[Closed] We have reached Peak LED

I commute on an unlit NSL road, I want to be visible from space. (also, multiple rear lights gives you a bit of redundancy in case one fails)

Some people seem to go a bit mad with them..
I think a well placed decent front and rear, with a spare in the backpack is enough personally.

Too many flashing lights, when I'm driving at night, is to distracting IMO.

Yep - redundancy is what it's all about for me.

However I only run two rear lights, one on the bike and another on my rucksac, and a single front light with a spare torch in my rucksac.

I can recharge lights when I get to work and the only time I ever had a light stop working it was a rear light that got water inside after I rode into work in the rain!

I do think some people are overly concerned about lights and being seen. There's only so much you can do to 'help' the crap drivers but I guess folks do as much as they can afford to avoid becoming another cycling statistic.

Good luck to them 😆

I want to be visible from space

PS the five LED light punter was riding across a part of London that's so well lit it is literally visible from space

One or two larger surface area medium bright lights to the rear is plenty.

Having something or a combination of somethings brighter than a car fog light that flashes in a way that would make a 90s rave look mundane is counter productive.

Blinding, dazzling or making the following vehicle need to divert their eyes at 50 yards + is dangerous to everyone. I followed someone recently whose rear light combo was so bright and the light pattern so random I could barely look at him as it hurt my eyes.

Want to improve your visibility get some Reflectives.

mattyfez - Member

with a spare in the backpack

Can't see any point to this. Spare on the backpack or bike, get some use out of it rather than just carrying it around.

Want to improve your visibility get some Reflectives.

This +1 & on that note can anyone point me in the direction of some reflective tape for the mudguards? ta

One on the front, one on the back, two backups in the pack.

Poe - eat your heart out heheh!

Plenty of reflective tape on ebay. I got some nice black stuff that reflects white but in the day is invisible on my black bike/lid.

can anyone point me in the direction of some reflective tape for the mudguards?

As above, just have a search on the ecommerce platform of your choice for "Scotchlite Tape".

PS the five LED light punter was riding across a part of London that's so well lit it is literally visible from space

five seems excessive but my experience of driving at night in London is the amount of ambient light from streetlights actually makes seeing people very very hard - there's no contrast for bike lights to shine out against. It would be easier to spot cyclists lights if it were pitch black.

Best practice from what I can tell re bike lights is 2 front and 2 rear, one flashing and one constant each end - flashing to be noticed, constant to allow drivers to gauge your distance, also has the benefit of redundancy.

I took my front-facing helmet light off for a couple of night-time commutes last year on the basis it may be overkill and nearly got knocked off 3 times in one ride from people pulling out on me. It went straight back on - it's a nice bright Moon and definitely works in terms of getting people to look before they step out into the road!

Also, having this many lights is to help my lawyers if I ever need them - much easier to laugh at the driver's lawyer who claims the driver didn't see me...

Give the awful standard of driving down here in Portsmouth I insist that on my wife's commute from the QA hospital to Havant that she is lit up like the Blackpool illuminations.
Exposure Trace (I think) white & red on her helmet with the red on pulse. Joystick on flash on bars with a generic led thing with lots of side spill. 2 different led lights on rear, at different heights with one on constant and one on flash.
She's also got loads of retro-reflective tape on the rims and a big strip of it on her fluoro yellow rucksack cover.
Despite all this she regularly reports near misses when people try dodgy overtakes, etc...

I have three on the back, all different models. So the current drain is different, they never go flat at the same time. Or even in the same month. None are particularly mad lights. Mid range flashy LEDs.

Two on the front, a "main" head light and a cheapy cateye all in one. The cateye gets used about once a year, if i end up riding a bit further than planned, or have a puncture. Normally i only need to swap the battery on the front after 75-90 minutes and thats it.

Peaks LED shurely?

It's the MTBers that over do it that wind me up.
Flashing rear lights that blind anyone behind. Switch them off when off road.
Bar and helmet lights on when riding 2 abreast on gravel. Dip the bloody things please. Better still don't switch them on until its dark!

but it's not that big a risk compared to some dingbat pulling out in front of you

Except you can't see them coming so can't react.

