Front light on handlebars or helmet?

[GrumpyGregry]

For the love of God; on the bars!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

1 Ay-Up on the bars, a second rear facing Ay-Up fitted with red Saxon Caps on the helmet. I wouldn't put a front facing light up top for the same reasons that has been said above. If your bars are lit up enough why would you need more.

They make great rear lights with those Saxon caps don't they? Probably a bit too bright, but then you can point em at the floor.

I just wish they'd make a Saxon cap with dipper optics for the front. I use Ay-ups as well and you have to angle them down a tad or they blind. It'd be so simple just to have a cap with the appropriate optics for road use.

No one loves their AyUps more than me but they are fairly anti-social on road at night for oncoming traffic and as rear lights they are simply FAR.TOO.BRIGHT. and besides what's the point of them as rear lights? As helmet lights when racing, great. When group riding? Eyeball searing friendship killers.

But is it beyond the ken of clever Australian people to come up with a lens with optics, and a low power rear?

 

[jongooligan]

After a number of near misses from joining traffic at one particular roundabout I started wearing a helmet just so I could mount a light on my head and direct it at drivers joining from the left. It was a Fenix something or other, so fairly bright and it seemed to work but I was always uneasy wearing it. I hated the helmet and with the light attached it felt fairly weighty. I was also worried that the light protruding from the helmet could be a potential snagging point if I had a fall.
That particular roundabout has been remodelled and ismuch safer now so I've binned the helmet and the light is on the bars as a backup.

 

[srw]

So a well positioned helmet light with the beam pointed down is worse than a badly angled light mounted on the handlebars?
I suppose all motorists are poor drivers & every cyclist jumps red lights too?

If you could point me at the post where I've said any of that I'd gladly apologise for being an idiot.

 

[Flying Dodo]

A driver's eye line is just over 3 ft above the road. When pulling out, they look level with their eye line. That is where they expect to see car head lights. They don't expect to see the light 2 ft above that. Any higher and the brain will think that the object is further away.

Observing other cyclists with helmet lights, the second light higher up definitely makes them stand out in the early morning gloom. They certainly don't appear further away, but they become more visible, as you think "what's that", as it catches your attention.

 

[Bodhbh]

No one loves their AyUps more than me but they are fairly anti-social on road at night for oncoming traffic and as rear lights they are simply FAR.TOO.BRIGHT. and besides what's the point of them as rear lights? As helmet lights when racing, great. When group riding? Eyeball searing friendship killers.

I didn't buy them for a rear light, just whatever Blackburn, B&M, etc things I had died a death (or fell off) and I had a spare set of Ay-Ups so I might as well use them. It means front and back use the same batteries as well. The Saxon caps do diffuse the beam and they are angled at the floor. I'll admit when I first got the AyUps I didn't angle them down, but I soon got 'driver feedback'. I expect the same will happen if you ride with a stupidly bright helmet mount for very long.

Keep meaning to try the white Saxon caps, I reckon they'd make good ambient lights when car camping.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I passed three cyclists with helmet lights (coming towards me) in the dark this evening. In no case was I even slightly dazzled, and in no case did I fail to correctly identify what and where they were.

Just sayin'

 

[Biscuitfrisky]

On the bars purely because it's the constant and doesn't stop forward light projection when you check your blind spots whilst manoeuvring.

Even if it's not a given your seen, you should give yourself the best chance.

 

[Crankarm]

I had to get off the bike and push due to the wind yesterday, passed comment with another rider in the same position on the cycle path and he nearly burnt my retinas out with his helmet light!

There you go. A real menace and quite dangerous if you are dazzled so you can't see where you are riding you could crash or ride into the path of another vehicle or a stationary object simply because of some one's thoughtlessness.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I'd like to think that my helmet light was successful in preventing a car colliding with me last night. I was at a crossroads waiting for the fast flowing traffic to stop at the traffic lights, rather than me just moving off on green. The car on the left stopped then i set off only to see a car fast approaching from my right having jumped the red light i'd say by 3 seconds after it'd changed! my natural reaction was to stare at the car therefore the dick's brain must have reacted to the light and told him to slam the brakes on. Maybe spoke reflectors and high viz bits on my overshoes didn't register but the bright light did? Anyway he drove round me, no hand up apology the git!