CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
I've been actively managing my photon canon this autumn. It's angled as far down as I can consistent with my ususl speed, but I've also been using the lowest output on the parts of the canal where streetlight gives an ambient glow.
In the unlit bits I turn the wick right up, due to ninja dogs and their subfusc owners.
@WC I think we have the same dyno-light, and I've certainly had the same pantomime theatrics off a guy on MMW once about the light, even through like yours it is mounted low and fairly dipped forward. Some people are just difficult, they probably also stare into the sun and complain about the damage to their retinas.
You could try retorting "raise your eyes".
"I'm not condoning bright bikelights pointing into people's faces, rather trying to explain why a courteously directed bright light might still cause (undeserved) offence."
I understand, but I suspect a bigger problems is 'unsuitable' lights and fewer (built-in) 'dip' options.
The fact that there are laws about "dipped headlights" for cars suggests that there used to be a problem that drivers (and manufacturers) had to understand and deal with.
Maybe UK should copy German(?) legislation and light importers/retailers need to do some better education.
The headlight complainers often don't appreciate that if you are coming down a slope, and they up it, that it's simply the relatively changed angles of things that are causing the offence, not an inconsiderately mounted light. Particularly an issue where the slope is not constant.
"
In countries that drive on the left such as the UK, dipped headlights are angled lower towards the road and to the left to reduce glare to oncoming traffic, the opposite applies for countries that drive on the right.
"
http://www.drivingtesttips.biz/what-are-dipped-headlights-when-to-use-them.html
I.e. there is an element of the lights pointing sideways not just 'down a bit'.
So with cars, this -
"headlight complainers often don't appreciate that if you are coming down a slope, and they up it, that it's simply the relatively changed angles of things that are causing the offence"
wouldn't be as much of an issue(?)
I'd care more about where I'm going and what I can see than if you are momentarily blinded (cause your lower down) and cant go in a straight line for 10 meters until you pass me.
It's not the fact that I can't go in a straight line for 10 meters that is the problem, it's that I can't see if the person with the blinding lights is overtaking anything so I have no idea as to whether there is any obstruction (pedestrian, dog, guy on bike who is coaching rowers when cycling on the towpath) directly in my path. I have to either stop or just carry on and hope that it's safe. There isn't much margin for error on the towpath if something is in the way and I really don't want to end up in the canal if it can be avoided.
I have yet to hear any complaints about my lights yet this year, although I pre-emptively switched my front light from the left to the right of the handlebars on my 'new' bike so that it naturally points slightly to the left of centre - I obviously did not think things through when I moved the mounting from my old bike...
Aside from the many overly bright front lights, and in particular those that are flashing, coming towards me, I am now finding that another problem is the overly bright front lights of any cyclists approaching from behind, which throw my own front light cone into a relative shadow. Also, overly bright back lights increasingly make the overtaking of such cyclists that much more difficult...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000R5NR8K/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have one of these which I used for LEL (lots of unlit roads cycling).
Solid single LED beam, focused into a small cone but with enough light thrown out to be very visible from a car. I even used it for single track night riding once (It's definitely not good enough for that)
Never had any issues with it not giving enough light apart from when travelling very fast, but understand that I also have good eyesight (no idea what difference that makes at night?)
Pros :
Solid cone that is very focused
Not much light leak.
Solid as. I have dropped it off the bike a few times and it's been fine.
Cons:
Not amazing for real off roading at speed
4AA batteries only last 7 hours or so at full brightness
no flashing mode (is that really a con?)
After 6+ hours of night riding with it on a dark night you get a weird dot appearing in front of your eyes that's hard to shift.
I haven't gone back to my EL-510 or -520 since I started using a dynamo but I keep meaning to getting round to hooking one or both of them up just to see what the beams I was using for years are like compared to a well cut-off SafeRide or Lyt.
A lot of the problem is the infrastructure, most of the canal for example is just too narrow. You would need a beam of no more than 18 inches wide to not blind other path users. I don't travel the canal very often, but when I do, pretty much everything coming the other way is blinding.
This year I have this light (http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/b--m-lumotec-iq-cyo-r-premium-t-senso-plus-front-headlamp/aid:709233).
It's German, meets all the thimgmy bobs, and people still complain about it when I pass them, and from my perspective it's next to useless, I can't see a thing with it. It's not bright enough, and the beam doesn't go far enough, and when I'm on unlit track (which a lot of my commute is) I can't go more than 10 mph for fear of hitting something.
The dynamo lights also can't be angled to the side, fixed bracket which points them straight in front. Did I mention they are useless?
I used the canal for my jaunt home last night (normally using either the Water of Leith, or only a shorter part of the canal past Harrison Park, and road to that point).
This reminded me that I can't win - if I have my bar light on the lowest setting and angled down, I can see where I am going fine, but can't see the many, many ninja walkers and runners. If I angle it up to see those in better time, I will be blinding others. I'll stick to roads or my quieter Water of Leith route.
I walked along the canal last night, and I confess I was not wearing desperately light colours nor holding any of the spare lights lying about my flat.
All but one of the lights were pretty bright and played merry hell with my night vision, which is never a problem when I'm cycling myself because of my front light illuminating the path ahead perfectly well.
