Position of lights, and flashing or not

[Night Train]

On the Brompton I have a steady light on the rear triangle and a steady/flashing light on the back of the saddle bag. At the front I have two steady lights just left of centre on the bars, a brighter steady light and a flashing light next to the right brake lever. I also have all the legal reflectors.

On the winter hack I have a steady rear light under the saddle and a steady/flashing light on the headtube. I also have all the legal reflectors.

On the Rattrike I have steady/flashing red and white lights on a stiff 'flagpole' pointing in the appropriate directions. I also have a brake light on the rear mudguard and two steady lights in the front of the boom.
I have a legal red reflector but, like other recumbent riders, can't see how to have legal pedal reflectors.

I am working on practical methods of fitting legal reflectors and lights on my trailers where they won't get damaged or interfere with the load or the fold.

 

[Night Train]

When I got some double-sided Shimano SDPs as a present they came with a little plastic platform with reflectors which clip in on one side. As I'm fairly used to one sided clips, I thought I'd keep them on, thinking I could use them for short journeys in regular shoes/trainers. They're legal but there's a trade off, with your pedals becoming one-sided. I've kept them on.

I have single sided SPDs on my Ratrike to have the option of flats and SPDs and also to have the 'legal' reflectors. However, the reflectors point up and down and can't be seen from the front or back when riding. The law doesn't have a loop hole for recumbents and pedal reflectors as far as I know.

 

[Mugshot]

I have three on the rear of the bike, 2 x Smart Lunar R2s positioned towards the bottom of the seat stays on throb + 1 x Smart Lunar R1 on steady attached to my seat post. On the front I have a Hope 1 Vision on steady, a Cree XML T6 on steady and a Smart 25 on flash all in a line along the handle bars, flash in the middle. On me I have reflective bands with flashing LEDs on each arm, when I ditch the shorts I'll have one on each leg too. My thinking for the rear is that I'm nice and bright and covering a number of different eye levels, my thinking on the front is power

 

[akb]

My commute route is a combo of cycle track and road. The first half is track, the rest is road.
I have reflectors all year round on wheels, stem and seatpost. In additional to this I have:

Winter - Hope Vision 1 as the main light up front with a Smart flasher thingamabob. On the rear I have a single led Bike Hut light (only decent thing I have brought from Halfords which has lasted me longer than 12 months) attached to my saddle bag which gives a wide light spill. This is on flashing. Below this I have a Cateye rear on constant. For the track section, I only use one of the rears on flashing and the front Smart goes off as the Hope is more than enough at power 3. When I get to the road part, the BH light goes on constant and the Cateye goes on flashing (purely to save battery life) The front Smart light goes on flashing and the Hope goes on to power 2.

In the summer the Hope and Cateye come off and get stored.

 

[totallyfixed]

I support what Boris says about front lights in general, a flashing front light isn't helpful to motorists when it is very dark, especially the powerful ones which increasingly are becoming the norm. However a front flashing light I find useful in light or half light conditions where a driver could still see you without lights because in these situations the human eye is able to switch focus to the surroundings and avoid being blinded. I believe rear lights always be flashing as this will always mean a cyclist.
As the law stands it means that most large companies that sell lights are technically breaking the law because their lights do not conform to the BS standard. One well known company sells 148 different front lights and none of them conform, crazy.
We have recently bought powerful front lights that throw a beam similar to a vehicle dipped headlight, what a revelation! They throw a beam as far ahead as you want to set it and wide too but do not blind other road users, one is made on this country and one in Germany and I really believe that this type of light is going to be the future for road bikes, yet none of these lights are legal, pathetic.
The bottom line is have enough lighting to get noticed and stay safe, but not enough to blind other road users, it's not helpful and can put you in danger.

 

[potsy]

Not a big fan of flashing front lights, only time I did was in gloomy overcast conditions where they might just attract a drivers attention, always steady during the hours of darkness though, usually 1 fairly powerful main beam and another on low or there as back-up.
1 rear on flash, 1 on steady, usually mounted on the rear rack/bag and one on the right side seatstay.

