Cyclists who use strobe lights are...

[Davidsw8]

I used to have a slow blinkey or solid rear light and had so many close passes it wasn't funny. I got my Moon Shield and have it on strobe (pointed slightly down) and get really wide passes now, and I have never had anyone shout abuse or complain and feel so much safer.
BTW My route doesn't take me into any major towns/city and most of my ride is in unlit country roads, and I very rarely see other cyclists.

Yep, there's definitely happy medium between people not seeing you at all and blinding them As with anything, you just have to be sensible about it.

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

After many close passes and near-misses with cars pulling out, I now use:

TrustFire Cree Q5 230-Lumen LED - one on the bars on flash tilted down to about 2-bike lengths ahead, and the same helmet mounted on fixed but usually on one of the lower settings.
In mid-winter when it's pitch on both to and from work, the Cree on the bars gets switched to my Ultrafire Cree T6 XML 800-Lumen LED.
I switch to fixed beam on unlit side roads and tracks, but again, angled down.

On the rear:
RSP Astrum Twin 1-watt (2x0.5) on flash seat bag or seat post mounted
Smart Helmet rear mount mounted 3-LED on flash
Revolution 2-LED seat-stay low mounted on fixed

I often get comments from colleagues about being so well lit up, however, I then tell them that at least they could see me.

I've still had the odd nobber punishment pass me or just pull out on me, two of the latter EXTREMELY close?

 

[wiggydiggy]

Ive stopped using mine on flash except for heavy traffic times where I think it makes a bigger difference when I'm filtering/up the inside in a cycle lane, rest of time its just steady.

 

[BlackPanther]

If you have flashing front lights then you are saying to every driver about to emerge form a side road "I'm a cyclist, I'm coming towards you very very slowly, feel free to pull out on me".

I have a very bright 'Cree' front light, with a £3 diffuser to focus it down on to the road. I look more like a motorcycle than a cyclist, and am amazed by how far away I can be, and the cars still wait for me to pass. I do have 2 rear Blackburn 4.0s set on strobe. HOWEVER, I make sure that they're angled correctly so as not to dazzle people behind. It's not rocket science, set the lights on strobe, go behind the trike, and set them up properly---30 seconds every couple of weeks is all it takes.

 

[Hitchington]

Are lasers OK?

 

[gaz]

If you have flashing front lights then you are saying to every driver about to emerge form a side road "I'm a cyclist, I'm coming towards you very very slowly, feel free to pull out on me".

I have a very bright 'Cree' front light, with a £3 diffuser to focus it down on to the road. I look more like a motorcycle than a cyclist, and am amazed by how far away I can be, and the cars still wait for me to pass. I do have 2 rear Blackburn 4.0s set on strobe. HOWEVER, I make sure that they're angled correctly so as not to dazzle people behind. It's not rocket science, set the lights on strobe, go behind the trike, and set them up properly---30 seconds every couple of weeks is all it takes.

The Blackburn mars 4? That doesn't have a strobe mode :S

 

[downfader]

Personally speaking I wont use a light brighter than 80 lumens on the rear, prefer it to be 40-50 though. On the front I do use flashers but put the Smart Lunar light on flash - the Exposure Strada is too bright at 800 lumens for the city roads. I tend to put that on the lowest 2 settings, but will use the flash during the day (eg raining or low sun).

At the moment my main rear is an Exposure Blaze. I use that on flash mode during bad weather and low light. It lasts ages between charges.

People who use strobe lights (8 flashes a second or more) are a***holes. None of my lights flash more than 4 a second when in use for a reason - because I know I've been distracted by strobes in the past

 

[fossyant]

The strobe mode is a high frequency flash, AKA 80's Disco. On a t6 at full brightness it's a mare.

 

[GrasB]

I run a 350 lumen rear light on the back of my low racer & it's not objectionable in the least, intact I probably need to drive it a little harder because at close range it can look a bit dim! The reason? It has a surface area of 122.71cm^2, a typical rear back light will have a surface area of 2.54mm^2. If we do the maths that gives my rear light 2.85 lumen 1cm^2 but if you take a 75lumen 1 LED rear you're looking at 30 lumen per 1cm^2! That's car rear HID/brake light range.

That intensity of the less bright light means your eye tones down so that the point source isn't overloading its sensing abilities. That makes it very hard to see anything else. However my brighter rear light simply doesn't get that intense, it actually seems to get dimmer the closer you are to it!

The problem with making something that big is that on a conventional bike it's kind of hard to mount a 13.25cm diameter light.

 

[rb58]

Please be aware as you get older, your eyes age.

Who'd have thought......!

 

[ufkacbln]

Speaking as someone who suffers with/from epilepsy, I feel you're misinformed over the effect of strobe/flashing lights and their effect on people like myself & the condition itself. Flicker epilepsy accounts for a small proportion of those with the condition. And even smaller percentage would be effected by the frequency used on bike lights.
Or are you just tarring all those with epilepsy with the same brush?

I was about to say that the Epilepsy thing is more complex

It is about a whole range of factors - the only "recorded" incident was where the person was fettling and it may be the intensity at close range rather than the flashing rate that was the cause

 

[downfader]

I was about to say that the Epilepsy thing is more complex

It is about a whole range of factors - the only "recorded" incident was where the person was fettling and it may be the intensity at close range rather than the flashing rate that was the cause

Photo-epilepsy isnt it, when light triggers an attack. IIRC 10hz, and only 1 in 4 of all epileptics suffer from it. And epilepsy itself is pretty rare.

 

[buggi]

This why I stopped having anything flashing on the front of the bike, I don't want people to know that I'm a cyclist, I want people to know that there is something coming towards them. The assumption can be that you wont be travelling at any sort of resonable speed which can lead to drivers misjudging the time they have available to pull out or immediately adopting the MGIF mindset and pulling out because they think they're going to be stuck behind you.
Doesn't it also make judging distances far more difficult if the light is on flash too?

as a driver i have NEVER not been able to judge the distance or speed of a bike bcoz they had a front or rear flashing light. I think this is a bollox excuse from drivers who need an eye test. (that said, I'm yet to see a strobe light so I'll keep you posted)

 

[fossyant]

Buggi the strobe is mental on a T6 light. It's on max light, that will illuminate a field, on mad flash. It's very very bad.

I have a couple of lights and can't ride with it on, never mind anyone else seeing.

 

[the_mikey]

I may be getting the wrong end of the stick here, but most modern led lamps strobe at something like 16-25Hz , it gives the illusion of a constant bright output but reduces the duty period of the led components saving battery life and extending the life of the led.