[Closed] Dark nights ..stay bright..stay safe.

Spent a decent chunk of the last week charging batteries and replacing shagged out kit, I quite like night commuting but it's still a pain... (I have an unlit, NSL stretch on mine and I'm pretty sure I'm safer at night with my fairground lights going, than I am in the day...)

I prefer it when it's properly dark for my commute, really don't like the half-light of dusk as drivers pay less attention than usual. Work is flexible about time so I can adjust my commuting time to suit.

After the other weeks demonstration of driving ****wittery i'm on the canal for the foreseeable future.

Minibusses hurt

Treated myself to a new Lezyne 600 lumen job. That plus a flashing led at the front and two at the rear should have me pretty well covered

I also prefer a properly dark commute to dusk. You'd have to really not want to see me to miss me with all those lights in the dark.

hang on, someone will be on in a minute to tell you how having lights makes busses hit you or something.

Someone needs to tell the students in Stirling - Saturday night late, black top, jeans, no lights, no reflective, big headphones on, unlit road, under trees against dark grey wall. Even with car headlights on the kids could not see him, until we were a couple of car lengths from him. 😐

I've been using a B+M LED dynamo lamp for the last month or so, I'll be wiring up the rear lamp tonight when I get home. Fit and forget, it even turns on automatically.

Oh yes. If you were a couple of mountain bikers heading out of Colne over the tops towards Skipton on Saturday morning then wearing black in thick fog and not having your lights on is a good way to become a traffic statistic. At least one had a decent front light and both were middle aged men so not just local kids out for a ride.

+1 for the dynamo setup as well.

Someone needs to tell [s]the[/s] all students [s]in Stirling - Saturday night late,[/s] black tops, jeans, no lights, no reflective, big headphones on, unlit road, under trees against dark grey wall.

^^All while tXt'n* 😯

* [i]usually[/i]

The police round my way have been telling people the same thing recently and handing out cheap hi viz neck warmers for free as if that will solve the problem. The "stay bright, stay safe" message is a ridiculous one.

I was talking with a colleague about this a few minutes ago. I'll agree that darkness is safer than dusk if you have lights on. Which obviously I do as I'm not suicidal.

I've found an Exposure Link on the helmet seems to get drivers to take extra care.

Plus a B&M front light, Moon rear light, reflectors on my spd pedals and a Night Vision jacket.....

I'm happy off road with my Hope R8 but I think that is a bit OTT for a road commute. Any recommendations for a road use USB chargeable light of reasonable power? I have two Wilko flashes at the rear and a Moon flasher/solid at the fron but that is no good for seeing, only for being seen...

I think statistically, you're more likely to get hurt at dusk than in the dark...

I've had lights on for most of my commutes in October anyway, but might need to have more reflectives than hi vis on

Any recommendations for a road use USB chargeable light of reasonable power?

Plenty of good suggestions here:

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-self-contained-light-for-commuting ]USB rechargeable lights thread[/url]

In the recommend what you've already got tradition the Lezyne 600XL is very good for £42 off of CRC

Hmm, about to head off along the canal and the pedestrians dressed in black who you only see because of the light from their phone 🙄

Any tips for lights to attach to a rucksack? I run a good cateye under the seat but could do with a light higher up on my back. Fibre Flare any good?

Herself has a FibreFlare zip-tied to her rucsac. It's not all that bright, it just helps to make her a little more visible.

I have a fibre flare on my back pack and I've had car drivers tell me how good it is when they pull up at the lights.

Don't forget to wear some reflectives.. Ankle and wrist bands work well, maybe some reflective 3M tape on your bike or helmet

Quite often think that pitch black commuting is the safest of all. In daytime, drivers look for other vehicles, at night they look for light sources. Decent lights level the playing field for the commuting cyclist.

Lidl/Aldi did some 3M reflective arm/ankle straps with a strip of LEDs in them. They were so cheap we assumed they were disposable and bought a few packs but actually they take CR2032s. Illuminated and reflective, moving and flashing, you'd hope they'd help!

Buy a medium powered light, strap it to the bars backwards and illuminate yourself. I've found that one of the best ways to be seen as a cyclist and not just some random bright light in traffic.

I'm tempted to get one of these after seeing a couple on the roads.

http://www.provizsports.com/en-gb/proviz-reflect360-cycling-jacket-mens.html

Those Proviz are literally brilliant, almost disconcerting and appropriate for Halloween!

Great video that re reflective clothing.

I never wear a jacket and only pop a gillet on if driving rain, cold and windy.

