Light?

[jabberwocky]

@KS1G 29656 wrote:

If you want to be really visible to overtaking traffic, Dinotte’s tail light is visible for at least 1/2 mile, and the Exposure products appear equally visible.

I commute in Great Falls (land of the over-entitled dickhead), and the 400L taillight is worth every penny of its $209 asking price. Its brighter than most companies headlamps. I aim it at a downward angle and it brightly illuminates a huge swath of pavement behind me. Since purchasing it 4 years ago, I’ve never had a single issue with any car at night.

[bobco85]

Here’s my current set-up:

Helmet – headlight – Black Diamond Icon Headlamp – it requires a bit of fanagling, but if you have a visor attachment to your helmet, it will hold the straps in place. It’s nice and bright (1 main light, or 2 smaller LEDs) with different settings (including dimmer capability) that you can play around with.

Helmet – taillight – Planet Bike Spok Tail – I attach it (velcro) to the top strap of my headlamp as it works as a nice backwards facing blinking red light for when you turn your head.

Handlebars – CatEye EL120 Sport OptiCube LED Headlight – it’s pretty easy to transport, and works well as a blinking front light when on streets.

Seatpost – Planet Bike Superflash Tail Light – I can’t recommend anything more than this, as I’ve actually been stopped by multiple people (including a police officer in Alexandria) asking where they can get one. It’s visible for up to a mile away.

Front/Rear Wheels – Nite Ize See ‘Em LED spokelights – they’re pretty easy to attach/remove, and give a good amount of light for your sides. I’ve got green and amber for my front wheel and red and amber for the rear wheel. 2nd best part (the best part is actually being seen) is that you immediately become cool in the eyes of any kid (and most adults) when you have these spinning color wheels!

If you’re going to be using multiple bikes, I’d recommend investing in good helmet lights and lights you can attach to your backpack/other bags. You could probably just use a frog light on whatever bike you are riding at the time.

[Dirt]

Lots of good information folks. Great topic.

There are a lot of great lights out there! I’ve had the best luck with Exposure lights. I use a Diablo up front and a Flare in back. They’ve proved durable beyond anything I’ve ever used. My Diablo is starting its 4th season of 200+ days/year use. I seem to be the place that rear lights go to die. No other rear light has survived more than 4 months. The flare is over a year old going strong and the first one lasted 18 months. http://www.exposurelightsusa.com/

Some things to consider: If you’re riding primarily in the hinterlands, like Jabberwocky, having high powered lights that can run for a long time at full power is a matter of survival. If you’re riding a place like the W&OD or Custis trails, there really isn’t need for a light that can vaporize a human target from space. Using them aimed high and at full power is definitely not being a PAL. I complain a lot about Ninjas (Other trail users in dark clothing with no lights or reflective gear) but hitting everyone with high powered lights isn’t the solution to that problem. Slowing down and being ready for the unexpected is a much better choice.

On the street I have my Diablo turned up to medium setting (240 lumen) or high (600 lumen) if conditions are really bad. Once I hit the trail, I aim the light down a little and drop it to low power (125lumen). When I feel safe that I’ve got enough visibility and a free hand, I also shade my headlight from oncoming walkers and runners. I can’t always do this, but I usually try.

Hope that helps a little.

Pete

[KelOnWheels]

This is a great topic! It’s getting dark earlier every day…

I need to get a headlight-for-seeing soon. I’ve got the Cygolite Expilion 300 on my wish list – think that’ll do me?

My front be-seen lights are currently a Blackburn Flea, which has a seizure-inducing blinky mode that I use in traffic, and a Planet Bike Spok. The blinky mode on the Flea burns through the charge on it like crazy so I try to remember to charge it when I get home every riding day. It died on me on the way home Monday because I forgot, and the Spok was right behind it. (I think I bought the world’s crappest 2016 batteries off Amazon.)

For taillights I’ve got a Planet Bike Blinky 3 (formerly on my helmet & currently on my bag until I get a new helmet it can go back on), a Spok Tail on the seat post and a Superflash on my seat bag. I think I’m going to stick some double sided tape in the clips on the Blinky & the Superflash because they’ve gone flying a couple of times.

For side lights I’ve got the Nite Ize disco spoke lights. The guy that fixed my frame on Thursday mentioned that these are made from VERY tough plastic and to be sure to check they’re secure before riding because he’s seen them twist round and destroy someone’s fork. So that’s probably a good thing to check.

[krazygl00]

@KelOnWheels 29682 wrote:

This is a great topic! It’s getting dark earlier every day…

I need to get a headlight-for-seeing soon. I’ve got the Cygolite Expilion 300 on my wish list – think that’ll do me?

My front be-seen lights are currently a Blackburn Flea, which has a seizure-inducing blinky mode that I use in traffic, and a Planet Bike Spok. The blinky mode on the Flea burns through the charge on it like crazy so I try to remember to charge it when I get home every riding day. It died on me on the way home Monday because I forgot, and the Spok was right behind it. (I think I bought the world’s crappest 2016 batteries off Amazon.)

For taillights I’ve got a Planet Bike Blinky 3 (formerly on my helmet & currently on my bag until I get a new helmet it can go back on), a Spok Tail on the seat post and a Superflash on my seat bag. I think I’m going to stick some double sided tape in the clips on the Blinky & the Superflash because they’ve gone flying a couple of times.

