A man on the NEPN with an overbright/too-upward light actually reached down to possibly adjust it, or at least pretend to this morning, making him the first potentially positive response this season.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
Dim Your Lights (Please?)
(107 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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Am I the only one having problems with securing lights firmly on "conical" handlebar? No matter how tightly I screw the mount, and despite a piece of rubber on the bar, it always seem to slip down and become loose. Any tips?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Chap on the canal this morning was running something so bright it was dazzling at 09h00. That's daylight. It was brighter than full beam HIDs on an Audi.
If I meet him tonight and he still has a bucket of sunshine on his bars my factor shall call on his factor.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Kenny, I suspect that when lights are that bright the reflective nature of tarmac comes into play and can still dazzle oncoming riders even when direct light is blocked. If said tarmac is wet it would only be worse.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@acsimpson - yeah, good point. I don't plan on deploying said light on the NEPN at all - I'll just use my secondary light when on the path. I'll use the bright one on the roads.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Well, so far I was reading this thread with no real opinion, but today, I fell "victim" of one of these bright lights on the Roseburn Path. After being briefly blinded, I rode into a pothole/irregular verge without seeing it. Thankfully, I manage not to fall completely and there was no damage, except for my b**ls on the middle bar! But I am now definitely on the "complainers" side. Btw, I also crossed a guy cycling in the dark with sun shades on! Maybe he was making a statement :-)
Posted 10 years ago # -
I also crossed a guy cycling in the dark with sun shades on
That could have been me, but I am now wearing clear lenses in my Oakley frames, hence they may appear to be sunglasses, but are in fact not. Honest.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Chap overtook me just before the two golf courses at Barnton, and then slowed right down going through the unlit section.
I didn't overtake as he was faster on section before, as we exited onto the road again, he slowed and said "Thank you for the light".
I was quite surprised as, as I've commented my dynamo isn't particularly bright, but seemed to be better than what he had.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Last night was bad on the NEPN, heading West at around 1845.
A number of high-intensity lights, some flashers, and some with both - nice.I have both but turn off the flasher when not on the road, and press the "dim" button on my B&M when I'm on the path.
You'd think that the people traversing the path would see the same in reverse and think "oh - I really should turn me lights down", but apparently not :(
Posted 10 years ago # -
As I waited to try and cross Balgreen Road from Balgreen Avenue to Saughton Crescent, another cyclist pulled alongside. As you do, I looked to my left to acknowledge their presence / check out their bike etc., and he looked to his right to do the same. Trouble was, he had not one but two helmet-mounted, downhill-mountainbiking-at-midnight-quality lights on his helmet, meaning all I got was an eyeful of photons and couldn't see a thing.
Inevitably it's the time of year when all varieties of expensive, powerful and by-and-large inappropriate light sources come out to play, with many people seemingly keen to mount very bright, powerful and focused lights on the top of their heads for the purposes of cycling about lit city streets and suburban cyclepaths.
Yes, it must be nice to be able to burn a hole through the rain to try and pick out potential hazards on the ground, but the price is searing the retinas of every oncoming cyclist passed meaning they are both dazzled and robbed of any acclimatised night-vision and that's nought but selfish. Bright lights on handlebars are bad enough when incorrectly mounted, but those mounted on helmets are always going to be at the eyeball height of oncoming cyclists, and will always be pointed directly into their faces every time they look in the general direction of oncoming cyclists (or drivers for that matter). It's a particular problem as helmet-mounted lights seem to favour a tightly focused, spotlight-pattern beam rather than a wider one.
I'm aware that other posters use various types of head-mounted lights, and also that most of them are cycling unlit/rural sections where these things could actually be of some use, my beef with these things is on busy and fairly well lit roads and urban paths.
Anecdotal evidence and unsubstantiated hearsay would suggest that such illuminants are favoured by a particular sort of cyclist who is usually younger, male and probably spends quite a bit of time and money on cycling and his bikes. Of course that may just be because by and large this demographic seemingly dominates my own particular commute route.
Other opinions on head-mounted lights are available.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I once bought a thousand lumen torch with helmet strap for about a tenner on eBay, so I'm not convinced it has much to do with money and privilege (although the "wrong type" of rider is more likely to just not have lights at all, I suspect?)
Posted 9 years ago # -
There is a possibility that the wrong type of lights are used by the peculiar demographic who have spent more than they could afford on them and as such feel the need to use them at every possibly opportunity. Rather than maintaining a set of expensive off road lights for trail centre riding and then another appropriate set for places where you are likely to meet oncoming traffic.
Posted 9 years ago # -
so I'm not convinced it has much to do with money and privilege
Of course I was referring to general external appearance of rider, rather than a detailed financial appraisal of their bank balance; it's more than possible to look at a glance like you've got a £350 light by spending £10 on ebay - the dazzling intensity of the 1000 lumens makes it even harder to work out if it's something proper high end or a clever Chinese knock-off ;)
Posted 9 years ago # -
One ninja to at least twenty ultrabrights this evening.
Also one scooter just clockwise from the red bridge and one christmas tree not far from the Lindsay Road exit.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Problem with "sensible" bike lights in the city is that they are drowned out by car lights. It is tricky to differentiate between a gap in traffic and a bike without mega bright lights when waiting in a car to pull out of a junction.
I recently picked up a stupid number of lumens but still cheap light for the rural stretch of my commute and it does have 3 levels of brightness but none which I would described as dipped. Anyone come across lights capable of a wide range of brightnesses or is the solution to carry 2 ?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Dippedness isn't about emitter-control levels-of-brightness as it's a lens/collimator beam-shape thing. Something like a Phillips Saferide would be offensively bright if it had a radially-symmetrical beamspread instead of its reasonably distinct horizontal cut-off, whereas with the cut off it's merely irritatingly bright.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I have two lights on my bike but more so that I'm not caught out by one set of batteries going flat. I keep the mounts loose enough that I can point further ahead if there is no-one coming.
Posted 9 years ago #
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