Forum Dictionary

[consularrider]

FYI – those “nicely shaped” German lights can also be blinding when they are improperly adjusted (about 25% of them here). And there are plenty of bike ninjas too!

[SolarBikeCar]

i dislike people who cover their light. My eyes can adjust to an increasingly bright light. Instead I get this flickering dim light until 20 feet in front and then bam, full brightness and my eyes can’t adjust. I suspect it is a passive aggressive assault on the oncoming traffic with the plausible deniability that one is trying to be “nice”. If people would mount the lights low instead of high (helmet lights are the worst) they could have brighter lights and everyone benefits from the lighted trail. One doesn’t rely solely on the light from ones own lamp but all ambient light so hiding one’s light to rely on the opposing traffic providing light is less light for all.

[chuxtr]

For y’all who are blinded by other riders’ lights when riding at night … just wear sunglasses at night!

[huskerdont]

Yeah, my night vision isn’t the best and I find my 600-lumin beam to be fine most of the time, but some damp mornings, like this one, it is borderline. Luckily it’s a helmet light so I can point it where I need to. And to the poster who says helmet lights are the worst, I suppose that’s so if the person points it right at you, but with a helmet light it’s easy to turn your head away. I’m not going to cover my light because that’s unsafe, but I will turn my head away and leave the edge of the light on the trail in front of me.

Anyone who complains will be ignored or have comments returned in like fashion, depending on the belligerence of the complaint. I’m not going to tonk on a branch or pothole I didn’t see just because someone feels the need to search for something to complain about.

[AFHokie]

@dkel 155669 wrote:

You’re not over 40, I guess. Since I turned 40, my vision has been getting worse and worse, not in distance vision, but close up and also in low light. When I started riding at night a few years ago, 350 lumens was plenty, now that I’m 44, that’s just not enough. I just got 800 this fall, and it’s probably brighter than I need, but man, it’s awfully nice to be able to see again. I also cover my light for oncoming trail users who are also using lights, whether or not they cover theirs.

As other’s have stated, beam shape is more important than the number of lumens. That’s why you can see at much farther distances with a small low power flashlight than you can with a stronger floodlight.

Lumens – The measure of the total amount of light from a given source. Not the actual brightness since the total light output is unfocused.

Candela – The power emitted by a light source in a particular direction. 1 candela = 1 “standard candle”

Candela is more important than lumens in a flashlight, lantern, etc. because candela is the actual measure of brightness in a focused beam. The lumen is a term referring to total light output, and is not a measure of the light when it is focused in one direction.

Comparing Lights Using Candela and Lumens – To compare candela versus lumens, it is always useful to understand that these are terms for entirely different properties of light. They do not mean the same thing. So when shopping for a flashlight or lantern, you should consider the job the light will perform.

If the light’s job is to illuminate a room, a field, or other wide areas, or if power/battery use is a concern, a higher lumen rating is what you want. If the light’s job is to produce a beam that will penetrate fog or smoke, or if you want to illuminate the length of an alley, see what’s in the tree tops and power lines or look at people/objects at a great distance, a higher candela rating is what you want.

From: https://www.flashlightdistributor.com/streamlight-flashlight-faqs/candela-vs-lumens.aspx

The problem is most all bike & flashlight makers now push lumens instead of candela. My guess is due to battery life concerns however a bright light is worthless if your moving at speed if it doesn’t focus the light in a specific direction.

To my knowledge Maglite is the only company that emphasized their light’s beam distance, but not sure if they still do since their competitors have conditioned the market to only pay attention to lumens.

Btw, I’m also over 40 and I have the opposite problem; my eyes are sensitive to bright lights. Still, I’d prefer you not cover your light so you don’t hit the ninja jogger/cyclist/dog/whatever behind me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930AZ using Tapatalk

[Crickey7]

@hozn 155666 wrote:

But in general there is a lot of unnecessary bitching about lights.

There’s necessary bitching about lights? I mean, that the prior 5 threads on this subject haven’t covered?

