I am averaging about one, "DIP YOUR LIGHTS MOFO", shout a day on the NEPN.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Light wars 2018
(89 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
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Hi,
I have a genuine question (not a troll!). I really try to be careful about my lights position, but once again this morning I was shouted at pretty aggressively by someone saying that I am blinding people. Now, I can clearly see the center of both my lights beams are centered on the ground about 1 meter in front of my front wheel (see picture). And honestly, standing in front of my bike with lights on, I really don't understand where is the problem.
But reading this thread, maybe the problem is being the "cheap" one (that I keep on flashing mode, rather than the cateye? Would the beam be too wide/all over the place? Or was this person a bit over-obsessed with lights in general?
Thanks for any comments.
Posted 6 years ago # -
ould the beam be too wide/all over the place? Or was this person a bit over-obsessed with lights in general?
Probably a bit of both, some people are seriously over sensitive.
Personally I'd switch off the flashing one on the paths, they're much more annoying than a bright steady light. If you can see sufficiently by the path lights and the cateye you'll be fine.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@gowgowuk
Although most lights will form a beam i.e. a spot on the ground, usually the beam does not have a sharp cut-off (like the dipped lights on a car would have). Therefore loads of light still spills out at all angles.
A 300 lumen lamp may still spew 50-odd lumens out the sides which is more than enough to dazzle on a dark path, even when pointed down.
The only way for a lamp to have a good beam with a decent cut-off is if the LED (or light source) inside points rearward towards a shaped reflector mirror. This is what they do in car headlights and also a few (typically high-end German) bike lamps
I currently run a 40 lumen front lamp (Blackburn Flea) at half power and pointed down with no issues.
I reckon on full power, pointed-up, it would start to be bad for folks.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@gowgowuk those do look very pointed down! especially compared to folk whose are on 'straight' on their handlebars.
I know I have particular issues on inclines. and depending on my riding position/bike.
Posted 6 years ago # -
CCE has been known to run a "does my light look bright in this" session from time to time.
Might be interest again if someone catalysed it!
Robert
Posted 6 years ago # -
I also go with testing the lights by looking at the bike from across the street to see whether it would bother me, however I only use the bullet-type front light when I am mixing it with traffic.
I have a front and rear rechargeable Aldi COB lights which I use on the lowest (non-flashing) setting for the whole journey.
I used to use flashing lights to save battery so forgive other people who use flashing lights. I only complain to other folk if their lights are so bright as to make it impossible to see what is beyond them as that is a safety issue.
Positioning the beam lights down works for 99% of the time but it can cause problems when the ground is wet as the light is then reflected.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Thanks for the comments. I'll switch off the cheapo flashing light in the future.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Going by your photie, my guess is you were just unlucky enough to meet a light police.
I just don't buy that at the angle your lights are at, they were enough to seriously dazzle anyone enough to warrant a comment, let alone an aggressive one.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Gowgowuk is that a cateye volt 800 or a cateye 1700? I got a cateye 800 two days and have been using it with my cateye 300
Posted 6 years ago # -
Ed1: it's a cateye volt 200 XC. (the other one, I have to admit is one of the cheap light I got online)
Posted 6 years ago # -
The Cateye volt 200 has a 'low' setting of 30 lumens.
That'd be the one to use...
Posted 6 years ago # -
another bright cheap light this could be too bright
I wonder how they make such bright lights so cheaply unreliable, or not really that bright.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I can't comment on the reliability but they will not be Li-ion batteries I assume. Most likely NiMH or even Nicd.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Nah, lithium batteries are cheaper, well the sort that comes out of the grey factories, 18650 cells need to very closely supervised when charging for fear they burn your house down.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Had a rear-light dazzler last night. First time ever. Young lady with a tube-shaped lamp. More like a red front light than a proper rear lamp.
On the way home a young lady with a glow-worm less bright than her reflector in the beam of my front light.
Can't win, eh?
