Can you help me with lights?

[stainboy]

I've never needed to buy lights for any kind of bike before and don't know if there's certain kinds that won't fit properly on a bent.

I almost bought these 2 cheap ones today until I read the back saying they didn't conform to a certain standard and shouldn't be used as your main lights. So I didn't bother.

But I have no idea, could anyone point me towards a picture of the sort of thing I should be looking for? The previous owner said he had a "cats eye"on the front but I have no idea what that is. I also have no idea really what dynamos are, what they do and if you can use them on bents. A lot of the lights I looked at just had bare wires hanging from them and I'm just completely out of my depth.

 

[the_mikey]

The 'non-standard' warnings seem to come with almost all LED lights, don't let it put you off buying lights though.

Decide on if you need the lights to see where you're going or just so you can be seen, also consider how you want to power the lights, do you want to fit AA batteries, or do you want a rechargeable light so you don't need to keep replacing batteries all of the time?

If you have a local bike shop you may want to visit and have a look at the lights there.

Cateye lights are sold almost everywhere, and are popular:

This cateye EL320 is a good basic front light that uses AA batteries.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Cateye_HL-EL320_LED_Front_Light/5360025761/



This cateye EL600 single shot is a rechargeable front light.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Cateye_HL-EL600_LED_Single_Shot_Front_Light/5360031623/#more


I use a couple of these RSP Asteri3 lights, they're rechargeable, no wires on the bike, and bright enough for riding on roads with some streetlighting..

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/categ...s/front/product/asteri-3-front-light-10-35502


Almost all front lights are mounted on the handle bars somewhere with a mount that will fit most handlebars, they often come with a selection of rubber shims to pack out the mount if the bars are small, for example.

 

[MartinG]

Where are you going to attach the lights? If it is going to be the front derailleur post you need to make sure both that the light is not so chunky that it fouls the pedal or chainring, and that the bracket that comes with it has "side to side" adjustment - you are going to be mounting it sideways on a post that is raked backwards, so you need what would be side to side adjustment on a handlebar to stop the light pointing upwards at a jaunty angle.

I bought a mounting post (basically T-shaped with a fixing loop at the bottom of the T) that attaches to the front derailleur post and allows me to fit two front lights (one slender single LED light that flashes and one chunky rechargeable light that lets me see where I am going). However, make sure the fixing loop is the right way round (most light bars are designed for mounting on a horizontal handlebar).

The bad news is that a chunky rechargeable light that gives out enough to see where you are going is going to cost you - if you only need to be seen, then things are a LOT cheaper.

 

[stainboy]

Yes unfortunately I don't have handle bars as I have under seat steering so it limits my options a bit, I'll have another look tomorrow if I have time. Without going downstairs to have a look I'm a bit wary of mounting something T shaped on incase it catches on my legs.

I only need to be seen on well lit roads at dusk, well maybe full night time soon but as long as its enough for me to see and them to see me. There will probably be a lot of buses on my routes, I'd guess they'd see me better because of their seating height?

Is there any law on lights? I'd understand if I was pulled over for having none but if I have something then am I okay?

 

[byegad]

You can buy an extender which will fit onto your dérailleur post from SJS Cycles. They come in different diameters so measure before you buy. A slightly cheaper, but less robust option is to use a Space Grip.

 

[Tigerbiten]

The Recumbent lights thread over at YACF will hopefully give you some ideas.

One thing to remember is that most recumbent front lights are lower than upwrong front lights, so its harder to really illuminate a large patch of road infront of you on pitch black roads.
Hence I tend to go for overkill, I run twin Hope Vision One's on my trike.

Luck ........

 

[Arch]

For a start, a pair of half decent battery LED lights will serve. Cateye, and Smart are good brands. I have a derailleur post with a little stub to mount the light on, and I'd fixed a T-shaped extender to it, so I can carry two lights on night rides. Doesn't interfere with my feet - but check anyway.

Looking at the pic you posted on the other thread, you should be able to mount rear lights easily enough on the rack and rear triangle. I favour a couple of rear lights, so you have a back up if one fails. Red LED lights can be pretty cheap, and run for ages on one set of batteries.

A good front back up is a headtorch. You can get some very neat small ones, and wear them over a hat or helmet if necessary. Give you a good light to illuminate wherever you're pointing your head.

Also, you can get little back up lights, that run on a button battery, and attach to tubes with a little elastic loop - they'll fit on almost anything, and can be constant or flshing light. Often 5-10 quid a pair, sometimes at Tesco and the like, and very easy to shove in your pocket or bag. One white one on each handlebar grip would be an extra policy.

You could consider a dynamo for the future - there's no reason why either a bottle type or a hub type wouldn't work on a 'bent. But it might be a job for a bike shop to fit.

Don't worry too much about standards. A lot of lights actually exceed the standards, so to speak, and that's why they are supposedly not legal. But I think if you have good lights, you'd have to get a very very grumpy cop, or behave very badly, for them to pull you up on what type you have. They are more likely to pull up people with no lights.

 

[Tigerbiten]

But the daft thing is ..........

No matter how many/what quality lights you put on your bent, it will not be road legal in the dark.

Because you also need Pedal Reflectors.
The law state that four are required, coloured amber and marked BS6102/2 (or equivalent), positioned so that one is plainly visible to the front and another to the rear of each pedal.
Now on a bent, this is not possible ...............

 

[stainboy]

I had a little ride around a nice tarmac carpark tonight, for some reason I still forget to steer and when I fall it's always to the right. My neighbour asked for a go and his feet didn't even get to the pedals but the exact same thing happened to me. I actually attempted to ride home even though I don't have lights and almost got there just was heading towards a van and forgot how to turn again. So lights are next on the menu, I think I know what I'm gonna get just for now to see if they're good enough otherwise it's gonna get overwhelming and I'll never get any. I looked for those ones I almost bought the other day but couldn't find them, but there are similar about.

I've shortened the boom to see if that'll help my legs, possibly a bit too much but I can just keep adjusting it. I was thinking actually that the best way to practice might be to just attempt to ride to uni and give myself a lot of time. There's a lot of cycle pavement on some of the bus routes so I wouldn't have to worry about traffic so much, the ride home attempt tonight, even thought it was only 5 mins away was what made me feel more confident.

 

[BenM]

Boom length - measure your x-seam. Sit against a wall with your legs our in front of you. get someone to put some books against your feet, the distance from the books to the wall is how long you should have your boom (apparently - any number of bentanaught sites have this information) Also remember that you will tend to recline more the more confident you get so the boom needs to be a bit longer than you think at first.

Keep smiling, laugh when things go in an unexpected direction and keep at it

B.

 

[arallsopp]

If you have a derailleur post, you might be able to bodge a suitable front light bracket by modding a seatpost mount from a discarded rear reflector. I did this on my USS furai some 9 thousand miles back, and its still holding.

Regards dynamo lights, I find they're an upfront commitment for a superior product. The lighting rig on my Furia cost 3x as much as the batter equivalent, and cannot be moved from bike to bike. Would I do it again? Yes. (And I did, for the SMGTe).

Building a dynohub into a non standard wheel size is a big step, and I wouldn't have taken it if my commute and social life didn't mandate 300hrs+ night riding each year.

The lower position of a recumbent front light means I'm often mistaken for a bigger vehicle with a broken sidelight, or a moped. Result is vast decrease in SMIDSYs after dusk.