Commuters – using offroad lights for the road?

Off road lights badly positioned and shining into car driver or pedestrians eyes are taking the p1ss surely – no matter what we think of their attitudes.

Good comments re: side visibility and flash modes, I have Exposure Flash and Flare communting lights, awesome lights, not the brightest but plenty bright enough but also have a mode where you can have permanent and flashing on at the same time and have great side visability. They are also super portable for pub trips etc – and can aparently be submerged in a pint of beer, not tried this….

Vision 2 up front and a District on the rear, never had a problem.
Just position lights in a slightly downward angle.

Flashing function on Exposure Lights would be very useful for when you’ve broken a leg at night on top of the beacons/Lakes/Peaks and would like to attract the attention of a passing rescue helicopter. (Bettery lasts for ages on flashing as well, so even if they take a good few hours they can find you)

Probably not such a good idea on the road.

Hope 4 on flash mode at the front and a Cherry Bomb on flash mode on the back. All commuting on lit roads.

I would rather been seen from afar – I don’t trust half-asleep drivers in the morning or those in a rush to get home in the evening. Never caused a problem for other road users as far as I can tell, never had anyone flash or shout at me.

I use one of mtb-batteries XML lights for my commute, the bulk of which is a badly pot-holed country lane (through trees so pitch black most of the time). If there are cars coming the other way I dim it and point it down (and usually move off the road as it’s pretty much singletrack) and in town I have it on low setting. Also have a little light flashing on the bars, 1 solid and 1 flashing on the rear and those Tacx lumos in the bar ends.

Ping pong ball diffuser works, Fitted to two homemade lights. Gives light at 180 degrees or more, takes away the dazzle of the spot beam. I’ll try to do some photos after dark

don’t forget reflective stuff as well for being seen by – really works especially on pedals

TJ – how are you attaching the wiff waff balls?

simply cut a hole and push it over – sized so it fits tight. Ill do some photos

How am I gonna get a ping pong ball on my maxx-d?

I have been using the Smudge one recently. Much of my route is proper dark off road stuff.

However in other areas I am considerate an cycle through the settings to low and angle it down.
A useful feature is if I hit the button once more it goes into über flash bright setting which is useful for letting people know when they’ve driven like a dangerous/inconsiderate cock!

lowey – Member

I use a Troutie 2000lumen job on flash. Just point is down a little bit so its not too dazzling.

Never been pulled over, but have had plenty of comments from pedestrians. I dont care though, better to be moaned at then mown down.

Why do you need a 2000 lumen light on flash mode?

Either you need to see, in which case it should be on constant, or you need to be seen, in which case pretty much any cheap light on flash will do.

If someone was going to stick 2000 lumens in my face, I’d rather it was on constant than on flash.

Do the lights that have a flash funvtion flash at their full intensity or a bit lower, I had assumed lower?

I am really pleased with the ping pong ball diffuser. I will deffo use them when commuting in future – if y lose it its only a few pennies for a ping pong ballI will look again in the dark – automatic camera so funny exposures going on.

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both off[/url] by TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr
Small spot beam light no diffuser
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little beam[/url] by TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr
small light with diffuser
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little diffuse[/url] by TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr
big light wider beam
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big beam[/url] by TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr
big light diffuse
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big diffuse[/url] by TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr

I commute with a Hope Vision 4, have done for the last 3 years or so. Before that I used a Lumicycle HID. Not had any hassles at all, plenty of police have seen them.

I use a Lumicycle HID, however my commute has 10 miles of unlit backroads, so I have it pointing at the road so I can see were I’m going

When in the car recently, I almost pulled out on a cyclist with a silly bright flashing light on his helmet. The light was so bright I was dazzled and rendered all of hs reflective clothing useless, the flashing meant I couldn’t get any perspective on where he was & the height of the light made it look like he was much farther away than he was.
Luckily for him I was so curious about his light set up that I stopped and waited for him to come by so I could get a better look.

