Suggestions for night gear

Cabaal

well the evenings are mornings are darker now I got to say I don't feel the safe, anybody have any suggestions for suitable reflective material that I can put on the bag on my back and my bike in order to improve visability?

As suggestions for suitable lights, being able to buy them on-line is a plus also

roadmanmad

Front light - Krypton or Halogen Bulb - costly but bright
(aldi do them every now and again or a good shop)

Reflective vest. Pay about 20 yoyos for a good one ( double strips)

Reflective leg Straps - again aldi or lidl.

Two sets of red flashing lights for rear. One under the saddle and one to the back of your helmet so that cars further away will notice you. Also try to get ones that have different light sequences. The is science working as the brain cannot but be drawn to these lights. I understand it has to do with the brain trying to solve the mathematical relationship between them before discounting it. As there is no relationship, the brain will spend longer determining this conclusion on thus the driver focusus on you for longer.

Beam me up Scottie.

Also use high energy rechargeable batteries. The halogens eat them.

Cabaal

I was thinking something alone these lines for front light
http://www.cycleways.com/store/store.asp?action=show_product&prodcode=27582

back light
http://www.cycleways.com/store/store.asp?action=show_product&prodcode=23596

stuff for the bag on my back
http://www.cycleways.com/store/store.asp?action=show_product&prodcode=23628

Although I may not bother with the backlight as the one I have is decent enough, front light I have is abit of a joke though

t5pwr

Cabaal wrote:

I was thinking something alone these lines for front light
http://www.cycleways.com/store/store.asp?action=show_product&prodcode=27582

back light
http://www.cycleways.com/store/store.asp?action=show_product&prodcode=23596

stuff for the bag on my back
http://www.cycleways.com/store/store.asp?action=show_product&prodcode=23628

Although I may not bother with the backlight as the one I have is decent enough, front light I have is abit of a joke though

I have that cateye front light and it does make you stand out for traffic and a car will not miss you coming. There is a flashing option on it also.

It is quite bright but won't light up the road like a halogen, but it won't eat up the batteries either. Basically great for around town

Cabaal

t5pwr wrote:

I have that cateye front light and it does make you stand out for traffic and a car will not miss you coming. There is a flashing option on it also.

It is quite bright but won't light up the road like a halogen, but it won't eat up the batteries either. Basically great for around town

Sounds good to me, I'm cycling down a main road anyway so it has loads of lights and I can see where I'm going, I just want cars to see me

Downtime

I just put one of these fellows on over me and my bag - http://www.omarksafety.com/Images/products/LUXSSFULLG-Y.JPG and it works fine - haven't been knocked down yet (well not by a car anyway), also use lights.

daymobrew

I have a HALO reflective band on my helmet. Cycleways have something similar from Respro for e18.

Two years back my wife bought me a rear helmet light, made up of 4 LEDs on individual cables, that stick inside the rear helmet vents. The switch (rotatory) is attached to the chin strap. See bumm.de. It's under Catalog/Flashlight for helmets/TOP FILE. (I tried to get a direct link but it redirects to a 404 error). I think she got it from Commuting Solutions in Rathmines.

I second the reflective ankle straps, especially with flashing leds. I picked up a bunch when they were on special at Aldi a few weeks ago (e5 for a pair).

dalk

I have both those lights you mentioned Cabaal...

The rear light is amazingly bright... very happy with it.

The front one has a wide field which i like as well...A plus is that it swivels a little bit left to right. So if i think a car pulling out from the left hasnt seen me i swivel in their direction and vice versa...

Blinking all the way. As mentioned, the eye is drawn to movement. Blinking lights draws the eye.

I like reflectors on trouser clips, shoes etc. because they move a lot and are easily seen.

Whats most important though, is keeping your batteries charged. See a lot of people with lights aound town that you can barely see, and its because the batteries are low, not because of the light... Whats the point?

FergusF

Cabaal wrote:

As suggestions for suitable lights, being able to buy them on-line is a plus also

I recently got these:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5769 they are very bright on full beam and haven't had a car pull out on me yet - I think they believe it's a motorbike. On the back cateye ld600 from the same crowd, it has 4 different flashing modes and is pretty eye-catching.

I have bought a few bits off chainreaction lately and would recommend them as an online shop, they are based in Antrim - free postage to anywhere in Ireland and orders have always arrived within a couple of days.

Ghost Rider

That's extremely interesting. Do you mind me asking where you heard/read about that?

roadmanmad wrote:

...the brain cannot but be drawn to these lights. I understand it has to do with the brain trying to solve the mathematical relationship between them before discounting it. As there is no relationship, the brain will spend longer determining this conclusion on thus the driver focusus on you for longer.

Cabaal

Finally got my front light from cycleways today, I have to say I;m impressed with it
Nice and bright and if the batterys last as long as it says I;ll be well happy

replytohere2004

good comparision site here for bike lights.

Make ya think.

http://eddys.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=493

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"When you look at lights on the showroom, it's hard to tell which headlight is the brightest, especially with the store lights on. This made us want to conduct a little test. We took a few of our most popular lights down to the basement. The test is to show how bright these lights are and what the beam pattern is like. Each light was projected on a wall from 15ft. away. On the wall we have numbers placed in increments of 3ft starting with zero. The light is then aimed at the zero and turned on. This gives you an opportunity to check out the light beams and patterns on various lights. How bright is that light? Click on the headlights to see the beam."[/FONT]

daymobrew

replytohere2004 wrote:

good comparision site here for bike lights.

Make ya think.

http://eddys.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=493

Great page! It certainly does make you think.
Very interesting information. Such a difference between the 'being seen' and the 'artificial sun' types like the Niterider Classic.