Posted 6 years ago # -
My 1500 lumen lezyne front light has the capacity to fry a quail's egg on top as it gets so hot. Also takes days to charge and runs out after two hours full monty. Thank goodness it was fifty quid only in Evans it appears to be as bad as a cheap Chinese copy
Posted 6 years ago # -
@gembo
Exposure Joystick. Best front light, best-named front light. Will stun a quail at fifty metres or an owl at two hundred.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@iwrats
Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.Posted 6 years ago # -
Oooh. Are those the ones with shells hand-carven from single pieces of aluminium?
I have a spare Philips Saferide in my box of things for when my current one dies. Lovely horizontal cutoff.
Posted 6 years ago # -
This thread should really be called "Light Wars: Revenge of the Seethe"...
Posted 6 years ago # -
Are those the ones with shells hand-carven from single pieces of aluminium?
Oh yeah baby.
@Murun Buchstansangur
Amen.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@gowgowuk how are you finding your Charge? I assume that's a Grater 3 like mine. Certainly the same colour.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Unpopular opinion time - most lights are a waste of time. You are almost always perfectly visible on any street with lighting and car drivers see you.
The only reason (other than it's the law) to have a light is
1) So that you can be extra visible to people turning out of side streets
2) When you're riding where there are no street lights so you can be seen/see the path.Adorning yourself with loads of lights makes 0 difference to how noticeable you are in the majority of situations where people think it makes the most difference.
Henceforth flashing lights are pointless anywhere but on quiet country roads.
That's my thots, my opinion. Remember to love one another, and ride like everyone is out to kill you.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Adorning yourself with loads of lights makes 0 difference to how noticeable you are in the majority of situations where people think it makes the most difference.
well it's certainly an opinion. I have an 8yr old MTB Exposure Maxx D something something which is 980lumens. I notice a huge difference when cycling along Salamander / Seafield Rd when I have that flashing vs solid beam. Generally I am far faster than the queuing traffic every night. With a solid beam I am just another light lost in the noise, but when its flashing cars def see me coming pretty much all move over allowing me to barrel down the inside.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Hmm, inclined to agree that flashing lights have one huge advantage - they say "I am a bike" because (almost) no-one else uses them.
@ARobComp The only reason (other than it's the law) to have a light is
(3) on pitch dark bits of path (e.g. The Dene) to dazzle potential lurking ne'er-do-wells and prevent them from being able to see who is riding the bike approaching and formulate Bad Intentions on that basis. (With apologies to the occasional stealth dogwalkers I've dazzled in the process.)
Posted 6 years ago # -
Unless riding in groups: one steady, one flashing in each direction.
The flash should ideally be something that is on all the time and pulses, and certainly shouldn't be regular on/off equal periods. The Exposure flash pattern is perfect in my eyes.
Had a devil of a job working out what I was seeing last night, through a rainy car window whilst emerging at a T-junction. It was a cyclist in front of two other cars, but with a regular flash on/off front light (only). Very bright, but indistinguishable from the near-side headlight of the car two behind that was being intermittently hidden by the car in front.
Yes, a careful driver (he says humbly) will work it out. No, I wouldn't trust my life to that...
Posted 6 years ago # -
The flash should ideally be something that is [not] on all the time and pulses
Agreed.
The ones that do 4 rapid flashes then pause, similar to aircraft strobes, are the best for attracting attention, without sending drivers into epileptic fits.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@wingpig
shirley you've experienced bracket failure with the phillips saferide ?
have you fettled your way out of it ?
i have a couple that i'd like to put back into service
Posted 6 years ago # -
There was an impatient oaf on the Innocent yestereve with three different flashing things flashing at three different rates at three positions (handlebars, waist (a long light bar thing) and head) who would have been very irritating to encounter in the dark.
@bax There's a B&M bracket available from Rose/SJS which is almost identical but much stronger - I'll link in a moment...
Both are currently attached to the fork crown where they were intended to be, but they have previously been clamped to the handlebars with jubilee clips for a few years without mishap.
Posted 6 years ago #
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