http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Front lights: flashing or not? en Mon, 01 Jun 2026 01:30:13 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-180173 Sat, 07 Feb 2015 09:27:58 +0000 gembo 180173@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>From charlie brooker' screen wipe - dippy the diplodocus is the only dinosaur from the 1970s children are still allowed to go near </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-180171 Sat, 07 Feb 2015 00:15:25 +0000 Instography 180171@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I reckon if drivers can't see the 300 lumens pointing at them they won't spot the little glow pointing a cyclist's belly. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-180111 Fri, 06 Feb 2015 13:35:43 +0000 Darkerside 180111@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I realise it has a hood, but I still wouldn't be keen on the risk of losing my night vision to a rear-facing white light.</p> <p>I used to use an upward-pointing red magicshine at the back to illuminate the recumbent's seat though. That was pretty effective. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-180053 Fri, 06 Feb 2015 08:18:02 +0000 wee folding bike 180053@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm not sure you should be making that kind of revelation about something from the '70s. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-180052 Fri, 06 Feb 2015 08:10:12 +0000 gembo 180052@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>When I appear to have left my lights on my bike at WHEC and therefore distributed them Around the area, I replaced them with some dinky Moon wee USB lights I could point one back towards me for sure. Does it give a ghostly glow?</p> <p>You used to be able to use the very big every ready torch, thie one with the handle and the big lens to create a dramatic up light effect. If you shone it up towards your chin. My father in law specialised in this trick when his daughter had pals round for a sleepover. 1970s </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-180048 Fri, 06 Feb 2015 00:09:16 +0000 I were right about that saddle 180048@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Hankchief</p> <p>@kaputnik spotted a dude at Haymarket doing just that. I just bought a Lezyne microlight to do the same job. Must get round to fitting it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-180047 Fri, 06 Feb 2015 00:08:18 +0000 Instography 180047@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I do a Friday night ride with a friend with a light that shines a low level light back onto his chest. Must say, when we've dropped him and are waiting for him to catch up he's very noticeable.</p> <p>Now that I've looked, it's one of those. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-180045 Thu, 05 Feb 2015 23:52:49 +0000 HankChief 180045@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Saw this on GCN and wondered what the hive mind made of it...<br /> <a href="http://www.lightrider.co.uk/">http://www.lightrider.co.uk/</a></p> <p>Basically it is a relatively standard steady/flashing front light but with an extra rear facing light which illuminates the riders chest.</p> <p>Seems like a good idea, but I wonder if you'd be as well taking a cheapy light and doing the same yourself. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-135149 Sat, 30 Nov 2013 22:52:39 +0000 allebong 135149@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I believe this has been brought up before but it's well worth a read:</p> <p><a href="http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/regulations/lighting-regulations" rel="nofollow">http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/regulations/lighting-regulations</a></p> <p>As I understand it you have to have at least one 'approved' light front and back otherwise you are technically breaking the law. Technically in the sense if you have an accident after dark and your fancy LED lights aren't BS approved that will count against you, though it's extremely unlikely you'd ever get in trouble for it otherwise. </p> <p>I lack the brainpower to fully decipher that page but I believe wingpig is correct that a flashing light above a certain brightness automatically becomes approved so you'd be fully covered. Or not as I read at the end:</p> <p><em>'any flashing lamp that is also capable of emitting a steady light is approved only if it conforms with BS6102/3 when switched to steady mode.'</em></p> <p>Okay, so if I had a light with only a flashing mode, and it was above the brightness threshold, it'd be approved, but if the light also had a steady mode it'd only be approved if the steady mode was also approved, even if it was on flashing...argh... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-135147 Sat, 30 Nov 2013 21:16:00 +0000 LaidBack 135147@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'd agree that the dynamo powered IQ and others from B+M give the right kind of lighting. I run my Edelux version during the day as I'm on a lower bike. I also think that a flashing light higher up should help although I haven't noticed any great change when I've used.<br /> Rear is a Cherry Bomb set on flash. This though may be irritating for following traffic. Whether this is actually a bad thing is something discussed on another thread.<br /> German laws control lights to steady beams as they must reckon it's easier to judge speed, position and distance from a non flickering light source. Here we have a bigger variety.<br /> I must admit that before discovering the quality of self generated light I would have gone the max lumen route. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-135145 Sat, 30 Nov 2013 18:48:31 +0000 custard 135145@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Saw a guy cycling up to Tranent yesterday<br /> had the slowest flash on a light I have ever seen<br /> easily a couple of seconds between flashes </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-135142 Sat, 30 Nov 2013 17:57:33 +0000 wingpig 135142@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><blockquote><em>"... the law states the beam must be constant..."</em></blockquote></p> <p>It did used to be the case (until 2004ish?) but now flashers are permitted to be attached to the bike as the only light, technically as long as they exceed a stated brightness. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646&page=2#post-135141 Sat, 30 Nov 2013 17:48:33 +0000 Boab08 135141@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Flashing front and rear. I feel that you just merge in with all the other lights when you have a constant beam.