For side lights I’ve got the Nite Ize disco spoke lights. The guy that fixed my frame on Thursday mentioned that these are made from VERY tough plastic and to be sure to check they’re secure before riding because he’s seen them twist round and destroy someone’s fork. So that’s probably a good thing to check.

I had the Blackburn Flea tail light model that was USB rechargeable, and it wouldn’t hold a charge worth a darn so I returned it. As far as I’m concerned it is Planet Bike Superflash all the way (unless you get into some of the higher-end tail lights).

For my for-seeing light in front, I only have a handlebar light…a Cygolite something-or-other with the separate battery pack that is strapped to the frame. It does the job but there were and are problems with it. It was intended to be attached under the stem but it was a terrible design because it would only work if you had a reeeeeeallllllly long stem (like 120mm or more). But the power cable wasn’t long enough to attach it anywhere else except maybe the head tube which was completely janky (technical term). So I ordered an extension cable which would have been even more jankeriffic (more tech-speak; sorry) because it was like 2 feet long; so I actually spliced the two cables together at a reasonable length and sealed it with heat-shrink tubing, keeping the jankitude as minimal as possible. The other problem I still have is that in blinky mode it does 5 strobe-type blinks fast enough that it is hard to count them, then a full 2 second pause and then another 5-strobe blinks. A lot can happen with driver attention spans in 2 seconds and this is far too long a pause. I’m looking to replace this light.

[mstone]

Once I got a vis360 I decided I will never ride in the dark without a helmet light again. The ability to scan around is invaluable. I also keep lights on the bike.

[eminva]

Just to be clear, does the rear light on the vis360 only operate in blinking mode? Is there no steady mode?

I got my Exposure Diablo in the mail today — yay! That’s going to be my handlebar mounted light. I was thinking about adding a helmet light to the set up and the vis360 looked promising, but I didn’t realize it’s gonna turn my head into a full time disco ball. I really don’t like blinky lights and try to avoid using them. 75% of my commute is on trails (Custis and W&OD) — what do people think — would the blinky light be annoying? Thanks.

Liz

[acc]

eminva, I know where you live. If I see you with a blinky light, I’ll disable it.

Blinking headlights on the trails at night drive me crazy. We won’t even go into what I’m doing on the trails at night, but whatever. The blinky lights on the back don’t bother me, probably because they are lower.

[OneEighth]

Please save the blinky for the road or intersections.
Congrats on the Exposure Diablo—those things are awesome!

[FFX_Hinterlands]

Best cheap headlight anywhere: http://www.dontgethit.com/3waledbihe.html
Super bright but you need to bring your own rechargable AA x 4.

[Certifried]

@eminva 29696 wrote:

Just to be clear, does the rear light on the vis360 only operate in blinking mode? Is there no steady mode?

The front light has 3 modes, bright, not-as-bright, and blinky. The rear only blinks.

[off2ride]

Wanna buy mine? I have 2 Cygolite Pace 295 Lumens each. Handle bar mount and helmet mounts available. Let me know off forum. @Jason B 29592 wrote:

As the days grow shorter, I am looking for a decent small light that can easily interchanged to different bikes. I need front and back. Any suggestions??
Thanks

[Dirt]

One more thing: If you wear a pack of any kind on your back, it often blocks view of a flashy light that is on the back of your helmet.

Go out with a friend and test your visibility. Have them look at what you look like or take a flash photo of you as you ride by. It will help you design your visibility.

I guess that’s actually 2 things. Sorry. I suck.

PS: Dang! that’s 3 things now.

PPS: I love to count! Muaahahahahahaha

[vvill]

I have a couple of Blackburn Mars tail lights that I like a lot (had one, lost it, and bought two to replace it). Mostly because the mount fits large seatposts and is highly adjustable. I have two of the ever popular Planet Bike tail lights too but I find the mounting to be a bit below par so I don’t use them 100% of the time. I’ve also got a little Serfas USB rechargeable taillight that’s handy to keep for emergency lighting but you have to recharge it all the damn time (had a front light too, but lost it).

I also have an older 4xAA Blackburn front light that still works pretty well which is my go to on early mornings like today. It’s not super bright, but adequate and very reliable.

When it gets really dark I have two Chinese/ebay style “tactical” flashlights. Very bright, and cheap for the lumens, but the light pattern isn’t the best for biking and the mounts are a bit wobbly. They use 18650 cells. I also have a “night” helmet which has a Nashbar taillight mounted on the back (using heavy duty twist ties) and SOLAS reflective tape affixed to it. As far as helmet lights go, I really like having one because you can look at a car/motorist (or any other specific place) and see it light up. I have a cheap Bell one from Target/Walmart that’s not too bright.

One of these days I want to make a custom gaudy light setup on one of my bikes (and leave it on).

@FFX_Hinterlands 29717 wrote:

Best cheap headlight anywhere: http://www.dontgethit.com/3waledbihe.html
Super bright but you need to bring your own rechargable AA x 4.

I like [browsing] their stuff a lot and I think the BikeArlington reflective straps come from these guys.

[eminva]

Okay, so the survey results are in: people don’t like blinky lights on the trail. And it appears the vis360 blinks. So that one gets crossed off the list. Thanks, everyone.

By the way, I mentioned earlier in this thread that I got my new Exposure Diablo last night. The Exposure USA website has the Diablo for sale for $199 with a “minor cosmetic blemish.” I cannot even discern the blemish on my new light. So if you were thinking about a Diablo for the approaching season, this might be an option to save some cash.

Liz

[Author]

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