Cyclists without lights....

[swee'pea99]

You've reminded me (totally OT) that when I were a youngster I were sent off on a potholing week - this would be back at the beginning of the '70s - and we used carbide lights on our helmets. You had to put these crystals in them and add water, and when the gas flame started to die down, you'd find somewhere with water running down the walls and dribble a bit more in, then the flame would perk up again for a bit. Sounds positively medieval now, but of course we didn't think twice about it at the time.

 

[Mr Phoebus]

I've got a carbide cycling light...

Mmmmmmm, steampunk.

 

[HJ]

Bit harsh, am I a moron?

Evidently yes...

 

[HJ]

Sometimes I forget them.

That is why have a couple of really cheep lights permanently mounted on my bike. They are functional but look so tacky no one has ever bother to steal them and I never get caught out without lights. It's not difficult...

 

[hackbike 6]

Yeah and I always carry spares.

 

[HJ]

Wow, I'm amazed that people have taken my posts the wrong way. Riding home last Sunday at about 2030hrs in the pitch black with no lights down a main A road doing a 15 mile journey...

...Do you see now?! Common sense, forward thinking and being alert. It's not about being on the wind up, being a dick. I understand what people are saying with the use of lights but sometimes I like to ride without, it's a good test of alertness and forward planning.

Good forward planning is taking light with you before you go out, being alert is noticing that it get dark earlier at this time of year...

 

[PBancroft]

408 posts and my name has already become synonymous with BS. There's pride in that.

There's quality and there's quantity mate!

 

[goo_mason]

That is why have a couple of really cheep lights permanently mounted on my bike. They are functional but look so tacky no one has ever bother to steal them and I never get caught out without lights. It's not difficult...

Not so much Cateye, more BirdsEye then....

 

[swee'pea99]

That is why have a couple of really cheep lights permanently mounted on my bike. They are functional but look so tacky no one has ever bother to steal them and I never get caught out without lights. It's not difficult...

As I said on another thread, £5 flashers from ebay, then Araldite them in place. That way no one can nick them even if they want to, and they're always there when you need them.

 

[Riding in Circles]

Lights have come on a long way, when I was a kid it was those grey plastic things from Halfrauds with huge batteries and feeble output for about an hour tops, back light was equally huge, l.e.d. technology has made a huge difference.

 

[HLaB]

Lights have come on a long way, when I was a kid it was those grey plastic things from Halfrauds with huge batteries and feeble output for about an hour tops, back light was equally huge, l.e.d. technology has made a huge difference.

When I was a kid it was they stupidly large lights that took D batteries, they were totally ineffective and were a pain to attach. I don't recall if i ever suceeded in fitting mine to the bike (I could only afford a rear and I bought that in a jumble sale) but if made a good light for my hidey holes.

 

[Riding in Circles]

When I was a kid it was they stupidly large lights that took D batteries, they were totally ineffective and were a pain to attach. I don't recall if i ever suceeded in fitting mine to the bike (I could only afford a rear and I bought that in a jumble sale) but if made a good light for my hidey holes.

Those were the ones. Metal saddle clamp for the rear stays, you went over a bump and the light ended up in the wheel, only way to get it solid was to tighten it so much it started to crush the frame, front went on that huge metal plate.

 

[swee'pea99]

Those were the ones. Metal saddle clamp for the rear stays, you went over a bump and the light ended up in the wheel, only way to get it solid was to tighten it so much it started to crush the frame, front went on that huge metal plate.

Remember the front lights of the era? The ones that took those weird double-cell batteries with a copper strip on the front that didn't go in anything else?

 

[Bollo]

There's quality and there's quantity mate!

I'm trying to introduce the concept of 'qualtity'

 

[Andy 71]

The ones I remember as a kid ( and I might still have in my garage somewhere) are the Ever Ready lamps, the front one of which attached to a bracket or braze-on on your front fork. Took two massive HP2 batteries that weighed a ton.

Then in the 80s, they bought out those removeable ones, with the 'big dipper' style bracket.

Around that time, I invested in a Union dyamo light set. Great output, but the drag was crippling.