CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

Seriously fed up

(74 posts)

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123

  1. minus six
    Member

    I favour a Lumicycle twin beam front set up -- one spot, one flood. Always revert to spot as courtesy to oncoming road users, on unlit sections.

    If I don't receive the same courtesy, I can at least shield my eyes somewhat from a full beam in the face, using cycling cap peak.

    Flashing front lights on the other hand, are a serious disturbance, and seem pointless outside of an urban street situation. Yet many cyclists persist with them in every environment, as default. Probably just to save batteries.

    As many here point out, getting on a bike doesn't automatically turn anyone into a considerate fellow.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. Uberuce
    Member

    Perhaps resident electronic homebrewmiesters lionfish and steveo could devise the equivalent of those radar signs that flash your speed up? Instead of Xmph SLOW DOWN it'd say 500lum DIM YOUR LIGHTS.

    Then one sign later if it reads the same it'd read NO, REALLY. DIM YOUR LIGHTS.

    The last one sets off an EMP pulse that fries them, and flashes up TOLD YOU.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. Darkerside
    Member

    An alternative for stage three:

    I'll borrow the Red Cross Highly-Exciting-Emergency-Support-unit-Of-Many-Things, which include highly sexy telescopic floodlights. We set it off in a blinding pulse, accompanied by a cackling voice saying 'Call that a light? This is a light!'

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. wingpig
    Member

    I passed a recumberator on the Craigleith-Crewe Toll path last night which was sporting an LED-studded stick in a flag-like mounting position. From a way off it looked like it might have been a single retro-reflective strip on the front of a jacket. A rough guesstimate-count of the entities passed between Craigleith and Five Ways would be twelvish nicely-lit cyclists, two christmas trees, one blinding EXTREMEist, two ninja cyclists and six ninja pedestrians.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. neddie
    Member

    I now regularly pass another cyclist who shouts at me "dangerous" and "aggressive". Presumably because he doesn't like the brightness of my front light even on minimum setting.

    Strange thing is, he doesn't see the irony in his "passive-aggresive" behaviour!

    As if it isn't bad enough having to contend with motorists, without other cyclists adding in to the mix!

    The thing is, confronting other cyclists or motorists doesn't work - it just gets their back up and makes them more likely to do the misdeed in future.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @Uberuce should we not be talking Luxes as opposed to Lumens?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. Uberuce
    Member

    We should, but I couldn't be bothered looking up the lux from a 500lumen at the kind of range we'd be talking about.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. gembo
    Member

    @edd1e if you know he is coming, why don't you dip your light down and to the left when he is going to pass you and let him think he has won then put it back up to blinding in the eye of the oncoming bike level once he has gone? I go more for Bobby Dazzler etc. tonight round the path behind the prison I was illuminated very brightly from behind. This excellent illumination went on for a while then the chap tinged me with his bell. I was laughing and said, I know you are there, so he said Well I will pass you on the right, I was more than happy to oblige as by that point my turning off to Asda for the tea was just coming up. Was like a floodlight. I am wondering if perhaps some people have lights that are too bright for shared use and more suited to off road mountain biking? Clearly the doubling the brightness and halving the price has reached a tipping point

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. Its_Me_Knees
    Member

    As I joined the Roseburn Path at Wester Coates Terrace this (Friday) evening I caught the tail end of a wee contretemps between a youngish cyclist heading south and a more mature gent pootling north. The older gent had evidently complained to the younger about the intensity of the latter's front light. Not sure how the bulk of the conversation went but it concluded with the younger calling the older guy an 'old fart' before cycling off.

    Was disappointed at the name calling, although I also noted that the older gent - once on his way - went 'at pace' past a number of walkers without any obvious beam of light, or the merest ding of a bell, to warn of his approach.

    Still, we're none of us perfect, eh?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. minus six
    Member

    To ding or not to ding

    I recall inadvertently alarming a gaggle of retiring ladies with my bell, to their consternation

    "Public enemy number one!" exclaimed I, cheerily

    "Aye, and 2, 3 and 4" came the droll reply...

