Any Light is a Good Light

[pfunkallstar]

Was riding home yesterday on ye old W&OD out by East Falls Church when I came upon an scene of interest. Biker Alpha was cranking away and passed Biker Gamma who was rocking a head-mounted lamp that was throwing a solid beam. Biker Alpha slowed down a good bit and signaled for Biker Gamma to pass, which he did, but not before Biker Alpha proceeded to speed up and chew him out for using a headlight “that blinds people.” Biker Alpha then peeled off and headed into the already set sun.

So there are a couple of things here: A) Biker Gamma was rocking a solid light, but isn’t that better than no light? and Biker Alpha passed Biker Gamma knowing full well that he would be riding in the BEAM OF DEATH. Is this a civility thing? Is the moon juxtaposed poorly against Aquarius (or whatever)?

Topic

[acc]

When the moon is in the second house and I’m wearing a helmet light that drives me crazy and makes me involuntarily shake my head in a Tourette’s-inspired tic, I decide to align with Jupiter and Mars.

Handlebar mounted works for me. And now I’ve got so much junk on my handlebars all I need is a harmonica and I’ll be a one-woman band.

But my logic beforehand was a helmet light would shine in the direction I looked, and that seemed to be a grand idea.

And the last thing I’m going to do is hassle anybody about their lights, I’m too preoccupied yelling at them for sprinting through intersections with red lights or stop signs. Gotta pick my battles.

Love will steer the stars, and I wish my bike,
ann

[jabberwocky]

I’m not a fan of helmet mounted lights on the trail. Not only because of the blinding issue, but also because they make it confusing to discern direction from a distance (its natural to assume a vehicle is going the direction the light is going when its all you can see).

But any light is better than no light.

[Terpfan]

I’d prefer to be blinded then run across some of these people who think that camoflauge is a good riding tactic.

[jrenaut]

Since there’s so many different opinions on what light is or isn’t appropriate, it seems that the proper response would have been to calmly discuss the issue rather than “chew him out”. I think a little civility could have cleared that right up.

[PrintError]

Since my evening commute is now in total darkness, I go by the tried-and-true “cover it with my hand” method, although if the oncoming rider continues to blind me, I “accidentally” let go about 10-15 feet too early.

[CCrew]

@jrenaut 10360 wrote:

Since there’s so many different opinions on what light is or isn’t appropriate, it seems that the proper response would have been to calmly discuss the issue rather than “chew him out”. I think a little civility could have cleared that right up.

Or the old “pump in the spokes” trick

[jrenaut]

@CCrew 10363 wrote:

Or the old “pump in the spokes” trick

That sounds decidedly uncivil.

[Riley Casey]

Expand that mantra to its logical conclusion. More light is better! I ride ( in the city and near in burbs ) with a helmet light, a handlebar light and a handle bar white strobe plus a red rear multi flasher. I’m thinking my spoke reflectors and reflective tire sides aren’t cutting it for this winters’ evening commutes and that LED strips may well be the way to go. I suggest that unless your ride starts AND ends on a trail and you never ride on a public street in the dark EVER that you simply remember the odds are not in your favor in a car / bike crash and being seen could be worth far more than the money and added weight when the occasion arises.

The argument that riding on a dark trail somehow entitles a rider to make someone else’s ride less safe? Grow the hell up. There may well be ways to make lights more effective since they do need to be illuminating the ground ahead on a trail more than alerting oncoming motor vehicle traffic to the presence of a bike but it just isn’t a thing to whine about. Whine about stuff that has genuine entertainment value.

[paulg]

If I’m using the Handlebar light, and if I can, I will put my hand over my light to shield it from on coming trail users but this puts me at a disadvantage when a bike with similar lights is coming at me. I now have one hand on the bars going into a dark pit of danger in the shadow of the oncoming light! Some times I can do this but other times I just don’t feel comfortable losing that 2 hand control and not knowing what’s up ahead.

With the helmet light I keep both hands on the bars and look off to the side away from the oncoming trail user. Seems to work. Anyone got experience of approaching someone who does this?

The helmet light is great in traffic as I can spotlight the drivers parked at intersections looking like they are ready to pull out on me. Flashing the light in the drivers direction gets attention better than a static handlebar light that can get lost in the surrounding glare of other lights.

[CCrew]

@jrenaut 10364 wrote:

That sounds decidedly uncivil.

Tongue in cheek :p

[jrenaut]

@CCrew 10382 wrote:

Tongue in cheek :p

Oh, I know.

[Dirt]

Just to fulfill my duties as Satan’s little helper…. I argue that a helmet light properly aimed gives great light that is less offensive to oncoming traffic for a few reasons: 1. The light is aimed at a more downward angle. The rider can easily turn his/her/it’s head to avoid blinding. And i: the headlight is easier to blot out with a baseball hat or something with a visor.

—
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.860861,-77.199554

[MCL1981]

Can I make a suggestion here, especially to those with plasma reactor powered headlights… Your cars headlights have to be properly aimed for good reason. Your bike should be no different an the result of not doing so is the same as with your car.

Measure the height from the ground up to the center of the headlight as mounted on your handlebar. Lets say it is 40″ Put your bike about 25ft from a wall on flat level ground. Mark that height up the wall with a piece of tape or other marking apparatus, in our example, 40″. Now with your bike back about 25ft from the wall, level the headlight beam so the top of the beam pattern is about 2″ below the mark. Done.

This is the same way headlights are aimed. This ensures that your death-ray is shining out but not up into people’s faces.

[Usern Ame]

No, any light isn’t a good light.
I think we can all agree that a light that is so bright that it is blinding is a bad light.
Everyone knows that having a bright light shined in your eye sucks.
Ever notice that when driving a car people turn off their high beams for each other?

[jabberwocky]

@Usern Ame 10460 wrote:

Ever notice that when driving a car people turn off their high beams for each other?

Its worth noting that car high beams aren’t necessarily brighter, they’re just aimed higher. Light aim counts more than lumens; a relatively dim light can be blinding if its aimed directly into your eyes (an extreme example is a laser pointer, which can blind you if shone directly into your eye, but you certainly wouldn’t navigate with one at night).

Car headlights are typically in the 1000-3000 lumen range, a number that very few bike lights approach.

[Author]

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