Are there any good normal riding shirts out there that have good reflective taping? I don't commute but do end up on the road during my night rides.

Cheers

Looks like some Proviz kit, almost too reflective

i dont think it matters.

i near got taken oot by a static transit tonight. **** was texting or facebooking on his phone and just switched lanes as i was passing him in static traffic.

- was sporting high viz vest , lumo helmet , b + m iqx , reflectors , helmet light etc etc .... but they just aint looking.

A saw a driver enter a one way street the wrong way.
There was a copper on his horse at the entrance to the road.
If he doesn't get noticed ,no one is safe.

The M61/62 was flippin' unreal tonight - as if everyone went "ooh it's dark - engage Singapore GP mode - bwaaarrrp".

No cyclists though.

Tonight's commute was a bit of an eye-opener, so muck ****wittery on display 😯

Passed one knocked-down cyclist, two fender-benders and one nasty looking motorbike crash with the rider lying in the middle of the road after being cut off by a car turning right. Bike looked a mess and the rider was in a very odd position on the ground.

Not good for a 4 mile commute 😥

Tonight's commute was a bit of an eye-opener, so muck ****wittery on display 😯

Passed one knocked-down cyclist, two fender-benders and one nasty looking motorbike crash with the rider lying in the middle of the road after being cut off by a car turning right. Bike looked a mess and the rider was in a very odd position on the ground.

Not good for a 4 mile commute 😥

Where the hell are you riding Milky?

My 23 miles was very uneventful apart from one driver thinking he could squeeze his large silver German car through a gap I was already occupying. Yes, it was an Audi.

Thanks for reminding me I want a new front light 🙂

First road ride commute of the season here having gone to LL and bought a lezyne 600XL yesterday. Took most of the ride trying to get the angle right, only finally got it close about 2 miles from home. Was nice and quiet and I managed to get off the main roads before the worst of the 'dusk' arrived and the back on them once it was definitely night. I've ordered some reflective tape for the mtb helmet and want to get some in white for the road helmet too so will be in sticking mode soon.

Mister P - that was going through the centre of Cardiff W-E along Newport Road, not the best or safest route at the best of times but I had an order to collect from Evans so it was the only way! It's a bit of road that goes from multi-lane dual carriageway to narrow single lanes, multiple pinchpoints and a few local ratruns going off in all directions. Oh and a random bus lane too, it's awful in rush hour. I usually avoid it.

Had a good one last week on cycle path in pitch dark - jogger running towards me with a flashing red light on his head to me looked like a bike 1/2 a mile up the path until I was close to actually figure out WTF it was.....close enough that he waved his arms even.

Don't really get running towards cyclists.

Got the proviz out this year - evil sweat in the bag but deco ultimate in the be seen

Those pro viz are amazing when it's dark and you shine a light on them. Pretty crap rest of the time though as they are grey.

Nice. I got down to my bike this evening after work to find someone had nicked my saddle bag with my rear light attached to it.

Added 20 mins on to my journey home and was late to pick the kid up from nursery.

It's a bloody secured underground car park. Bastards.

The thing to do in London right now seems to be to kit your bike out with a megawatt lamp and angle it so it's pointing in everybody's eyes, thereby robbing the eyesight from all oncoming traffic (including any unfortunate cyclists who might be in the area). Just because technology has moved on to the point that we can have the equivalent of a car headlight at full beam on the front of our bikes doesn't mean it's necessarily a good idea....

It's like some people spent all summer forgetting how to drive [strike]in the dark[/strike].

FTFY

At least it's dark enough now that drivers seem to have remembered where the headlight switch is. Last few weeks pre-clocks going back there's been loads of fannies driving round in the near-dark with no lights on...

Finally finished wiring up my rear dynamo lamp this morning - fitted new brakes, levers, cables & grips last night, electrical wiring before I left work.
I'll find out how it works in about 5 hours.

People mus be able to see me as they regularly shout insults.

At least it's dark enough now that drivers seem to have remembered where the headlight switch is.

The twilight half-darkness nearly caught me out yesterday on a "shared" cycle path section - it's the only bit I use as I come out of a subway near a busy roundabout and the cycle path avoids it - it's shared with pedestrians though... I take my usual glance to the right to check the traffic and as I look back, just in front of me (prob 10 feet away) is a woman with a small child. She's on the "walking" part, kid is on the "bike" part. I would've seen them before I did if it had been daylight. Avoided them easily enough, but it does show us riders have to be aware too.

Yeh last nights ride home was a bit of a shock as the first in darkness the whole way. Takes a while to get back into the riding in the dark mode.

