What's your winter set.

[fossyant]

No had a rotten journey into work just wondering if it's me

Lights don't matter if a driver doesn't look.

 

[wafter]

Technology seems to be making progress. My daughter's motobility car has automatic lights and wipers. Wont be long before us humans won't be allowed anywhere near a steering wheel.

I feel ambivalent about this tbh; I guess it's hypocritical but while I welcome the withdrawal of control from the muppets I'm not keen on it for myself.

Also I think automation can sometimes be inferior - seems that auto-dipping jobs have a reaction time and require direct exposure to oncoming lights to work; while an experienced / considerate driver will dip lights before headlights of the oncoming vehicle are actually visible (such as when it's coming around a bend or over the crest of a hill).

 

[fossyant]

I thought this was about mudguards on the title.

I've been using one of those Ali Express 'Newboller' dipped beam lights for about 18 months. Works really well, especially on shared paths as the light cuts off at waist level yet has enough power to ride on unlit paths. All for £14 and used in all weathers.

Like most folk, always have two lights.

I've also got a Magicshine SeeMee 300 on the rear. I leave it in the smart mode. When dark, it defaults to a breathing mode, on, fades brighter, fades dimmer. It also has a downlighter which is great. As you brake, it senses this and emits a bright steady beam. In daylight it reverts to a bright pulse mode with the brake function. If a cars headlights are directly behind you, it switches to pulse. I've been impressed with it. Backed up by a Planet X dogstar

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

I used to ride with two lights fore and after, one constant and one flashing.

Last winter, experimentally, I went overboard with lights.
At the front:

Moon Meteor Vortex 1000 (flashing)
Moon Meteor Storm Pro 2000 (constant, low setting)
2 x cheap USB rechargeable blinkies

At the rear:

2 x cheap USB rechargeable blinkies - one attached to each pannier
1 x SeeMee 100 - hanging off the saddle
1 x Cateye Reflex Rack - attached to the mount on the pannier rack

And a high-viz/retro-reflective runners sash/strap thing - strap around the waste, strap up the middle of the back and chest, strap over each shoulder with flashing LEDs (white front, red rear)


My thinking was, that going overboard with the blinkies would either have no effect or make me stand out more to the drivers for whom the mere presence of a cylist brings out their insecurities.

What I found was the opposite. I could go out on an evening ride and not suffer a single close pass. And the number of close passes experienced were both fewer than during the day and on night rides normally.

I added to that ensemble, a helmet light and one a Brightside bike light. The latter essentially is an amber side marker that I attach either to the top tube or the underside of the handlebar stem.

It sounds well OTT, but it really seems to work - at least around here. What I also find, is that it has the weird side effect of causing most drivers signal when they pull out to pass and again when they pull back in. Not something the majority of drivers do.



I'm definitely in the 'you can never have enough blinkies camp' now.

 

[Arjimlad]

I thought this was about mudguards on the title.

I've been using one of those Ali Express 'Newboller' dipped beam lights for about 18 months. Works really well, especially on shared paths as the light cuts off at waist level yet has enough power to ride on unlit paths. All for £14 and used in all weathers.

Like most folk, always have two lights.

I've also got a Magicshine SeeMee 300 on the rear. I leave it in the smart mode. When dark, it defaults to a breathing mode, on, fades brighter, fades dimmer. It also has a downlighter which is great. As you brake, it senses this and emits a bright steady beam. In daylight it reverts to a bright pulse mode with the brake function. If a cars headlights are directly behind you, it switches to pulse. I've been impressed with it. Backed up by a Planet X dogstar

I got a Newboler front light after reading your comments about them. It's been good on the unlit lanes spotting potholes, flytipping and the like & I like the dipped beam.

It has some war wounds where it has come off the mount a couple of times and survived being run over, as I have to remove it to remove my Wahoo. The mount needs a good positive click and a wiggle about to make sure the light is secure.

 

[mjr]

Technology seems to be making progress. My daughter's motobility car has automatic lights and wipers. Wont be long before us humans won't be allowed anywhere near a steering wheel.

They don't work reliably and it's the driver who gets the penalty for incorrect lights, not the manufacturer.

 

[Arjimlad]

@markharry66 I think this ambulance probably had enough lights, and yet ..
https://www.hampshire.police.uk/new...h-cam-released-following-ambulance-collision/

 

[mjr]

Currently I have a StVZO (rectangular beam shaped for road use) "Nean" front light and an obsolete wide Axa rackmount back light. My aim is to look like a moped or motorbike until a dliver is close enough to see pedal reflectors. By then, most will have already thought through a proper overtake and not dismiss me as only a push bike, like if I used flashing lights or multiple small ones.

I carry StVZO battery lights in the bag as backup because our roads and cobbles rattle everything to bits eventually and reconnecting wiring in torchlight is not always great.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Just wondering if I have enough lights after a few close calls this morning

Your lights is not the issue

 

[Drago]

They don't work reliably and it's the driver who gets the penalty for incorrect lights, not the manufacturer.

Some are great, some are woeful. They were spot on in my MINI but they're inconsistent enough in my new VW van that I've left the controls on manual.

The problem is folk tend to just assume they're awesome and plough on regardless of how good the function of the lights really is.

 

[Dogtrousers]

On the rear two little Cateye Omni lights for redundancy in case one goes flat/ falls off. Also my Garmin Varia.

On the front a bigger light. Currently a Hope Vision One but I recently bought a new fancy Magicshine light but I haven't sorted out a bracket yet. I normally wear a hi Viz band on my right ankle too.

 

[FrankCrank]

You'd really stand out with a few lights on your bike over here, especially as a lot of the motorbikes and cars can't be a***d to switch theirs on.
I sometimes wonder, do they think they'll save on their electric bill.

 

[mustang1]

I sometimes wonder if it's a good idea to have a WHITE light on the back, perhaps on a rack, which points FORWARD and UPWARDS towards yellow high Viz jacket and put it on flashing mode. There would be a lot more surface area getting lit up....

...And on top of that also have the usual red rear facing light and white front handlebar light.

Anyway, my set up is one light front, one rear. Towards November I'll augment it with a super bright front light and another rear.

 

[I like Skol]

I don't understand why people are saying they use extra lights in winter. Surely dark is the same all year round, just happens at different times?

I use the same lights for commuting all year because it can be dark with poor weather conditions in August or January.

 

[wafter]

I don't understand why people are saying they use extra lights in winter. Surely dark is the same all year round, just happens at different times?

I use the same lights for commuting all year because it can be dark with poor weather conditions in August or January.

Presumably because it's coming from the perspective of a commuter; most of whom will be doing so during the hours of daylight for most of the year so only require lights in the winter..