[Harry Meatmotor]

@Crickey7 155687 wrote:

There’s necessary bitching about lights? I mean, that the prior 5 threads on this subject haven’t covered?

It’s much easier to complain about something than it is to do anything about it, duh!

[Crickey7]

I am doing something. I’m complaining about all the complaining,

[MFC]

@SolarBikeCar 155676 wrote:

i dislike people who cover their light. My eyes can adjust to an increasingly bright light. Instead I get this flickering dim light until 20 feet in front and then bam, full brightness and my eyes can’t adjust. I suspect it is a passive aggressive assault on the oncoming traffic with the plausible deniability that one is trying to be “nice”. If people would mount the lights low instead of high (helmet lights are the worst) they could have brighter lights and everyone benefits from the lighted trail. One doesn’t rely solely on the light from ones own lamp but all ambient light so hiding one’s light to rely on the opposing traffic providing light is less light for all.

I don’t see the sense of covering the light. Basically, the rider takes one hand off the handlebars, and then makes it difficult to see if there is a frost heave or some sort of obstacle on the bike path. Not to mention the comic possibility of two bikers approaching each other, covering their lights, and then smacking into one another.

[dkel]

@MFC 155697 wrote:

I don’t see the sense of covering the light. Basically, the rider takes one hand off the handlebars, and then makes it difficult to see if there is a frost heave or some sort of obstacle on the bike path. Not to mention the comic possibility of two bikers approaching each other, covering their lights, and then smacking into one another.

I can keep both hands on the bars and cover my light. Also, I cover the top area of the beam, and leave the lower portion to illuminate what’s in the road in front of me; it doesn’t give me as much distance as with the light uncovered, but I can still see some of the road surface ahead. I do not understand why people give a complete black-out treatment to their lights: it really is of no use to have complete darkness around two oncoming cyclists. As with many things, there’s a lot of room in this to-cover-or-not-to-cover argument to find a place in which to exercise consideration and safety at the same time, to the best of one’s abilities.

[secstate]

I have a Cygolite Metro 550. I usually run it on the medium power setting unless I’m on gravel, unfamiliar trail, or going especially fast. It swivels nicely, so I just give it a little twist to the right when facing an oncoming cyclist. It still casts some light on the trail but with the main beam pointed away I can’t imagine it violates the safe space of any but the most committed LJW.

[Steve O]

@secstate 155725 wrote:

I can’t imagine it violates the safe space of any but the most committed LJW.

:confused:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13937[/ATTACH]

[secstate]

@Steve O 155730 wrote:

:confused:

Dude, look it up in the forum dictionary:

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?2783-Forum-Dictionary/page10

[hozn]

@SolarBikeCar 155676 wrote:

i dislike people who cover their light. My eyes can adjust to an increasingly bright light. Instead I get this flickering dim light until 20 feet in front and then bam, full brightness and my eyes can’t adjust. I suspect it is a passive aggressive assault on the oncoming traffic with the plausible deniability that one is trying to be “nice”.

In many years of commuting against traffic in the dark, I’ve probably only had a couple of people do this to me; I assume by accident.

If I had to guess, people probably just do this to you. Likely because you’re not covering your lights …. since it would be quite difficult for you to reach outside your car to do so. Luckily with how nicely your car is lit up, you’d fit in really well on an ACTUAL ROAD. (Yes, get the F#8^ off the W&OD.)

[hozn]

@MFC 155697 wrote:

I don’t see the sense of covering the light. Basically, the rider takes one hand off the handlebars, and then makes it difficult to see if there is a frost heave or some sort of obstacle on the bike path. Not to mention the comic possibility of two bikers approaching each other, covering their lights, and then smacking into one another.

It sounds like you’ve never ridden on the dark on one of the MUPs? People (at least 99% of them) don’t fully cover their lights; you can always see some light around gloves, etc. And people cast enough light in front of them to see obstacles.

This is a lot safer than being completely blinded and plowing into the back of a pedestrian/dog/slower-cyclist.

[Author]

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