Lateral or Sideways Nightime Visibility to Others

[vvill]

Of all the kickstarter projects for bike lights, this was the most impressive/promising, I thought. Should be on the market soon:

http://revolights.com/

[Dirt]

Wearing a good vest helps too. They’re great when you have a flat tire or other mechanical. You may be up and off your bike and still need to be seen.

[JeffC]

@dasgeh 28949 wrote:

I have these for all the bikes we ride at night and definitely recommend them. http://www.bikeglow.com/

I think there was a groupon for $15/set, and normal price seems to be $25. Batteries have lasted a long time.

Thanks for the ideas, these are really great. The bike I ride most in the winter already has reflective tire sidewalls and some reflective material on the bags I use. I could always affix more reflective tape though. I do really like the idea of a light though.

For anybody that uses Bikeglow, can you unplug the battery unit when you know you won’t be using it for awhile (say in the spring and summer when days are long)? I think be able to do so would cut down on theft and just be one less thing likely to get damaged. From the video, it looks like you can but I just wanted to be sure before I bought it.

[jrenaut]

@JorgeGortex 28963 wrote:

https://shop.ridewithfiks.com/
http://www.bikeglow.com/
http://www.monkeylectric.com/wheel_light_comparison/

I funded the fiks through Kickstarter. They are bright! And you can put them on any rims so you are not dependent on certain tires only.
JG

The fiks tape is pretty sweet. I may be putting that on my bike in the very near future if I can decide on a color . . .

[PotomacCyclist]

I used to have the BikeGlow on my mountain bike. It worked pretty well. I would get frequent positive comments about it while riding in the evenings, which means that people could clearly see me riding by. One guy wanted to buy the BikeGlow from me on the spot. (I think he may have been attracted by the flashiness of it, not realizing that the purpose is for nighttime visibility and safety, not street cred.)

However, part of the cord got loose one night and wrapped around the cranks. I ripped the cord from the battery pack inadvertently. Since I haven’t ridden the mtn bike that much this summer, I haven’t bothered to replace the BikeGlow. But I’ll probably replace it sometime this fall.

+1 on bright clothing too. I always wear white or light-colored shirts on the bike. In the late fall and winter, I usually wear my “screaming yellow” windbreaker as the top layer. It’s pretty hard to miss.

You can also add reflective ankle bands, a clip-on light on the back of your helmet or those stick-on reflective dots and bars that runners also use. Some tail lights are designed to emit light from the sides too. I would also set the lights to blink mode. That’s more noticeable to others than a steady beam. Sometimes when there’s another cyclist nearby with a steady light, I will mistake that light source for a street lamp, not realizing that it’s a cyclist until he/she gets much closer.

[KelOnWheels]

@PotomacCyclist 29057 wrote:

I would also set the lights to blink mode. That’s more noticeable to others than a steady beam. Sometimes when there’s another cyclist nearby with a steady light, I will mistake that light source for a street lamp, not realizing that it’s a cyclist until he/she gets much closer.

This. I’ve noticed (on the rare occasions when I drive my car) that blinking lights on a bike are much easier to see. Solid lights just sort of blend into the background.

I’ve got the Spoke Eze disco lights, meself. (plus blinky tail lights on helmet, bag, and bike and two blinky front lights)

[GuyContinental]

@KelOnWheels 29061 wrote:

This. I’ve noticed (on the rare occasions when I drive my car) that blinking lights on a bike are much easier to see. Solid lights just sort of blend into the background.

True true, blinkies and strobes are great for visibility in traffic but please please don’t use a high powered strobe on the trails- I literally have to wear lightly tinted “clear” lenses in the winter to keep my retinas from being seared by oncoming bikers. You don’t get bonus points for using a helmet mount strobe and then turning your head at the last minute either (as you would with a normal sun-bright light). You “got” me 100′ back, I’m now blind, and if there is a ninja lurking between us bad things are going to happen to me and said ninja.

A little 40ln frog strobe provides lots of attention-getting without blinding anyone.

[dbb]

@GuyContinental 29063 wrote:

True true, blinkies and strobes are great for visibility in traffic but please please don’t use a high powered strobe on the trails- I literally have to wear lightly tinted “clear” lenses in the winter to keep my retinas from being seared by oncoming bikers. You don’t get bonus points for using a helmet mount strobe and then turning your head at the last minute either (as you would with a normal sun-bright light). You “got” me 100′ back, I’m now blind, and if there is a ninja lurking between us bad things are going to happen to me and said ninja.

A little 40ln frog strobe provides lots of attention-getting without blinding anyone.

In an attempt to avoid relitigating the issue of strobes on bikes on trails – please search the forum and you will find the trail users think it is a bad idea. Turn the strobes to a steady beam on the trails.

[dasgeh]

Re: BikeGlow – yes, the rope just plugs in to the battery pack, and it’s very easy to unplug.

After a near mishap, we taped the sh*t out of the bike glow near all moving parts (cranks, wheels, etc) and bends. Took an extra 2 minutes per bike, but we haven’t had an unwinding problem.

The lights have 3 settings — solid, blinking slowly and blinking really fast. They’re not super bright – I can’t tell whether they’re on in the day light. The battery pack lets out a faint but annoying noise — I can’t hear it while I’m riding, but can once I get into the garage. The bonus is I know when the lights are on even if it’s light where I’m parking.

[jabberwocky]

I actually disagree that blinkies are better on the road. They are good attention grabbers, but they make it much harder to judge position and velocity because the light isn’t always on. I find I’m much better off with a very bright light set to constant.

[Terpfan]

My light has two orange side panels that emit light. They’re not blinking or huge, but definitely noticeable and give some sidelight to be seen. It’s an Urban180.

[Bilsko]

I just picked up the Light and Motion VIS360s which have the same amber side-lights setup as some of the other Light and Motion options:
Its not much, but in the absence of some good revolights or these: http://www.coroflot.com/mitchellsilva/GLOBARS
they’ll do.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YLTUDA/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00

I really would like some of those GLOBars though:

[KLizotte]

@JorgeGortex 28963 wrote:

https://shop.ridewithfiks.com/
http://www.bikeglow.com/
http://www.monkeylectric.com/wheel_light_comparison/

I funded the fiks through Kickstarter. They are bright! And you can put them on any rims so you are not dependent on certain tires only.
JG

I really like the idea of the fiks. Can you post photos of your bike with and without flash?

[5555624]

@jabberwocky 29079 wrote:

I actually disagree that blinkies are better on the road. They are good attention grabbers, but they make it much harder to judge position and velocity because the light isn’t always on. I find I’m much better off with a very bright light set to constant.

I’ll have to hunt it down, but there was a study about this, a number of years ago. The recommendation was for a steady light over a blinking one for this reason. I’ll sometimes add a blinking one if I am riding in heavy traffic at night, but normally it’s just the one steady light. (I’ve got one light mounted on the rack and one on the seat post.)

[GuyContinental]

Another note on this- the red light goes in the back, NOT the front. Nearly had a bad one yesterday morning with two oncoming cyclists that I thought I was overtaking. Both had solid red lights in the front and nothing on the rear. Yikes.

[Author]

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