And it really hurts

Mattbee ime in that area bein seen is not always the issue. Portsmouth and Southampton just seems to have a major driver aggression issue. Not just to the "evil"that is people on bikes either. The bad attitude, impatience and aggression between drivers is escalating and seems to be combined with a downward trend in basic competence.

[i]much easier to laugh at the driver's lawyer who claims the driver didn't see me... [/i]

get some pedal and wheel reflectors. I've seen lack of these being used in mitigation by defence lawyers recently.

Also, re: loads of lights - it's about standing out against a background, in town there's hundreds of light sources, oncoming vehicles, distractions. you need to be immediately visible as an 'obstacle' to someone driving towards/away/from your side - the more you can attract attention the better, imo.

Hub dyno front and rear on constant. Battery rear mounted far right of my carradice on flashing and a small white led at the top of the seat post facing forward, illuminating my legs and body. Huge increase in side visibility.

@mattscm Part of my commute is on an unlit canal towpath, it's a balancing act between having the light raised enough that you can see ahead but not raised to the point where you are blinding those coming in the opposite direction. I'm not going at excessive speed on this section, 24kmh at most, but it isn't helped by many of those on the path including cyclists wearing all black and having no lights or reflective strips. MTB lights really aren't suitable for on-road use though - they appear as a concentrated spot to other users which is very distracting.

All pointless when the nob that kills you is gazing into his iPhone.

One on the front, one on the back, two backups in the pack.

How often do you check that your one rear light is still working?

spare lights for redundancy? lame. just carry spare batteries.

," it's a balancing act between having the light raised enough that you can see ahead but not raised to the point where you are blinding those coming in the opposite direction."
Agreed, but when bikes approach its only good manners to dip your lights to a point where they don't blind others. If that means slowing down then so be it. So many don't and so many use lights in a anti social way. On a manky day like today I would have a small front light on but so many use their weapons grade stuff at dusk.
Just basic lack of concern for others.

[quote="aphex_2k"]spare lights for redundancy? lame. just carry spare batteries.When it's cold wet dark and miserable i really can't be bothered, stopping, cracking light cases open (one or two require screwdrivers) unless i REALLY need to.

I do one steady and one flashing at each end, plus one on my head to shine at drivers who haven't seen me or are ignoring me and about to pull out when it's my right of way!

brooess - Member

Best practice from what I can tell re bike lights is 2 front and 2 rear, one flashing and one constant each end - flashing to be noticed, constant to allow drivers to gauge your distance, also has the benefit of redundancy.

This is my take on it.
One flashy rear light & one permanent on.
Until recently I only had a fixed front light, but bought one of the Aldi specials (Moon rip-offs) and now use that as a front flasher.

I don't understand the point of a 'spare in a pack'. I use both rear lights at the same time and because one is on permanent & one on flashing they have vastly different run times. As soon as the permanent one looks to be dimming, both lights get charged. I definitely don't want to be carrying a spare light in a pocket or pack - it might as well be on & being used if I have to carry it.
Spare batteries - what's the point? Most of the weight of the light unit is taken up by the batteries so again, you might as well have them in a light, turned on & working.

The one thing I would like to get is a light that attaches to the back of my helmet - just to give a higher position. I was going to get one of those flexible Chilli-Tech ones:
http://www.chilli-tech.com/bike-lights/bike-helmet-light-led
but it takes those stupid button batteries, rather than a couple of AAA's, which has put me off.

As important as having more than one light is having them in different places. A light high up, on the back of the helmet means you can be seen over the top of cars. But more than a couple of lights, especially if they are all in one cluster, is silly.

Pedal reflectors, however naff they are, are the most distinctive signal to other road users that you are on a bike. Maybe bike shoes should have reflective heels.

A) not one single pedal i have has space for a pedal reflector. The bodge on jobbies get smashed off in seconds.
B) all my winter/commute shoes/overshoes already do have reflective tabs/straps/loops.

Don't moan about the symptom. It's the cause that needs to be dealt with. Why is it that people feel the need to do this?

One light at the front is enough.

[img] [/img]

Having something or a combination of somethings brighter than a car fog light that flashes in a way that would make a 90s rave look mundane is counter productive.

Blinding, dazzling or making the following vehicle need to divert their eyes at 50 yards + is dangerous to everyone. I followed someone recently whose rear light combo was so bright and the light pattern so random I could barely look at him as it hurt my eyes.

