Dangerous front lights?

[Fiona N]

As the owner of some old (halogen) Lumicycles (I think ~12w on my helmet)...

Me too - I ride unlit country lanes around here with a 7w or 12w 'spot' without any problems seeing where I'm going or blinding oncoming drivers. Most of the time, the drivers do manage to dip their headlights but just occasionally there's one who you don't know whether is fully compos mentis and for those situation, I find the 20w 'flood' does tend to wake them up but as it's a wide angle it's 'dazzle potential' is quite low.

I recently bought a Lumicycle 5 LED light for overnight Audaxes as the battery life is better and that is crazily bright on full beam - I can easily ride with it on lowest level (of 4) without any worries.

So far when I've been out and about either on bike or driving, the only bike light I've had problems with (on an approaching bike, that is) was a guy with a powerful LED headlight on flash despite it being fully dark (and 4am) - it was also aimed firmly at oncoming traffic - high and focussed rightwards not straight ahead. As I got closer I could see that he had a much weaker light actually pointed at the road. This sort of behaviour strikes me as being just completely unnecessarily aggressive.

 

[henshaw11]

I recently bought a Lumicycle 5 LED light for overnight Audaxes as the battery life is better and that is crazily bright on full beam - I can easily ride with it on lowest level (of 4) without any worries.

That's the only disadvantage with the halogens, the runtimes a little short if I forget to recharge them - I've been caught out without decent lights partway home a few times, which is why I bought the Ixon (a Smart 35 wasn't quite up to it)

There's a guy ('Troutie') over on the singletrackworld forums that produces his own lights - a while back he produced a small number of retrofittable led 'pucks' which fit the old lumicycle cans, and I've bought 3 to retrofit my Lumis - two narrow and one wide, intended for the helmet(mtbing), recumbent (boom mounting), and mtb (bar mount) respectively. I've two simple led drivers (from a guy on ebay), plus a more complex driver with lots of switching options, that I need to shoehorn together before the winter. The whizzy controller will go on the 'bent - at some point I would like to try a bit of audaxing and I think I probably want a bit more control over the light output, rather than the two settings of the cheap/cheerful controllers.
I've had them since about the same time I bought the Ixon - the first FNRTTC of the year - and I *still* haven't got a roundtuitt...

 

[Headgardener]

My Electron Terra 1 is pointed about twentyfive to thirty feet in front of the bike wich gives me chance to avoid any obstacles and a Cateye EL220 as backup points further forwards.

 

[ufkacbln]

The issue is with the beam shape, not the brightness

Vehicle headlight have a cut off at the upper part of the light beam

Cycle light do not

What we needs a properly focussed and shaped beam pattern

 

[Cyclopathic]

Occasionaly when walking my dog late at night along a now paved part of the Great Central Raiway (a multi purpose path that allows for bikes and peds) I have been quite dazzled by the lights of oncomming cyclists. Obviously it isn't a real danger and I'm not going to careen off the path but it is a bit irritating. The path itself is well lit and it seems unnecessary to point ones light so far up. Isn't this counter productive, on pathways as well as roads? Personally I direct my beam to light the area in front of my bike. For a car to see ones lights they do not have to be shining directly at them.

 

[jig-sore]

You get drivers flashing you with your hope vision 1 on max? I would suggest that you have it at the wrong angle then!

not very often i agree with gaz (sorry gaz ) but i gotta say that seems to have hit the nail on the head

 

[totallyfixed]

The issue is with the beam shape, not the brightness

Vehicle headlight have a cut off at the upper part of the light beam

Cycle light do not

What we needs a properly focussed and shaped beam pattern

Exactly, and with makers bragging their lights are as bright as a car headlight I think it can only be a matter of time before they are regulated. I also wonder if drivers in and around cities have more tolerance to lighting

Whenever I go to the smoke I see lots of bikes without lights when it's dark and no one seems to mind, do that around here and someone will stop you sooner or later.

 

[ufkacbln]

Mind you my favourite experience was one of Portsmouth's finest - an Aquacar driver



He pulled out on me at a junction and as I braked and ended about 2 feet from his window... I politely asked if he could not see my 720 lumen Enduro Maxx light


His reply was that he thought I was a motorcycle......

Apparently they have better brakes and would have stopped better and therefore there wouldn't have been a problem

It never even occurred that he should not have pulled out in from of a motorcycle either

With drivers like this you need all he help you can get

 

[Davidc]

You get drivers flashing you with your hope vision 1 on max? I would suggest that you have it at the wrong angle then!
The hope vision 1 is known for having a narrow beam so that it can be used on the roads at it's max power without blinding other road users and whilst lighting the road in front of you. I don't know of anyone else who thinks a single hope vision 1 is fine by it's self for unlit roads, you must eat a lot of carrots.

Agree with the first bit. I have mine set so the main part of the beam hits the road between 10 (nearest bit) and 15 (farthest bit) from the bike, and have marked the bracket and bars so I can put it on accurately.

I also have the bolt set loose enough that I can angle the light into the verge as a courtesy if it's on highest power.

On the tourer I have a B&M CYO60 as the main light, which is a shaped beam and is set as the instructions (ie to German spec) and use the Hope aimed vergewards to help pick up dodgy drains, edges, etc.

I don't agree with you about the Hope not being adequate on its own. I've descended the B road off the Blackdowns into Taunton at over 40 mph with just the Hope V1 on several occasions and find it adequate. (I do prefer the Hope together with the CYO on the other bike though!

Off road on tracks clearly needs more light, but that amount of lighting is incosiderate and unnecessary on the road.

It never even occurred that he should not have pulled out in from of a motorcycle either

With drivers like this you need all he help you can get

With drivers like that you don't need lights - just an RPG with its launcher well strapped on!

 

[fossyant]

Gosh. The power of lights we have now.

About 20 years ago, I was working 19 miles from home, half of it was unlit roads. It was just about then that MTB'ing took off, and the demand for a good light. I spent £90 on a BLT system that had a 3w halogen and a normal rear light. The front was focus changeable, but this was heaven then - couldn't compete with a car headlamp, but meant riding was fine - they then went to 5w and 10w halogens (but run time was hammered - only 2-3 hours on a 3watt).

The stuff we have now is fantastic.

I spent most of last night comparing my two Hope 1's (fitted to son's bike) and my new magicshine 808e whilst we had fun off roading (he's never had lights that powerful on his bike - he is only 10 ). I noticed the Hopes are very focussed, bright in the beam pattern, less so out (so good for commuting). The magicshine was a fair bit more powerful in a beam, but there was significant spill - fab for off road - hence 2 Hope 1's to one magicshine.

If using a magicshine, you need to point it well down - that said, having been caught up by a guy with one last year in traffic, I thought it was a UFO coming, and he had it pointed to the floor

 

[Slaav]

Sorry guys - I really have not read the whole thread as I gave up on Page 1.....

Have decent lights!

If they are a bit too strong, people will understand.

If they are cr4p, you may get run over.



I do both (run over and avoid) and I would rather be blinded by some pathetic light that caught me on the corrcet angle than ran someone over