I already had lights on as it was dark when I left home and got home towards the end of October anyway but went into full winter mode yesterday.

Fibre Flare on the rear of my helmet, one cateye tl-ld1100 on my seatpack and another on the seatpost, exposure strada 1200 on the bars, wee knog flasher on the bars and another cheap flasher on the front of my helmet. And I still think no one can see me.

How is the fibre flare secured on to people helmets then? Maybe a good idea for some extra visibility. Currently only got one front and one back and although I avoid most traffic, cant hurt to be more visible.

I bend mine round the curve of the helmet and use the bungy straps through the vent holes.

I have also had many people comment on how effective they are.

dynamo lighting.... my favorite addition oto my commuter of all the commutery things. even above mudguards i reckon .

Goit an IQx on the front and a toplight senseo out back supplimented with a smart 0.5 watt flasher out back and an exposure joystick on my doing its high low flash.

As matts says bent round the rear of the helmet low down and silicone ladder straps through the vents. I only use it through the urban bit of my commute, 12 miles is on a segregated cycle path, so put a bit of anti slip tape on the power button so it's easy to find by feel and turn on/off.

Serious question - does anyone have the amber reflectors on their pedals required by law?
I use spd pedals, so don't, but I've never been pulled up for it. On the commute I have reflective bands on my ankles which work in a similar fashion.

I have the clip on reflectors on my SPD pedals on my commuter.

Never been pulled up while riding other bikes at night without them, though I have to say that as a driver, the motion of pedal reflectors really gets my attention at night.

Serious question - does anyone have the amber reflectors on their pedals required by law?

No, but my lights probably aren't strictly legal either. It's highly unlikely I would ever be pulled for either.

riding along Embankment last night. this is one busy place full of cyclists, cars, buses, taxis etc for those of you that don't know it and it's like a race track.

Riding through the pedestrian crossing that was featured on that video a few weeks back of the pedestrian/cyclist interface and there are people riding in that kind of traffic with no lights.

I queried this with one girl who was in all dark clothing and had no lights on. After removing her headphones (of course) she said that yes, the batteries had run out on her lights.

Strange...

amber reflectors -yes - use XT touring pedals
BS marked reflectors front and rear - yes(part of my lights)
Spoke reflectors - yes - they increase sidevisibility no end.

I also use the aforementioned flashing lumo bands - but on my arms- so folk can clearly see when your indicating.

kenneththecurtain knows what im battling up here - drivers would rather see you maimed than pass them in a static queue of traffic round here.

I don't have pedal reflectors but my overshoes have a large reflective patch on the rear which is highly effective. I know this as my colleague has the same ones and I've seen them in use. The movement of them makes it very clear that it's a cyclist.

XT dynamo hub and B&M front and rear lights + spoke reflectors, have been using them for a year already, zero problems and set and forget, charging batteries is a PITA.

I'm going to add a helmet light soon.

Will probably look like a christmas tree by christmas!

Serious question - does anyone have the amber reflectors on their pedals required by law?

Not, but I also have the reflective bands. And I also have some strips of reflective stuff stuck onto the back of my pedals.

Pedal reflectors are really effective in the dark - the motion just shouts "cyclist".

I use the plastic platforms that sometimes come free with SPDs on my commuting bike - they click in pretty easily if you back off the spring tension.

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Those are the ones that I have - iirc, PeterPoddy of this parish sent me my set for free, many years ago.

I also have those on my commuter through the darker months. I tend to go for the ankle bands on other bikes. You used to be able to get something that clipped to the underside of SPD-SL pedals as well. Well worth it as the up down motion is very obviously a bike.

Pedal and wheel reflectors are very eye catching if you are a driver who is paying any kind of attention.

If the driver is paying no attention then you're screwed anyway.

Might as well make it easy for the half decent ones.

What are the rules regarding flashing light?

I currently have Aldi cheapo moon copies front and rear running solid light with a 5 quid eBay special flashing on the bars as well. I've just bought a Solar Storm to replace the 5 quid special but I'm not sure if I should set the Aldi lights to flash or not?

I think common thought is one light flashing and one solid both front and rear. The theory is that the flashing light gets attention while the fixed light makes it easier to judge distance.

I also have flashing helmet lights front and rear - been through those cheap elastic back up ones, the rather nifty, if ugly, Aldi one and now have a rather s****y Exposure Link that Santa got me last year.

Any helmet light seems to be very effective in making drivers see you and be careful around you - at least, in my experience.