Sod the worry about lights being too bright. My aim is to survive the 15 miles each way. Ive used an off road light through two winters of commuting in London and am happier to be seen than unseen. I have never been stopped by the police.

I think there’s a difference between being so bad that the police bother to stop you and being annoying enough that everybody thinks you’re a selfish cock. My Diablo mounted the way it is (pointed down a bit) on minimum power I consider to be just about acceptable, but if I could turn it off quickly rather than just switch to low power I’d do that TBH (that’s what I used to do with my halogen light, just leaving the dynamo light on). That’s the only thing I don’t like about the Diablo – it does two bright flashes before it turns off, which can’t be done on the road without people thinking you’re flashing at them and getting annoyed. I know why it does it (it’s to show that you’ve held the switch down long enough to stop it going into the utterly pointless flashing mode) but I’d rather it just went straight off with a long button click myself. I reckon that would make a nice feature – the ability to disable the flash mode and have it turn off quickly without the two blinks.

I’m quite interested in that pingpong ball diffuser, although I’m a bit skeptical it would let enough light through to be able to see properly when you need it. Actually I’m quite surprised people like Exposure don’t sell clip-on lenses to make their lights more road-friendly for those of us who use them as multi-purpose lights. Not just a diffuser – I mean a proper lens to make a “wide/flat” beam like the Strada has. I’m not going to spend £200 on a second light, but a lens for, say £20ish, I’d probably go for – and that would probably be expensive enough for them to make a decent profit.

Personally I think a lot of new car lights are far too bright and dazzling even when dipped, and the number of people who seem to drive around with fog lights permanently on is amazing. Not an excuse for us to do the same though.

rob the ping pong diffuser would have to come off when you need the light to see by. thats the point – stops the dazzling beam and gives you loads of side visibility.

The issue with using the offroad lights is twofold –
1) causing dazzle and making it hard to judge how far away you are
2) no side visibility

i run a lumi HID can converted to triple xp-g leds with a narrow optic ( same as you’d use for off-road – ‘narrow’ isn’t really narrow with these things ) and the lumi diffusor ring on the front. works really nicely. i can flash it right up for the off-road downhills and run it on low when i’m on the pavement facing oncoming traffic.i also run an xml on my lid that i run low or off alongside the road. great combination that works really well. the triple also has a strobe mode at whichever power level you want, but i only use that coupled with the strobe on my lid at full coming home from the pub when i’m being silly. 😛

The side visibility doesn’t bother me personally because I always use a second light on my commuting bike. Being able to leave the Diablo on (more) with less annoyance to oncoming traffic would be nice though (hence the add-on lens thoughts). I’m lucky in that there isn’t much traffic on my route, but if I usually rode on busier roads I’d be permanently prodding the switch the way it’s set up now.

Never been pulled over, but have had plenty of comments from pedestrians. I dont care though, better to be moaned at then mown down.

I’m inclined to agree. While my DX on strobe might be a bit annoying, I’ve noticed far fewer car drivers taking the piss since I switched from my old commuter-type light.

When I’m commuting in the dark its my safety I care about most.

I don’t commute, but for riding on the road at night, I use mostly a home-brew quad LED spot but angled well down and slightly off to one side. Works fine, you can always straighten/raise it when there’s no oncoming traffic.

During that special twilight zone time when bikes become mysteriously invisible to drivers, I sometimes run a Joystick on flash mode, generally not in full darkness though.

I combine that with some common sense mounted inside my helmet and find it works well.

As has been said, just angle the unit down to prevent blinding, that’s about as complicated as it gets.

+ 1 for self-illumination, really good advice…..erm illuminating indeed 😛

When I’m commuting in the dark its my safety I care about most.

It’s a false dichotomy though. It’s perfectly possible to make yourself highly visible, without blinding pedestrians and other cyclists.

I’ve tried using an Exposure diffuser for commuting and found it threw too much light into my face. It could probably be modded with a bit of electrical tape but that’s getting a bit too fiddly IMO.