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. gembo
    Member

    If we adopt the calmly uttered "you stupid donkey" for rubbish cycling, maybe we could go with my jaunty "Jeez, that is a bobby dazzler" for these new cheaper blinding lights that are all the rage this season.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  12. cc
    Member

    @gembo does that work well? :)

    If someone blinded me on the path with too-bright lights I reckon I'd stop in the middle of the path and cover my eyes.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  13. crowriver
    Member

    @Uberuce:

    The difference between the lux and the lumen is that the lux
    takes into account the area over which the luminous flux is
    spread. 1000 lumens, concentrated into an area of one square
    metre, lights up that square metre with an illuminance of 1000
    lux. The same 1000 lumens, spread out over ten square metres,
    produces a dimmer illuminance of only 100 lux.

    From http://www.brillianz.co.uk/data/documents/Lumen.pdf

    Posted 12 years ago #

  14. gembo
    Member

    well no cc it doesn't work. But I am aware that issuing a command to dip that light like Hodges the ARP man in Dad's Army isn't well received and given the new phenomenon of everyone having a very bright light I need a similarly new strategy of laughing about it in a very mildly chastising manner. That won't work either but beats being cross about it. As I am getting on a bit my night vision retina rods are not as good as they used to be either but next winter we will all have twice as bright lights for half the price so we will all be blind.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  15. crowriver
    Member

    Maybe polarised specs are the answer? I understand some drivers wear them to stop headlight glare in the dark...

    Posted 12 years ago #

  16. wee folding bike
    Member

    Land did suggest polarised headlights and windscreens to reduce glare.

    Windscreens and lights would be polarised at right angles to each other. Reflected light would have random polarisation.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  17. rufus
    Member

    As someone said there is a real danger when you get the combination of an oncoming laser and a darkly clad pedestrian.
    That said I did dazzle someone on the towpath last week. I was trying our a light on my helmet and hadn't got it quite right. Sorry to whoever it was (who did shout something at me, quite reasonably). It seems a bit tricky with helmet mounted lights - the thing which make them good (being able to look side to side) also make it a bit bad when you tip your head forward and back.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  18. chdot
    Admin

    "
    Well I thought that last year’s Seca 700 (700 lumens…get it?) was impressive, and I felt that I didn’t really need anything more from a light. Then L&M come out with this, their Seca 900, with an eye bleeding 900 lumens of light…it’s like being on a film set. Boom…power extreme. This light is just phenomenal.

    "

    http://www.madison.co.uk/productinfo.aspx?vertical=cycling&tier1=Electronics+%26+Lighting&tier2=Lights+-+Accessories+%26+Spares&catref=EH8260277

    Posted 12 years ago #

  19. gembo
    Member

    Polarised specs.Yes. First came across them in earlyn1970 s. possiblynmillport pier. You could look down at the sea and see the fishes swimming beneath tHe waves and then the specs would fall off into the sea.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  20. 559
    Member

    @Its_Me_Knees
    For the record I was called a "grumpy old fart"
    My complaint was presented with no swearing, politely, their response was not.

    Not sure about the older gent tag, but anyway, didnt think i was going at pace. Also for the record front light was on and obvious.

    With regard to the bell issue, if the pedestrian is on a steady, non meandering route which they all were, iam not going to ring my bell, however, I will if they are erratic.

    Indeed none of us are perfect, but that does not preclude an opinion.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  21. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "With regard to the bell issue, if the pedestrian is on a steady, non meandering route which they all were, iam not going to ring my bell, however, I will if they are erratic."

    This was my way of doing things, then an old lady I passed pointed out to me (politely, I stopped and we chatted) that a cyclist suddenly appearing from behind with no warning gave people a start. So the bell wasn't to stop meanderers from meandering, but just to let people to know to expect a bike. Having removed the annoying always tinging bell from the bike I have resorted to other methods of making sure my approach is not inaudible (a Campag freehub on the commuter helps...).

