Road Bike Front and Rear lights

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skwerl

New Member
Location
London
This sentence in the vehicle lighting act is interesting:
"the light shown by the lamp when flashing shall be displayed not less than 60 nor more than 240 equal times per minute and the intervals between each display of light shall be constant."
That means that you rlight has to flash at a constant rate. My basic Cateye, for example, flashes in groups of 3. i.e.flash..flash..flash......flash..flash..flash
The big-ass Cateye (forget it's name) has about 93 combinations. 92 of which must be illegal, according to this reg.
Not that I care. It would have to be the most petty copper in the world that stops you for having a non-consitently-flashing light on your bike
 
"the light shown by the lamp when flashing shall be displayed not less than 60 nor more than 240 equal times per minute and the intervals between each display of light shall be constant."

In a thread elsewhere Cyclists were criticised as being irresponsible for using flashig lights as they could induce epileptic fits in following drivers.

Leaving aside the issue of whether someone that photo-sensitive should be driving, I looked into this and found that there is a specific renge that triggers epilepsy. The intensity / brightness of the light is also an important factor (strobe lighting)

I believe that at least in part this regulation is to keep the flashing within the "safe" limits for triggering epilepsy.

Slightly OT, but informative is thatthere have only been a few incidnets of cycle lights triggering epilepsy and these have been during maintenance or fitting (no pun intended) of the lights. This was though to be the factthat the intensity of the liht was sufficient at this close proximity to trigger, and was not a situation likely to be repeated in normal use as the peceived intensity is too low.


The "trigger range" is so specific and narrow that even with its diverse settings it is unlikely for a Cateye to trigger an epileptic fit.


-
 

KentS

New Member
I've found that modern LED flashlights give an amazing amount of light in a small package. Many flashlights have a too narrow 'spot' beam to be ideal for cycling. However, for example the fenix brand have a wider beam pattern that suits fine. I've tested this one as front light:
https://www.fenix-store.com/product...d=158&osCsid=0cf3fddc11b40d13b926a31da540c12e
I've found that on the high setting the light is more than enough (equivalent to my cateye daylites system with 10+6W and super-heavy lead battery) on the dark but paved roads I use. However, with rechargable cr123a batteries the battery time is not enough and non-rechargable cr123a-batteries are rather expensive. I'm planning to use this one
https://www.fenix-store.com/product...d=315&osCsid=0cf3fddc11b40d13b926a31da540c12e
instead this winter. Even with rechargable batteries it will last long enough. The 200 lumen mode might even be strong enough for trails.
 

Andy Pandy

New Member
Location
Belfast
What happens to flashlights when the batteries run low - do the switch off?

I run Dinotte front and rear lights (the rear light is the best tail light I have seen) and when the batteries run low they switch to a low lower safe mode, which still gives enough light to get home (1 hour plus, I think). I would be worried about my rear light switching of half way home if the flashlight doesn't have a similar facility.
 

Commuter

New Member
So, I've ordered a 2-AA maglite from the USA with a 3w LED in. Cost me £15 with postage. If it's as bright as it should be then I'm going to get a red lens and strap it to the back of my bike.

Prepare to have your retinas burnt off bonjy.

I'd be interested as to how it performs Mr P. Also the source in the US ?

Thanks.
 

Maverick Goose

A jumped up pantry boy, who never knew his place
Just bought an LD1000-if you have one of these on your bike it's like Saturday Night Fever out there. Have an EL300 and AU100 on the Hewitt and they're great (Merlin are doing a good deal on various Cateye lightsets at the mo IIRC).
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
fingered the lights in the LBS while buying a Joe Blow (£22, yay for LBS and very nice it is too) and LBS man as is tradish talked me up the price range to a pair of cateyes I think for a tad over £50, both very nice indeed, the rear had two separate rows of leds, one of which could be set to steady and the other to do the dancing patterns, all on AA rechargeables

the front has three of four leds too, some steady and some flashing, we had to view that in the mirror to protect our eyes, nice

and the front was waterproof to 5m, which is a must naturally

so just a race now to save the money before it gets dark, soon come
 

twowheelsgood

Senior Member
Homemade 35W halogen overvolted 15%. Cost £70 including battery and give 3 times the output of a standard bicycle HID lamp (about 1500-1800lumens). Looks about the same as a single dipped car headlamp. Runs about 1hr 45mins. By far the easiest an cheapest method to get serious light output not complex electronics and cheap bulbs (I haven't needed to replace anything in 3 years). I can up or downgrade the light to 45W or 20W easily too. The 20W is still brighter than a HID and will run over 3.5hours which is as much cycling as I want to do at night. Sometimes simple is better.

LED is becoming interesting but you simply cannot get enough light to get near this without using half a dozen emitters.

Rear 2*cateye TL-1100.

I have never encountered anyone else with a road or mountain bike with anywhere near as much light.
 
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