Couldn't agree more. Bizarrely selfish (or thoughtless) to overdo it as much as some riders do.

Genuinely quite a harrowing experience trying to overtake one of these twerps.

Don't moan about the symptom. It's the cause that needs to be dealt with.

We're smart enough to consider both, I think.

1x biblical bright magicshine

1x silicone LED thingy on my helmet.

1x light on my backpack/jersey

My thinking is that by having lights spread out it gives car drivers more to judge distances with, although the jersey/backpack one is mostly for redundancy.

aphex_2k - Member
lame. just carry spare batteries.

Except batteries in a damp pocket are just going to short/leak pretty quickly. Maybe if there was some sort of waterproof case they could be kept in, it could even have a couple of LED's in it to double up as spare light in an emergency..............

I bought a tracer 360 from the states last winter - bloody awesome thing - dont really bother with a bike light now - the best thing is car drivers pulling up next to you telling you it looks fantastic and you really stand out
[url= https://player.vimeo.com/video/146724062?autoplay=1 ]Tracer Video [/url]

Ravetastic!

Ravetastic!

spare lights for redundancy? lame. just carry spare batteries.

Fine if you want to check every few minutes that the light is still working. Can't be arsed with that.

FWIW one big bright solid red light (Exposure Red Eye) and a smaller slow flashing cateye here. Plus a reflector and some reflective trim on the guards.

And just because the driver can see you, much like in daylight, it doesn't mean they won't still drive like a dick.

spare lights for redundancy? lame. just carry spare batteries.

Doesn't solve the problem at all. If a rear light dies whilst you're riding, you won't know. Having two or three on at the same time means if one goes, you're still legal and still lit up, and therefore still safe.

+ all my lights are rechargeable - most being USB so spare batteries not an option.

Michael Mason was killed when a woman drove her car into the back of him on a well lit street in central London.

The Met's view of it included the line:

Mr Mason was displaying lights on the bicycle but these lights could easily be lost to a drivers sight in a busy central London Road in the dark where there are numerous other lights displayed.

There's no need to look like a freaking funfair ride

Road bike always has two lights; one steady and one flashing. For redundancy. Both Cateye Rapid minis, which are great lights.

Trike has three lights, two steady (normally the minis) and one flashing (Cateye TLD-650) on a rear rack. Plus a fenderbot back up mounted on the rear mudguard.

For those with one light, do you check it is still working? I see a lot of very dim rear lights on my rides.

EDIT: And I ride with lights on the trike in daylight, along with a front flashing Joystick, because it is low and I need to be seen.

The Met's view of it included the line:

[url= http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/inquest-into-death-of-michael-mason.html ]Re the Met's view of that case.[/url] And a follow up on the [url= http://www.ctc.org.uk/news/20150319-met-adds-insult-injury-mason-case ]CTC site[/url].

One flashing and one constant is a good approach. Although on the front I'm often one pulsing one constant. Sometimes I running three front and back (if I wear a jacket with lights on)

I like having a helmet light, also good for lorries/tall vehicles as you're more in line with their view

I am fortunate to commute on a shared path cyclists and pedestrians and only do about 5% on the road. In relative terms its benign to what I hace had to face in inner city areas.
However the other week the not uncommon experience of being totally dazzled and blinded by a very bright LED head light meant that I just could not see what was coming afterwards. I slowed down fortunately but a sort of rolling chicane of pedestrians followed and tucked in behind the cyclist with the blinding light was their kid on alike whose lights and form were totally obscured. It could've resulted in a nasty accident.
In Germany I believe that front lights have to be dipped and the light lens is made to facilitate this.

Maybe bike shoes should have reflective heels

My old sidi's do.

Two on the front and two on the back, one flashing, one constant. I have had a rear lamp fail more than once, so would never run just one.

My wife bought me one of those Proviz coats last year. Only just started using it. Bloody Hell, it generates some respect / space. I use a lot of unlit country lanes on my commute, and I've had repeated instances of cars pulling over and [i]stopping[/i] to let me through. This has [i]never[/i] happened before! Unfortunately, it has the breathability of a bin bag, so can only be used below about 5 degrees. But I've started to feel under dressed at night without it.