me through. If they knew I was a cyclist I would have been in the hedge (like a certain freelander did to me from behind)

 

[mrcharly]

I use twin torches too. One pointing down left side of the road, one illuminating the road ahead. I can switch the ahead one off when approaching an oncoming car.

Why would you want to be mistaken for a bigger vehicle further off?

TBH, I think the 'bully out of the way' or 'trying to run me over' almost never ever happens. I maybe have a close encounter with a car (which is usually due to the driver being dozy) once or twice a year. So that's in about 7000miles of riding, mostly during commuting time.

 

[joe.ford]

Why would you want to be mistaken for a bigger vehicle further off?

One word

"Essex"lots of mad essex boy racers (rally driver wannabes) round here, or the I own the road Bmw's (disclaimer: I know not all bmw drivers are like round here)

 

[mrcharly]

Really don't follow your logic.

If the boy racer thinks you are a larger vehicle that is further away, that means they don't actually know where you are. May as well be invisible.

 

[petrochemicals]

have been gauping at ebay and candle power forums. Apparrently CREE R5 leds are the most efficcient , and there's some twin and rear one's on ebay