The light! My eyes!

Chips Lovell

The purpose of your front light is to alert other road users to your presence and illuminate the way ahead of you.

It isn't there to dazzle or temporarily blind oncoming traffic.

If you have a high-powered front light, the least you could do is put it on the lower setting and angle it downwards. And for the love of god, don't even think about using the flash mode.

That is all.

buffalo

What if, even when using a mid-level brightness, I still get cars driving nigh on top of me - with one gent in particular claiming to have never even seen me. Can I put it on high-beam flashing then?

godtabh

Define high powered?

Alek

I had one of those in flash mode coming towards me. God, that was awful, couldn't see anything else. Only shouted "Dude, turn it down" and cycled home, half-blinded :-/

Ole Rodrigo

It seems to be a case of gadget lust trumping common sense.

ednwireland

meh - wait till my 3000 lumen monster arrives i'll come down there and burn your retinas out

at least cars started dipping their headlights when i bought my 1200 lumen light just ignored me before that

edit : that reminds me i'll have to pin down one of my neighbours teens and shine it in his eyes (get my own back for him driving a pos lowered golf with completely mis aligned hid's)

CramCycle

ednwireland wrote: »

that reminds me i'll have to pin down one of my neighbours teens

I got as far as here and was worried what you were you about to admit to thinking about doing. Luckily, I read on and agreed.

detones

I recently purchased a 780 lumen xmoon front light. On dark lanes I usually use the constant lower 550 lm setting and full power on decents. When I come into lit areas I am using the flashing mode. Cars do seem to notice me a lot more than when in constant mode in these light conditions. I do however make sure to angle the light down to make sure I don't dazzle drivers. I'm not sure if this is the right thing to be doing but I reckon it's the best strategy for me to stay alive out there.

Dublinstiofán

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

The purpose of your front light is to alert other road users to your presence and illuminate the way ahead of you.

It isn't there to dazzle or temporarily blind oncoming traffic.

If you have a high-powered front light, the least you could do is put it on the lower setting and angle it downwards. And for the love of god, don't even think about using the flash mode.

That is all.

I believe there's research out there that says if your lights aren't flashing on your bike you might aswell not have them at all.

Apparently drivers in general are programmed to not take as much/any notice of static lights. Thats why the emergency services lights flash to get your attention along with the siren.

I do agree they shouldn't be pointed in an oncoming drivers face though!

Idleater

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

for the love of god, don't even think about using the flash mode.

That is all.

For shame I had to do this on the way home. I forgot my charger because I took it home on Friday for the dying Light. True to form, dying Light is what I had going home.
Hate to do it though.

Lusk_Doyle

Dublinstiofán wrote: »

I believe there's research out there that says if your lights aren't flashing on your bike you might aswell not have them at all.

Apparently drivers in general are programmed to not take as much/any notice of static lights. Thats why the emergency services lights flash to get your attention along with the siren.

I do agree they shouldn't be pointed in an oncoming drivers face though!

Why don't car lights flash then?

rollingscone

detones wrote: »

I recently purchased a 780 lumen xmoon front light. On dark lanes I usually use the constant lower 550 lm setting and full power on decents. When I come into lit areas I am using the flashing mode. Cars do seem to notice me a lot more than when in constant mode in these light conditions. I do however make sure to angle the light down to make sure I don't dazzle drivers. I'm not sure if this is the right thing to be doing but I reckon it's the best strategy for me to stay alive out there.

Well that deflates my sense of belief in my new Nanoshot...

CramCycle

Dublinstiofán wrote: »

I believe there's research out there that says if your lights aren't flashing on your bike you might aswell not have them at all.

I believe that there is a research that says the opposite.

buffalo

CramCycle wrote: »

I believe that there is a research that says the opposite.

CramCycle

buffalo wrote: »

I want to believe

There were huge threads on here years ago about it, delving into frequency of the lights, the frequency that suits the human eye etc. All I am saying is that my references are as good as Dublinstiofán :pac:

Caveat, thusfar they are equal to his/hers .

Planet X

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

The purpose of your front light is to alert other road users to your presence and illuminate the way ahead of you.

It isn't there to dazzle or temporarily blind oncoming traffic.

