Dangerous front lights?

[henshaw11]

As the owner of some old (halogen) Lumicycles (I think ~12w on my helmet), and an Ixon IQ:

a) unless you've got a wide angle bulb/led unit - and narrows are generally most useful off-road anyway (or at least, wide on bars, narrow on helmet) - you can generally point them at the road where they're both most useful, and not going to dazzle anyone - and that applies to both 'bar and helmet mounting IMO. Or at least, in ~10yrs of using them, I don't recalled being flashed, other than *possibly* once or twice, and given I tend to use the hlemt mount, I may not have been pointing directly atthe road. I guess a wide-angle unit could well be more of a problem, but I think most leds and halogens tend to be narrower.

b) dip setting - unlike a car headlamp which has a cutoff on dip, all you can sensibly do is reduce the power - and it could still dazzle a bit if pointing to the wrong direction. You still need to be able to see the road in urbans areas anyway, so you'd wind up at lower power all the time, which wouldn't help that much with seeing the road.

c) the Ixon IQ has a shaped reflector, but on low power (on a lowish bent at least) can actually be a little disorientating because the curb edge doesn't get much illumination, and wouldn't be much use off-road because the cut-offs so extreme.

d) until more recently, the more powerful end of the lighting market was really aimed at off-road use (where you don't want a cut-off) and relatively expensive until the cheaper dealextreme/magicshine things came out.

It took years before the uk lighting regs accepting anything other than steady incandescent illumination, so I wouldn't hold your breath for regulation ! - tho' you might get stopped by the Police if they were ill-aimed.

BTW - there are some German standards that the Ixon is made to - which I *think* requires a minimum, steady, illumination level, whereas in the UK there's no minimum requirement AFAIA, never mind anything else.

 

[totallyfixed]

This from CTC, what the hell is a candela when it's at home?
Front LampOne is required, showing a white light, positioned centrally or offside, up to 1500mm from the ground, aligned towards and visible from the front. If capable of emitting a steady light it must be marked as conforming to BS6102/3 or an equivalent EC standard. If capable of emitting only a flashing light, it must emit at least 4 candela.

 

[Wankelschrauben]

My cheap rear light was enough to blind some idiot yesterday.

Apparently I'm gay and bicycle lights should be illegal.

What he didn't consider was the illegality of his own vehicle, which was so low it would scrape the very dirt off the ground.

Basically, it doesn't matter what we do, someone out there will dislike our lights for one reason or another.

 

[Panter]

I ride unlit country road with a Lumotec Halogen and I don't feel the need for anything brighter unless I go over about 28mph which is unusual.

Fair comment. I should've added to my post that once I've wheezed my way to the top of the North Downs, my return commute is mostly downhill through country lanes, so I'm generally averaging 26-30mph average speeds for long sections of the journey.

The commute into work is (obviously) mostly uphill and, quite frankly, a candle would be more than sufficient to provide more than adequate light at my usual hill climbing speeds...

 

[floss nicoll]

does anyone use bikeray for road cycling - i have been looking at these following a recommendation and the price seems pretty good - was looking at the bike ray 2 (900) i tried using normal lights last year and just kept coming off the road into the verge as cars drowned out my light. there are lots of ideas on here but i am cycling to save petrol money so dont want to cancel it out with massive costs!

it's all too difficult lol

 

[BSRU]

Bike Ray is a competitor of Magicshine, similar lights similar prices.

 

[wesa]

I use an Exposure MaxxD on the handlebars, a magicshine on my helmet and a generic LED flasher on the handlebars. I make a point of checking the adjustment of these constantly.

I have 11-12 miles of unlit roads from NSL A roads to single track lanes and my top speed is in the region of 45mph.

On the NSL roads I tend to keep the helmet lamp on low and the Exposure on low or med.
On the narrower roads I tend to put one or the other (usually the magicshine) up to full.

I have never had a driver switch back to full beam after dipping, I have had a few flashes but I think I get more in the car.

