Newbie to the road, lights too bright?

[spence]

Hi everyone, please bear with me as I have a few questions. I know the answers are probably somewhere on the forum, I am trawling through all the posts but with so many it’s taking a long time.
I’ve just brought a cheap road bike to keep some mileage/fitness up while I can’t ride my MTB with a hand injury. Sounds a bit daft but I’ve found I can hold (rest) on drop bars and use the STI shifters whereas I can’t hold normal bars and use rapidfires

Anyway, I have a set of Lupine Edison 4’s I use for playing in the woods and off road (also have a Cannondale Foresite Ultra as an emergency get me home back-up) during the dark nights. On the odd occasion I’ve been on the road (between field entrances you understand ) cars have taken an exception to them – flashing me etc. – even with them switched to low and focused just in front of the wheel.

So would they be too bright to use on road rides as I would prefer to see a bit further up the road than just my front wheel??? And what’s the general recommendation?

For info my intended routes are small unlit country roads and IIRC the Eddy’s give out 65W (900 lumens) high and 40W (500 lumens) low.

Thanks for the help.
Spence

 

[HLaB]

I wouldn't worry about them being too bright, their reaction shows they have seen you; perhaps you can angle them down slightly, however.

 

[PpPete]

Was going to say can never be too bright but
65 Watts / 40 watts ...Wow.... Not surprised drivers flash you....

But at least they have seen you, and that is the most important thing, better that way than being roadkill. Far too many incidents of "I didn't see you" even when cyclist is wearing hi-viz clothing and bike has multiple lights.

 

[zacklaws]

I have no experience of your lighting system, but I find that a lot of drivers do flash at me when I am commuting during the darker hours with lights on, sometimes I put it down to the fact that they have not seen me properly till they put their main beams on to confirm I am a cyclist and not a car driving on one side light towards them or some other poorly lit up hazard, then they go back to dipped, or maybe they get a bit confused if I am on a right hand side cycle track facing oncoming traffic and they put full beam on to make sure that I am not on the road before going back to dipped.

Then again I get the ones who just put full beam on anyway and blind you, and there's the ones who flash repeatedly along with a bit of shouting and waving a finger for good measure as they pass.

The only way of finding out is to imagine being in there shoes especially when turned down to low power and angled down at the ground whereby you cannot be blinding them.

 

[Wigsie]

I wouldn't worry too much, better slghtly iritate the odd driver than being clipped and knocked off! no worse than a french driver that comes over to the uk and doesnt put the little stickers on their headlights!

 

[RedBike]

So long as your lights aren't pointed directly at the cars you don't really need to worry. HID lights aren't as bright to look at as LEDs. On low your lights aren't as bright as a motorbike headlight.

You could ironically be being flashed at becuase drivers haven't managed to spot you until the last minute.

 

[fossyant]

500 lumens on low...oh I need those !!!!

Nah, if pointing down you are OK - I wouldn't give a monkey's really, they don't.....

Your safety is important...

 

[marinyork]

Stick with them. Otherwise various people will happily volunteer a swap .

 

[HJ]

I wouldn't worry about it, so long as you aren't angling the lights to shine directly at oncoming drivers. I have been using Dinotte 400L s for a wee while and find that it is so much better when driver take notice that you are there, I would go back to using ordinary cycle lights.

 

[Randochap]

No such thing as too bright, but aim them down a bit.

Lighting for long distance.

 

[PrettyboyTim]

The problem is that the light sounds as if it's approaching the light output of a car light, without the beam shaping to stop other road users being dazzled. Even if you point it down, more light is being directed at the driver's eyes than it would if it was a car's dipped beam.

I'm not sure what you're best off doing; perhaps mounting the light lower would help; perhaps putting some form of block on the lower half of the light would prevent too much light being reflected upwards.

 

[spence]

Thanks all.

Yeah I can't recall what the beam angle is but I think it's more of a flood.

What type of lights do others use???

I know the HID light is old hat now with the increase of LED technology, the Betty 7 gives out 1500 lumens, but it's easy to fit (velcro battery bag and rubber band lamp fitting) and light, weight wise at 370g. And at the origional purchase price, more then I've just spent on the new road bike, I'd rather not dump them if possible.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

+1 I think 65 Watt is the max allowed for a car. (Then again I haven't driven for a few years lol)

The problem is that the light sounds as if it's approaching the light output of a car light, without the beam shaping to stop other road users being dazzled. Even if you point it down, more light is being directed at the driver's eyes than it would if it was a car's dipped beam.

I'm not sure what you're best off doing; perhaps mounting the light lower would help; perhaps putting some form of block on the lower half of the light would prevent too much light being reflected upwards.

 

[GilesM]

I currently using a Hope 1 for the lanes at night, this has much less power than what you are using and I still have drivers flashing, but some just slow right down as I am sure they can't quite work out what I am, I have found twisting the light to point slightly to the left helps a we bit, it also lighs up the verge.

 

[HLaB]

Most of my night cycling is confined to town and I currently use a Bspoke 1/2 watt (flashing) and cateye EL510 (1watt). The Bspoke claims its 488 candle power and the cateye 800. Depending upon what bike I use I've also got a Polaris II 5 LED and a cateye EL 410. I recently bought one of those tesco 3W torches but I've not had an oppurtunity to try it out.