If you have a high-powered front light, the least you could do is put it on the lower setting and angle it downwards. And for the love of god, don't even think about using the flash mode.

That is all.

I agree. It's common sense to angle your light down if you have the capability/power to blow the traffic away with an airport runway type light strapped to your bars.

I have a powerful light on my bars and NO WAY would I commute with it levelled at the on coming car drivers eyes. Doesn't make sense.

Grand for the country lane.......but that's about it.

Ole Rodrigo

I think its fair to distinguish between common or garden LEDs and a high powered flashing light . One cheerfully and agreeably alerts folks to your passage, while the other is a full on retinal assault from the Starship Enterprise.

Lusk_Doyle

ror_74 wrote: »

I think its fair to distinguish between common or garden LEDs and a high powered flashing light . One cheerfully and agreeably alerts folks to your passage, while the other is a full on retinal assault from the Starship Enterprise.

A common or garden led is not suitable to light your way. The light on a bike should adequately illuminate the road in front of you so you can identify dangers in enough time.

Rambling Man

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

A common or garden led is not suitable to light your way. The light on a bike should adequately illuminate the road in front of you so you can identify dangers in enough time.

So true. You can easily drift on the road in pitch dark so to keep that metre from the ditch on your left, you need a lot of Lumens.

GreeBo

I dont mind high powered lights that illuminate the road, they dont need to shine forward for anyone else to see them.

I always thought flashing lights on a bicycle was illegal?

Finally, the high powered lights that guys wear strapped to their helmets are ridiculous; every time they move their head its like being hit by a fricken lighthouse!

Wishbone Ash

Rambling Man wrote: »

So true. You can easily drift on the road in pitch dark so to keep that metre from the ditch on your left, you need a lot of Lumens.

I'd be thinking about seeing dangers such as potholes, debris etc. rather than drifting off the road.

Rambling Man

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I'd be thinking about seeing dangers such as potholes, debris etc. rather than drifting off the road.

If you don't know a lane too well it can throw up a sudden twist or turn or one of those 10 meter pavements to nowhere outside someones gaff. But you're right you don't want to not see stuff on the road.

CramCycle

GreeBo wrote: »

I always thought flashing lights on a bicycle was illegal?

Nope, the minister thought that it would be easier to legalise it as most people that they were OK. They have been legal for a couple of years (not many mind) now.

Rambling Man

CramCycle wrote: »

Nope, the minister thought that it would be easier to legalise it as most people that they were OK. They have been legal for a couple of years (not many mind) now.

Crimecall on RTE this evening did a feature by the Gardai on cyclist visibility. Their best practise cyclist was shown with a white flashing front light.

Alek

Fair play, but not a 1200lm one, please.

Ole Rodrigo

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

A common or garden led is not suitable to light your way. The light on a bike should adequately illuminate the road in front of you so you can identify dangers in enough time.

Sure, on an an unlit road. On an urban road you shouldn't need strong lights. An LED is fine for urban areas I would say.

aFlabbyPanda

I've got one of the 1200 jobs from ebay as about a 1/3 of my commute is on unlit regional roads. The rest is through town with street lighting. I find that in the urban area cars actually see me better/take more notice when I switch to my flashing cheapo light then using the cree light.

Puggy

I've got two Cree led front lights, even on the lowest setting they dazzle on coming road users, including other cyclists. Though I do need then for the unlighted roads in north county Dublin. Get some wide angle lenses , I got mine on ebay, search for "wide angle lens for magi shine". They work well and shape the beam to a pattern similar to a car headlight, dipped of course!

tomasrojo

Dublin Bikes are conspicuous as they approach, day or night, despite the headlight being of only medium intensity and not flashing. I think the quite large diameter makes the difference.

Chips Lovell

Rambling Man wrote: »

Crimecall on RTE this evening did a feature by the Gardai on cyclist visibility. Their best practise cyclist was shown with a white flashing front light.

Jesus wept

Cookie_Monster

Rambling Man wrote: »

Crimecall on RTE this evening did a feature by the Gardai on cyclist visibility. Their best practise cyclist was shown with a white flashing front light.

:pac:
best practice for AGS is solving actual crimes, they're not too good at that, never mind giving out advice