How To Be Seen On Your Bike at Night
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 11. 5.07
Now that we are back to standard time, it gets dark awfully early and cyclists need their lights; it is surprising how many I see with none, usually wearing trendy black clothing. One doesn't need to dress up like a Christmas tree like Olivia Chow, but LEDs have made bike lights cheaper, brighter and smaller. Or forget the smaller and cheaper and go all out for brighter with Bicygnals, " designed by Gavin Thomson Design using modern design cues for a slimline aerodynamic and ergonomic solution to complement most contemporary urban cycles." There are so many clever things about these, including turn signals, wireless connection between front and rear lamps, and the two pieces snap together for easy carrying, because you would never leave such a light on your bike.
Available (in the UK) at ::Bicygnals Limited., via ::Sci Fi Tech
Features:
● Complies with Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations
● Front Switches Control Front and Rear Indicators
● Wirefree Communication
● 5 Super Bright White LED’s Head Light
● 3 Super Bright Red LED’s Rear Light
● Flashing and Non-Flashing Lighting Modes
● 8 Super Bright Orange LED’s Front Indicators
● 6 Super Bright Orange LED’s Rear Indicators
● Tell Tale Indicators
While this provides a lot of light area, I wonder how durable the switches are and how the long units stand up to vibration and pounding.
Doing a lot of night commuting and keeping my headlight on during the day, I have found a couple of lights I am very pleased with-
Headlight -
Nashbar Brilliant 2 from the Nashbar company (a re-branded Serfas product?). Flash and steady. 2 AA batteries.
TailLight-
CatEye TLD 1000. Good light flash patterns/solid light and good side visibility. 2AA batteries.
Planet Bike Blinkie Light tail light- the brightest flashing tail light I have seen so far. I forget the battery.
Bar End lights- great for the ends of the handlebars and are very bright. Kind of delicate but great when they work. Use button cell batteries.
Good Luck!
vsk
Also, with day light savings time, it might be a good idea for bike commuters to drive for the next week or two while people adjust to driving at home when its dark out. My brother's been avoding riding his motorcycle for years around this time of year for this reason.
While I'd never encourage car use, this time of year is a good time to stay off the bike for a bit until people get used to the change in lighting.
Something I've been looking for since I started riding to and from work. On rainy days I hate taking my hand off the hndles to signal my turn. Most times I figure the cars can't see my signal even with reflectors on my sleeve. This would give me much better control and much better visability.
Where to buy in North America????
Those look like the sort of lights you'd see on top of a SUV or Hummer.
Anything that makes you more visible sounds good to me though.
My feelings about LED lights changed after reading this
http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/indexn.html
Now I use a Lightman xenon strobe.
The website that Ruben posted hasn't been updated since 2004. LED technology has definitely increased since then, even the big boys of bike lighting have LED offerings now. I feel pretty comfortable with my LEDs.
I realy like your website a lot it is very cool.