 

[Scruffmonster]

It's not until you follow a bike with decent pedal reflectors that you realise how fricking amazing they are. When the light from my Hope hits them, spinning, they're massively eye catching, at least as visible as most rear lights.

I don't have any though. Large reflective stickers on your heels would no doubt be a pretty good substitute.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

I support what Boris says about front lights in general, a flashing front light isn't helpful to motorists when it is very dark, especially the powerful ones which increasingly are becoming the norm. However a front flashing light I find useful in light or half light conditions where a driver could still see you without lights because in these situations the human eye is able to switch focus to the surroundings and avoid being blinded. I believe rear lights always be flashing as this will always mean a cyclist.
As the law stands it means that most large companies that sell lights are technically breaking the law because their lights do not conform to the BS standard. One well known company sells 148 different front lights and none of them conform, crazy.
We have recently bought powerful front lights that throw a beam similar to a vehicle dipped headlight, what a revelation! They throw a beam as far ahead as you want to set it and wide too but do not blind other road users, one is made on this country and one in Germany and I really believe that this type of light is going to be the future for road bikes, yet none of these lights are legal, pathetic.
The bottom line is have enough lighting to get noticed and stay safe, but not enough to blind other road users, it's not helpful and can put you in danger.

If they're made in Germany they have to be to German standards, which are legal in this country...tbh German standards for bicycle lights are far superior to ours.

 

[Archie_tect]

I asked in the LBS on Grainger Street in Newcastle about stick on reflectors for my Shimano M520 SPD pedals- to stick onto the leading edges. The manager gave me an odd look, well a smirk really, and told me not to bother...

 

[akb]

I believe rear lights always be flashing as this will always mean a cyclist.

Doesnt this theory apply to the front light aswell? IME, a flashing white light at 'handlebar' height is always a cyclist.

 

[totallyfixed]

If they're made in Germany they have to be to German standards, which are legal in this country...tbh German standards for bicycle lights are far superior to ours.

A good point, as far as I can tell it is just accepted that Germany leads the world in lighting standards and the UK accepts StVZO [the German standard] as acceptable , The following is good reading and quite funny at the end:
http://www.cyclo.co.uk/2011/10/bike-lighting-a-response/
And from the Cambridge Cycling Campaign :
Beam pattern
Lights used entirely in street-lit areas only need to be visible to others, but outside those areas they need to let you see properly. This is the point at which a front position light (all that is legally required) becomes a real headlight. Headlights require us to consider the beam pattern – we don’t want to waste light where it is not needed, or to direct it into the eyes of other road users. We do want to illuminate the road in front of us to a reasonable distance, and far enough to the sides to make it possible to see where we are going on bends and corners. This is a very good reason (apart from the legal one) to use lights which conform to a decent standard (UK or otherwise) for this type of lighting. The best alternative to the British Standard, from our point of view in the UK, is the German standard. This is because 1) it is legally acceptable here, 2) lights that conform to it are surprisingly even more readily available than BS approved ones, and 3) they put the light where we need it.
The German standard is called StVZO, and the approval number will be embossed on the light casing as a ‘k’ followed by 3 numeric digits.
The best-known brand for both battery and dynamo lights that are all legal in the UK is Busch & Müller, and they are very good indeed, although they have no blinking lights, as these are not legal under German regulations. Many other brands are available, but I know of no other which only supplies lights that meet relevant standards. Many lights are only suitable as ‘supplementary’ lights, as they have no approval at all, and this includes almost all the Chinese lights available on well known internet auction sites. They’ll light up the road (and the retinas of oncoming drivers), and the police probably won’t bother you, but as the power of cycle lights keeps rising, I expect the powers that be to start expressing an interest in lights which dazzle oncoming road users.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Doesnt this theory apply to the front light aswell? IME, a flashing white light at 'handlebar' height is always a cyclist.

No it doesn't.

 

[akb]

No it doesn't.

Care to explain?

 

[mickle]

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Care to explain?

Plenty of walkers carry some form of light. Is two white lights coming towards you always a car?