When I check the adjustment of the lights I prop my bike against a wall and walk off down the road, at least 100m. I can't check the helmet light this way but the surprising thing is that the nondescript front flasher appears far brighter than the Exposure.



Several of my colleagues pass me each morning and evening, when I spot them I make a point of asking their thoughts on my light setup, I have never had a bad comment (except pointing out that the batteries in one of my back lights were dying) but lots of positive ones.

 

[sunnyjim]

This from CTC, what the hell is a candela when it's at home?
Front LampOne is required, showing a white light, positioned centrally or offside, up to 1500mm from the ground, aligned towards and visible from the front. If capable of emitting a steady light it must be marked as conforming to BS6102/3 or an equivalent EC standard. If capable of emitting only a flashing light, it must emit at least 4 candela.

1 lumen /sq m at a distance of 1 m. Fork Handles isn't very bright.

 

[floss nicoll]

wesa do you think it is necessary to have one on helmet and one on bar? i was hoping to get away with just one on my bar - i dont cycle very fast (between18 -20mph) i think i will try the bikeray this year and hope for the best unless someone says this is a mistake?

 

[BSRU]

wesa do you think it is necessary to have one on helmet and one on bar? i was hoping to get away with just one on my bar - i dont cycle very fast (between18 -20mph) i think i will try the bikeray this year and hope for the best unless someone says this is a mistake?

A helmet light can be useful as it illuminates the area your looking at, good for getting noticed as you approach side roads and I have found having a light above the cars is useful on some roundabouts where my handlebar lights are obscured by other vehicles.

 

[floss nicoll]

thanks BRSU hmmmmmm a lot to consider ay

 

[wesa]

A helmet light can be useful as it illuminates the area your looking at, good for getting noticed as you approach side roads and I have found having a light above the cars is useful on some roundabouts where my handlebar lights are obscured by other vehicles.

Exactly what BSRU said.

 

[fossyant]

Both my Hope 1's are angled down to point to the road about 30 feet in front. I use them on Level 2 in traffic. Level 3 or 4 is for dark lanes or off road. Only been flashed once on a dark lane when at Level 3/4.

Hence why many folk recommend these as a good all round light, especially commuting. My son had a whale of a time last night with the two hopes providing plenty of light - almost as bright as the Magicshine.

My Magic Shine is for off road - went out to play last night with my son, and as soon as I hit the road, I faced the MS to the ground. My son had both my Hopes and there were aimed 30 feet in front.

With helmet lights, I wouldn't use one of any "power" on road. Maybe a low powered flasher, but certainly not a high powered torch. This would be off road only.

One other point to make, is you need a light bright enough to compete with the new HID's and daytime running lights on many cars. These new LED daytime lights are very bright !

 

[semislickstick]

I tried to set up my Ixon IQ like the motorcycle lights as a rough guide.


25 feet from a wall, measure the height of your light on your bike to the floor, mark that on the wall. Set your lights to shine 2 inches below that.



Seems to work on the B&M Ixon, but then that is a proper road light, with non dazzley technology wizardry. (which still dazzled when I had it too high....the tesco cree had to be pointed down even further.)

 

[henshaw11]

A helmet light can be useful as it illuminates the area your looking at, good for getting noticed as you approach side roads and I have found having a light above the cars is useful on some roundabouts where my handlebar lights are obscured by other vehicles.

Yup, I quite agree - the only downside can be because they're higher up they *might* be missed or a confusing 'cos people don't expect lights that high up, but I've probably prevented a few close calls on roundabouts with them being helmet-mounted because you can direct them at whoever's thinking about charging over the give way line. Tho' when I'm on the 'bent that brings them down to bar-mount height anyway.

So long as they're spots rather than floods, they shouldn't be a problem mounted on a helmet - a low mounted light is going to have a shallower angle of incidence to the road vs one on a helmet, aimed at the same point on the road, so could possibly be more of a problem wrt dazzle, from further away.