Show us your lights!!

[jig-sore]

well my lights are nothing special (although I'll soon have four on the rear !!!!) and are just OK for commuting on road, but my handle bar was getting a little crowded so i needed to find a solution.

don't really like the look of those off the shelf handle bar extensions so i made my own (grub screws ground down once final position set)....

the good thing about mine is that it sits central to the stem, with the centre section being used for the computer and the two outside "arms" for lights.

i decided to mount it pointing downwards instead of up. it looks a little strange but does the job....

the view from the saddle is perfect, with the computer in the centre, two lights either side (second light on order) and loads of room left on the bars for my bell.

because the lights are further forwards, all side illumination is well out of the way of all the cables. good stuff and real solid

 

[Downward]

Those extensions look a great Idea - Noticed them in C+ Mag this month.

 

[Manonabike]

The anorak, I quite like your solution - another light on the left end and the whole thing would look great I think. Well done!!!

 

[jig-sore]

The anorak, I quite like your solution - another light on the left end and the whole thing would look great I think. Well done!!!

yep, another set of lights is now on order, so i can have one on flash and one on constant, or one as back up, etc etc. i could probably get more on their if i needed

i also use a head mounted torch and a flasher on my right shoulder, so at least I'll be seen

 

[HJ]

Noticed when I got home on Friday that one of the side-on LEDs and one of the main bottom-row LEDS on my Cateye LD-1100 have died.

Of course, this might be the excuse I'm looking for to spend silly money on something like a Dinotte for Christmas!

Good idea, you won't regret it...

 

[HJ]

This thread is just making me want to go out and buy some Ayups. Please stop, I have to save up for my holiday!

Just buy the Ay-Up's, you know you want too...

 

[rusky]

I would love Ay-Ups but don't fancy the import duties.

 

[HJ]

I would love Ay-Ups but don't fancy the import duties.

You pay VAT and duty up front when you order from Ay-Up and as one CC member recently found, it is cheaper to buy Ay-Ups in the UK than it is to buy them in Australia...

 

[rusky]

Where acan you buy them in the UK??

 

[Tharg2007]

i think he means that if you buy them in uk from oz it works out cheaper.

 

[Norm]

I don't have a picture to show, as I just have a single Exposure Enduro on the bars and a Smart 1/2W on the rear. Good quality kit, fairly basic in that I don't look like a Christmas Tree but they seem to do the trick.

But I splurged out on a little extravagance yesterday and got myself a Joystick to mount on my helmet (fnaar fnaar) and, holy moly, how fantastic is it having a lid-mounted light! Wherever I look, it was lit up! I had one car flick to main beam after seeing that I was a bike, who immediately dipped again as soon as I "looked" at him. There was a russling in a hedgerow as I passed, I looked to my left and saw the fox, clear as daylight. Best of all, two cars started to pull out of side turnings on me, both instantly stopped when I looked at them.

Anyone who rides at night should try a decent head / helmet-mounted light. Made the ride a gazillion times better, and I can justify the expense on safety alone if it stopped a side-swipe on it's first use.

 

[BentMikey]

Good post Norm! You're so right.

 

[hackbike 666]

Good point about the helmet light.(fnarr fnarr)

Aren't we lucky with how bright the new led's are compared to what they were like in the 1980's....unfortunately we have clowns on mobile phones to contend with now though.

 

[Norm]

Only yesterday, on my way out to get the Joystick, did I throw away 4 pairs of Ever Ready lights from the late 1980s. No idea why I still had them even, they've moved house with us twice. Huge, heavy and couldn't mount to anything useful... how things have changed.

(Now it's just me that's huge, heavy and can't mount anything useful. )

 

[Crankarm]

Being brightly illuminated after dark makes one hell of a difference. I have so far had just one Smart 3 LED light always with fully charged batteries on the back with hi-viz Scotch lite clothing and reflective patches on all sides of the panniers which has been sufficient to keep vehicles at bay and not close pass. However I now have x2 Smart 3 LED lights and x2 Smart 7 LED lights on the back, a total of 1,2,3,4,5,6,........17,18,19,20, twenty LEDS all mounted closely together with fully charged batteries. Cars keep well back some hang back about 100m and only come close when they can actually pass rather than getting too close to me and having to look into the LEDs for too long as they wait for a safe opportunity to pass. But having said this there was one cnute WVB (not WVM as he was clearly very young so boy) who got too close and nearly took me out as he swerved out misjudging his speed to avoid me as he tried to pass. Well it felt close.

Anyway I now have more light shining out behind than from the front, which isn't short of watts either .

Will try and post a pic of my illuminations.