</p> <p>I've heard from other cyclists that the law states the beam must be constant. Never seen anything to back that up. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133201 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:22:26 +0000 Blueth 133201@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I think Allebong has the best explanation of what I experienced. </p> <p>The prize is too valuable to trust to the post so I'll hand it over next time we happen to meet in Stockholm :-) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133191 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:38:04 +0000 Uberuce 133191@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I will attempt an alternate scientific(aka I am making it up as I go along) theory: the human visual system evolved the way it did because the ability to note and track moving objects of roughly constant illumination is a vital survival skill, and so it noting new objects coming into the field of view. </p> <p>The latter is why blinky is so so eye-catching. The former is why solid lights are easier to track. </p> <p>With a swarm of..oh hang on, I'm actually saying the same thing as allebong. Your eye/brain system just gives up when confronted by too many new objects, and can't tell you what the velocity of the group is.</p> <p>What I would be very interested to see is the effect that rider would have if his or her brightest light was on solid. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133181 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:11:00 +0000 KarenJS 133181@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@allebong I like your theory. There must be a reason that other road vehicles do not use flashing lights, apart from indicators, and I think this is it, sensory overload. </p> <p>Do remember us when you're famous ;-) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133179 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:03:43 +0000 allebong 133179@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>'Maybe someone can give a scientific explanation? '</em></p> <p>No but I'll try :P</p> <p>You can't take notice of every single flashing light you see as it'd be complete overload. Indicators, bike lights, headlights being cut on and off in the spaces between moving traffic etc. Your brain has to filter it down. So perhaps the guy with all the flashing lights was just reduced to background noise and ignored as that doesn't fit the profile of a bike. A single, steady light moving along at handlebar height is immediately identifiable as a bike however as that, consciously or not, is what people will be looking out for. </p> <p>I'll take my Nobel prize in the post please. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133176 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 21:55:18 +0000 Blueth 133176@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>If the chap I saw last week with eight front lights, all flashing out of sequence and at varying heights, is reading this he may care to know that, actually, he was nowhere near as visible as he presumably thought he was. I'm not sure why but maybe something to do with breaking up his shape and the differing light levels between them. </p> <p>Conventionally lit bikes were more obvious. Maybe someone can give a scientific explanation? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133174 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 21:53:16 +0000 Kenny 133174@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I nearly came a cropper this evening when going from East Barnton Avenue to Queensferry Road through the small and phenomenally dark dirt track outside the high school. Someone was coming towards me with a strobe light on, and I almost rode into them because I was so blinded by the light. If it had been on steady, I doubt it would have been a problem at all - I can look towards an always-on light, even if it is bright, but I can't look anywhere near a flashing light of the same power.</p> <p>I realised this once when riding along the NEPN with my own front light on flashing mode, as I had pedestrians actually stop and shield their eyes when I rode towards them. I've never had that once with a solid light on. So mine is staying on solid from now on.</p> <p>(Rear light is a different story; one solid, two flashing, but they are red and thus far less distracting) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133172 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 21:41:56 +0000 allebong 133172@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>For serious darkness I have one of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cycling-Bicycle-HeadLamp-HeadLight-Waterproof/dp/B007WAAO70/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1384806984&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=xml+t6">these</a> on the bars with a diffuser lens and one of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/ULTRAFIRE-WITH-CREE-XM-L-UPGRADED/dp/B008WMSQ72/ref=sr_1_6?s=lighting&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1384807029&amp;sr=1-6&amp;keywords=xml+t6">these</a> on the helmet. Both of them have rapid strobe modes but I can never fathom out why. I suppose for the hand torch you could maybe argue it might come in handy to get attention for whatever reason but why wouldn't you just wiggle it about for the same effect....the bar light on the other hand has absolutely no use for the strobe setting but the way it's set up you often have to select it for a second or two before it'll turn completely off. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest when I say you could quite easily cause a crash or at least a pant-wetting moment if you put the strobe on in town or in the country, even with it dipped and the diffuser lens on. It's not happened yet as I know the quirks of the buttons and modes now but still... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133170 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 21:30:27 +0000 Uberuce 133170@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I have ridden around Harrison Park with a 650 lumen strobe on my head for photographic purposes: </p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/uberuce/8436804978/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8363/8436804978_7904979dc9.jpg"></a></p> <p>It was a ruddy nightmare. You can see from the light trails that it's off 80% of the time, but when it's on it's fearsome. Very disorienting, and if I hadn't been in a largely deserted park that I know like the back of my hand, I would have quit. </p> <p>That mode is described as Daylight Visibility and it is quite counter-intuitive to activate, so the fact it exists isn't truly insane; I do use it in daylight dreichness. </p> <p>That is one of three times that light has ever been on the helmet mount. One of the other two times fimm was modelling it for me, and the last was yesterday in Harrison Park again, as I compared it with the light powered by my new Dave-plagiarising dynodrum commuter front wheel.</p> <p>In terms of sheer photon muscle, the IQ Fly is hugely outperformed by the NiteRider 650, but the beam pattern is so much smarter that I can see the road/path more clearly, and the horizontal cut-off is bound to be friendlier to oncoming persons. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133168 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 21:25:24 +0000 allebong 133168@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>2 lights on the bars, both quite bright so dipped appropriately, on road one is steady and the other is on flash. The flash on this light is a steady on-off rather than a rapid strobe. On unlit bits of canal/path etc both bar lights are steady.</p> <p>During the day when it's dull/drizzly or otherwise bad conditions the helmet light goes on the bars as it has a more rapid strobe flash that's very attention getting without being dazzling or annoying during the day. </p> <p>I don't mind rapid flashing lights along the canal if they're just the little blinky ones, though I don't know how people cope without them throwing any seeing-light. The bright, piercing strobing ones are a nightmare. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133162 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 20:57:53 +0000 KarenJS 133162@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I agree with @ charterhall that high powered flashing lights on an unlit path is a nightmare, came across this on the innocent path today. Aside from confusing me, I did wonder if the rider could actually see the path it was so on/off. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133154 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 20:35:21 +0000 Dave 133154@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I've had a few close calls on NEPN where I thought the oncoming rider was much further away than they were, while overtaking a slower rider going my way.</p> <p>Boring old solid lights for me, and no issues being seen, ever.</p> <p>I think flashing is good if your lights are otherwise hard to see, but I'd rather have a proper one and just have it on. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133141 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 19:58:34 +0000 Stickman 133141@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>At the front - one solid, one pulsing on the bike plus one flashing on the helmet</p> <p>At the rear - one "sequence" flashing (think it's called Knight Rider mode - two out of four LEDs are on at any time) plus another flashing on the helmet. </p> <p>Don't know if that's too much/not enough/just right. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133132 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 19:19:34 +0000 Kenny 133132@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>One thing that occurred to me after posting, but when I was nowhere near a computer, was not just whether they flash, but *how*. Lights that flash but are on, say, 80% of the time are vastly less problem for me than those which are on only 20% of the time. I have great difficulty with those, because they are essentially strobing, whereas the ones that are pretty much on all the time but go "off" briefly are far better, both for me to see where they are, and for others as they are not blinded.</p> <p>YMMV. Thoughts? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133109 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:20:59 +0000 skotl 133109@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I agree with the majority.</p> <p>£15 cateye on blinky and a B&amp;M ixus either;</p> <p>a) off, in twilight<br /> b) solid (they don't flash) at 10 lux in town, at night<br /> c) solid at 40 lux on unlit roads</p> <p>As an aside, when in #C mode, I dim it to 10 lux if another cylist is coming toward me but not if another car is coming toward me. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133046 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 11:39:11 +0000 fimm 133046@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>On the Brompton: two lights front, two lights rear. One of each on flash, the other on continuous. None of those lights are very high powered.</p> <p>On the road bike: two "be seen" lights on the rear; one on flash, one not, as before. On the front: a not very good, considering how much it cost, cateye that does not have a flash mode, and a much brighter light which I need to see where I'm going on unlit roads. This light is pointed down, and is only on its highest setting out of town, in town I turn it down. It also has a flash setting which I think is far too bright in the dark - however I have used it in daylight a few times recently, in the early(ish) morning and out of town when I felt that anything extra to add to the "HELLO! I am here!" effect was worth having. It is the only light I own that I would bother using in daylight, none of the others are powerful enough. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133045 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 11:34:15 +0000 PS 133045@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>[I posted this earlier on the wrong lights thread...]</p> <p>Anecdotal and all that, but sitting in a car at the Blackhall traffic lights in the gloaming yesterday evening cyclists I saw coming the other way were a lot more noticeable and from a distance away when they used flashers rather than still lights. The 6 or 7 I saw all seemed to have decent lights, so kudos to them. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11646#post-133042 Mon, 18 Nov 2013 11:16:41 +0000 Bhachgen 133042@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>When it's proper dark - usually one solid and one blinky, both front and back.</p> <p>Blinky draws attention quickly and says "bike ahead", solid light helps to judge speed and distance better. </p> <p>Solid front obviously helps me see the road better when required too.</p> <p>Dusk/dawn/mizzle/fog etc - blinky all the way. </p>