I need to bring this subject up again but I was hoping that their batteries might've failed. There are still a significant few out there on bikes who insist on trying to burn out my retinas with their high powered pointing upwards into the eyes front lights.There's one on the canal towpath around Shandon about 7:40am heading west each morning, I tried the careful, a-la-moth to lights technique this morning and he grunted at me. I retrorted by saying "you're blinding me - it's TOO BRIGHT". I just wish their batteries or LED's would expire soon!
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Too bright front lights AGAIN!
(17 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
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Same here.
I'm on the canal heading west a bit earlier than 7:40, so I know it's not me offending you Bigjack, but I do wonder whether I'm offending people or not. I know that people are offending me.
What is a reliable way to tell if your light is likely to be dazzling people (apart, obviously, from the curses and shouts of oncoming bikes)? I'm doubtful that propping the bike up and walking towards it is representative. Is there any way other than getting someone to ride a bike towards you and say it's OK.
I have the 'spot' of my light on the ground about 2-3m in front of me, but my light doesn't have a good beam cut-off, so I don't know if that's still dazzling people. I'd like to be sure I've got the moral high ground before complaining to others about their lights.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Greenroofer if your light is pointing down to the left whichnitmsounds like it is, complain as you like you have the high moral ground
To be fair to people who have bought their first super bright, super cheap light, if we don't tell them they need to dip then they might not know?
Posted 12 years ago # -
I think the Does My Lumen Look Big In This meetup is getting more and more like a must-do.
The idea there is that someone else rides your bike and wears your hi-viz and you get to decide for yourself how effective and/or offensive they are.
As Dave pointed out in the thread I started bearing the Lumen title, it makes sense in general to do this in the evening rather than morning, but I can easily meet up on the canal one morning next week and joust lights with you. I worry about mine, too.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Uberuce, no drama, yours are totally fine.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Lovely! Yours is problematic to me, but that's because I'm not just trying to use the road - I'm trying to see if the bike behind the Magicshine is a scuba-yellow Day One and it's fierce enough that I can't until you're side on.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Yeah, would be good to see what they are like from your perspective. Sometime soon obi wan
Posted 12 years ago # -
I prop my bike against a wall, walk a distance away from it, turn round, and walk back to the bike... Seems quite effective at seeing how bright the lights are...
(for variation you can walk slightly side to side, and bob up and down, which all looks ridiculous, but means you cover a variety of angles of view to see if any of them are blinding)
Posted 12 years ago # -
Drat. Foiled again. My no-standlight dynamo lyt is not very bright when the bike's stationary. (Standlight upgrade arriving soon though!)
Posted 12 years ago # -
Just spotted on CTC Cycleclips that there was an article in the Sunday Times this week about this very problem. Anyone see it? Assume the online edition will be firmly locked up behind the paywall...
Posted 12 years ago # -
I googled "Sunday times too bright cycle lights" which gets you a letter to the Sunday times on Downfader's Blog which contains a succinct summary of what has been said on here. One of the two comments on it mentions safety lamps from the 1980s which were about visibility rather than lighting the road. I had them. Made by pifco, slotted on and off a bracket, took huge ever ready paper battery that bled all over it destroying the light. Oh wait that was in the 1970s
Posted 12 years ago # -
Uberuce, no drama, yours are totally fine.
- Nelly, upstream.
A fortnight ago a chap covered his eyes when we passed on the NEPN. I was on 200 lumens(the setting you've always seen me on) and diligently maintain the spot patch ~3m in front of me. I remain 90% convinced he was just being a tart.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Bruce, yep almost certainly - yours is fine. Same as good car headlights, do the job if pointed right way, and a right royal pain in the a*se if pointed straight at your retina.
Posted 12 years ago # -
A fortnight ago a chap covered his eyes when we passed on the NEPN. I was on 200 lumens(the setting you've always seen me on) and diligently maintain the spot patch ~3m in front of me. I remain 90% convinced he was just being a tart.
Today in broad sunlight I'm reasonably sure someone on NEPN was howling at my light, which is the same horizontal cut-off beam device that it's always been.
I've stopped finding it annoying now as sufficient thousands of people are evidently unfazed by it such that I mark down the objector as a noddy and ignore them.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Some people are just plain angry about life and never miss the opportunity to moan. It must be an awful existence for them.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Actually, they think they're the only person in the room talking sense and they pity all the other clowns.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Couldn't agree more with those saying that it's mainly the angle the light's pointed at that's the real problem. I must also add that some of the double-decker types (handlebar light and helmet light are just plain ridiculously ott when on unlit paths such as the canal path or innocent path)I know they would argue that they need this set up to see the way but I would suggest that they are being extremely selfish and probably need their eyes tested!
Posted 12 years ago #
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