The one that was painfully dim was the most alarming because I could see it drifting towards me, so I scooted right over to the edge, at which point I was passed with about a foot's clearance. Pretty sure the cyclist simply hadn't seen me - there is simply no way her light could have lit anything up, let alone my fairly drab blue sweater.
I took my phone out and lit it back up every time a cyclist was approaching from that point on.
@Uberuce
Spotted! The phone was a nice touch, thanks.
@Baldycyclist, The couple of times I've noticed you passing in the dark your light has been one of the dimmest around. Given that with a lot of lights there is no chance of identifying the owner your's must be at the lower end of the lumen scale.
@baldcyclist
If you have and aren't using your front rack mounts, it might be worth taking the metal bracket off and bodging an attachment lower down. That's how I've fixed my one of these that has half the lumens as your B&M but lights up unlit roads fine.
I'm surprised at the B&M though. I'm sure I have one of those on my Trucker attached at the fork crown and it lights the road very well. Maybe yours is broken.
Also surprised, I used an inferior model of Cyo until the end of last winter and it was good for 40mph on loads of audax rides after dark. Maybe it's shorting out or something?
If a cyclist dips their light and then crashes into someone who would have been picked up by a normally aimed light (i.e. one complying with StVZO) do they have extra culpability?
Hmm, I've just stumbled upon your review @Dave after searching for issues with the light.
My light is an 'r', so the beam is bright enough if you point it straight in front of your wheel. This is OK for the town cycle paths, but when on unlit tracks it's useless, so I had to tilt the light up to get the beam to extend further which in turn diminishes the brightness of the light.
I wonder if the solution would be as simple as replacing the lens? Now to look for lenses...
@IWRATS, it may not have been me, since I've seen a few others adopt the same lighting solution/bodge.
If the chap you saw looked like Uberuce and was wearing shorts, the aforementioned blue sweater and a black rucksack, then yep, he'd be me, right enough.
A jogger on the Pinkhill path tonight had a good reflective vest and an LED armband on. From a distance I thought he was on a bike.
The main thing about LED's , which are now the most common form of bike lighting for obvious reasons is that they are directional. Whereas the old filament bulbs emit light in all directions, focused by a lens, the LED sends the light out in a straight beam which is the main reason that we're having problems with front lights thrown onto bike handlebars and no thought given to the angle they're pointing at. Many in fact are so poorly fitted that they eventually point 45° down because the owner either hasn't used enough rubber spacing straps or hasn't tightened the mounting nut sufficiently. The other extreme , of course are the securely fitted ones which are pointing up at an angle to inadvertently blind oncoming fellow cyclists/pedestrians etc.
I'm so glad that motorists aren't left to fit lights to their cars!!
I use a combination of an always on B & M on the fork which lights up the path dimly 6 foot in front and is ok on a good clear path, a Moon rechargeable which is on steady beam on its lowest setting which is the "here I am" light and a cheap but ridiculously bright Cree which only comes on when on quiet unlit paths (and is switched off or pointed down if another cyclist is approaching).
I try to be considerate of other path users as I hate being dazzled myself and have come close to crashing before due to being blinded and forced off the edge of the A90 path. My eyes seem to be particularly susceptible to dazzling and it can be a problem when driving also.
I must admit that on the NEPN I have daydreamed a few times in recent days of mounting a row of ultrabright Crees on the handlebars linked to a single button and pointing at face height. Then when one of the worst offenders comes along click ... argh...
PS anyone seen the bike on the NEPN with a laser projection of a green bike a few foot in front? My gadgety side found that rather appealing but I haven't found where they are sold.
Respect to SRR.None of us wants to upset our fellow cyclists. Just a wee bit of thought is what we need.
Green bike projection thingy was on kick starter and been advertised a lot recently (FB?).
Blanking on the name right now though.
Found it - https://www.blaze.cc/laserlight/
Bit pricey at £125 though.
^ nice idea! but doesn't do the job, I'm afraid
I have a Blaze light with the green bike laser and ride the NEPN each day. Save your cash. It took 3 full days to charge and after 30 minutes, started indicating that it was running out of power. I kid you not. The green cyclist light is also barely able to be seen because the light is not remotely steady enough.
Also, it is _constantly_ changing the 'normal' light to flashing mode, which I hate. Today on the way home, it did it 3 times in the space of half an hour. I will be getting shot of it when I replace it at Christmas with something that doesn't have the green cyclist light gimmick.
(Alternatively, maybe I'm just one of the unlucky people who got the light as part of the Kickstarter project, and thus I have version 1.0, which is/was bound to be terrible.)
Hmmmm, that's a bit disappointing, I was thinking the Blaze looked a nice idea (well, still is a nice idea, but maybe the execution isn't great).
I do, however, still want a VeloCityLight (though looks like there are production issues at the mo, which is unfortunate timing....
The other "Velo-City" contraption runs two B&M IQ Cyo+ headlamps and the beam angle is adjustable from the cockpit. I was in the habit of keeping the horizontal cutoff at top-of-numberplate-level, until a (polite, after all this was Harrison Park) driver pointed out that they were 'very very bright'. I aimed them down a bit after that.
They've been aimed back up a bit after this week's motorists have appeared to be observing not very much at all.
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts