Rear light set-up

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Moda

Active Member
Does anyone have tips for maximising you rear visibility to those behind? Am currently using an Exposure Blaze but wondered if I could do more?
Thanks
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
 

Berk on a Bike

Veteran
Location
Yorkshire
There's a guy I see on my early morning commute who runs a very run of the mill red rear light together with a very bright, flashing WHITE light. I wouldn't recommend that.
 

shouldbeinbed

Rollin' along
Location
Manchester way
More seriously I'm a fan of the Cateye Volt lights. The 50 rear is very good & very bright. It comes with a saddle rail mount but you can get a post mount for it for a couple of quid now too. If you wear a helmet you could consider a high level option too.

Do you have a rear rack or proper fixed mudguards onto which you could fix another light.

I'd always suggest a solid rear light and at least one flashing one.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Check your light from a distance in a quiet place and make sure it's well aligned and visible from a fairly wide angle. You only need a few lumens with a good light.

Dazzling rear lights are both anti social and illegal. If you only use one, then make it steady or pulsing, not on/off flashing, so no one can blink and miss you.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
I have two of the older C&B seen lights on my panniers. They are incredibly bright, which is why I have them angled right at the floor to light up the road.

Main rear lights on my seat post are Smart R2s

C&B has a new commuter rear light which is self contained and has a replaceable rechargeable battery. Various brightness modes as well.
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
I have a 2x half watt (phart from planet x ) on the seatpost
LIPHBPDRL_P1.jpg

and a standard smart polaris r7 on each pannier as well
smart-polaris-r7-rear-light.jpg
 
There is an argument for mounting lights as low as possible, at least at the height of the rear axle. It's all to do with motorist's perception, where they tend to look and how they interpret what they see. Low down in a drivers vision equals closer to.

Reflective tape applied to moving parts like rims and cranks bounce headlights back to source and convey a moving 3D image of a bike.

Rucksack lights are pretty lame judging from most that I see. They register as 'above the horizon' for a seated driver so communicate 'far away'. And they're almost always pointing at the sky.

I run one on the seat-post or back end of the rack and one low down on the rh seat stay.
 
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D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
I have a 2x half watt (phart from planet x ) on the seatpost
LIPHBPDRL_P1.jpg

and a standard smart polaris r7 on each pannier as well
smart-polaris-r7-rear-light.jpg







+1 for the Phart light, I have one on the rear leg of the rear carrier, paired with a carrier mounted light, Phart on flashing and carrier light on steady.
 
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