    Posted 12 years ago #

  22. gembo
    Member

    Having a bell and ringing it to alert those ahead works for me. However, some folk are deaf, others get cross with you for ringing. do you think you own the place etc? With very old, deaf folk, I will be one of them soon, it is best to ring, smile, slow down, chat, be nice. even then, some of them still hate you just for being young?

    as this discussion always shows, whenever we have it, we all exist on a sliding scale of the amount of consideration we re willing/able to give to others. indeed, some days we are able to be more kind than others if we are not always rushing everywhere and are smelling the roses etc.

    no right or wrong answers but as Otis said Try a little tenderness

    Posted 12 years ago #

  23. Uberuce
    Member

    I put the studly winter tyres back on the bike, which I found to be the ideal solution. People turn to see what on earth is making that weird sound well before I'd normally be ringing a bell.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  24. fimm
    Member

    Bells, sigh, some people "read" a cyclist ringing their bells as saying "get out of my way", while others hear "hello cyclist approaching :) ". I've had an elderly couple compain that I should have rung my bell to warn them of my approach (I had, they obviously hadn't heard it, I'd then gone for a polite (but fairly loud, given that I hadn't been heard up to that point) "excuse me").

    Speed's all relative - I slowed down to pass someone on the Sliverknowes path the other day, but in retrospect thought that I could have slowed down even more (if someone whizzes past you too close at 40, you're not going to take "well I slowed down from 70" for an answer).

    edd1e_h if someone complained repeatedly about my light, I think I would investigate and see if I could do something about it. It is possible that this person has a point, even if you don't like the way they are making it.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  25. Dave
    Member

    Dunno... I have a horizontal cut-off approved light and still get people shouting at me, a problem which I've solved by turning it off (previously had no switch). However I only did this for an easy life, not because I thought it really was too bright.

    On bells, I don't like the ring and skelp past approach. I did briefly fit a bell in the festival but took it off because I felt it was encouraging me to take less care.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  26. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "However I only did this for an easy life, not because I thought it really was too bright."

    Yes, but if someone else thinks it's too bright then... I'm not suggesting we bow down to the lowest common denominator, but as an alternative example there are differences of thought on whether a car has passed too closely or not, and personally I'd like a driver to bow down to me as lowest common denominator who thinks he was too close. He'd be adjusting his behaviour not because he thought he was too close, but for an easy life. Which is fine by me.

    "... but took it off because I felt it was encouraging me to take less care"

    Having recognised that could you not just adjust your behaviour back rather than losing the bell? (I say this as someone else who doesn't use a bell (see thread passim on constantly rining annoyance)).

    @fimm, I agree, if there's a one-off complaint there's a chance it's someone who has taken umbrage having had a bad day or whatever, but if it's a constant, regular complaint, then there might just be something in it.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  27. PS
    Member

    "Having removed the annoying always tinging bell from the bike I have resorted to other methods of making sure my approach is not inaudible (a Campag freehub on the commuter helps...)."

    Yes - campag freehub FTW. I also flick my gear levers to make an nicely audible irregular clicking noise that almost always gets attention. It's like The Longest Day when I'm riding on the NEP... ;o)

    With these super-brite (TM) LEDs there's usually several less bright settings (say, 600, 400 or 300 lumens) that allow you to tone things down and save battery life. Not sure what settings everyone goes for, but there's no need to be full-on bright all the time.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  28. chdot
    Admin

    "campag freehub FTW. I also flick my gear levers to make an nicely audible irregular clicking noise that almost always gets attention"

    So that's the brand of the extreme noise freewheeling. Could never live with that!!

    I have one bike with SRAM gripshift, slightly loud, but usually works as 'audible warning of approach'.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  29. steveo
    Member

    Hope hubs are brutal they sound like fishing reels; after a long weekend with my mate and his I could kill him when ever he stopped pedalling!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  30. kaputnik
    Moderator

    I find loud freehubs antisocial on group rides, if the rider is one of those annoying types who pedals for 10 strokes then freewheels for 2.

    The gentle "tick tick" of chdot's Moulton rear hub is quite good announcing the presence of cyclists on the canal towpath.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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