Nice to see there’s quite a culture of “dipping” bright lights on the Bristol/Bath path at the moment, with most people shielding them with a hand as you pass. I find on unlit sections they can dazzle you, and they also mask any less brightly lit users.

Overall I’ve not noticed any increase in courtesy from drivers as a result of having brighter lights, and they also seem to make it harder for drivers to see hand signals – a big problem if you’re turning right at a roundabout for example.

i just got a 1,000 lumens light specifically for a london to brighton night ride i’m doing in may.

hadn’t really considered that people would consider it too bright… 😕 😆

I find it more of a problem with pedestrians tbh. I usually try and cover it up with my hand and get a few “thank you”‘s from people for doing so. It really is quite unpleasant to have someone dazzling the heck out of you. This is from a maxx-d on the lowest setting angled downwards.

The most irritating thing on the commute is the pillocks with a rave on the handlebar..
especially when it’s away from traffic on a cycle path.
Totally pointless.

STOP FLASHING AT ME.

I’m happy if I piss a few people off (again, I’ve found no evidence to suggest this is the case). Since using my Maxx over normal road lights, I have noticed a dramatic increase in the way I am treated by car drivers, dramatic. Yeah, there’s still the odd idiot, but overall, I very, very rarely get dazzled by main beams any more and it’s easily halved the number of people who pull out on me. (I assume the rest are just cocks)

A few people pissed off? Ah well. I’m still alive.

Guess what I consider more important.

A few people pissed off? Ah well. I’m still alive.

So if you use your lights more considerately, you’ll die? Don’t be so melodramatic.

It’s a false dichotomy though. It’s perfectly possible to make yourself highly visible, without blinding pedestrians and other cyclists.

Problem begins when you need to see where your going, i could run low power lights, but i would then start having issues seeing pot-holes, and my route to work has a fair few.

I commute through heavy traffic with a bright offroad light on my helmet, and have been stopped by a policeman who promptly complimented me on my safety and high visibility – happy days. I always make sure the central (brightest) part of the beam is pointing downwards, and when I ride without it find myself feeling more unsafe and definitely less visible (i.e. noticeably more close-calls with vehicles who saw me later than they probably would have).

I use a magicshine DX bastid every day. Beam directed so the main spot hits the road a good few feet in front of me.

I’ve found that the persil clothes washing liquid cups (the ones you’re supposed to put in the drum) make a perfect glow-ring with the bottom cut off.

It can throw a bit too much light into your face when passing down completely unlit roads, but it is easy to remove. Under streetlighting or in town its just fine. It also softens the halo nicely.

Even with 700 lumen kicking out the front, you still get morons drive into you and break your collarbone for you though 🙁

it could affect someone else with epilepsy and cause an accident.

Pretty sure they’re not allowed to drive but stand to be corrected. If they are, some of those dual carriage way/m-way central reservations need to be filled in to prevent a similar effect. A mate of my bro was killed by a fitting driver who hadnt taken his medication.

I’ve been commuting for the last 3 years with a Hope Vision 2, flashing mode in normal traffic, low power when filtering, and mid power on unlit cycle paths and tracks so i can see unlit pedestrians. Never had any grief from the po po. Head mounted means you can angle away for courtesy, or shine into cars and/or mirrors to increase people’s awareness of you. I guess it depends if you think everyone in a car is out to kill you or not*

*they are.

first time I used my L&M Stella 200 (200 lumen) I was stopped in Police in Central London and asked to “angle it down slightly” as they felt it could be dangerous to other road users

the Stella 200 has a rapid flashing mode which I found much more useful for commuting than my more recent Hope Vision 2 which is great off-road with its 480 lumens, but has a painfully slow flashing mode…

I took the Police advice, and carefully adjusted the angle on my L&M so I am very visible but not blinding other road users?

however, on numerous occasions, I have still had cars pull out in front of me, and pedestrians step in front of me (off the pavement onto the road or cyclepath) both with the usual “sorry did not see you? excuse

to which I say “did not say me? perhaps you should visit the opticians for an eyetest!”

thinking that pedestrians rely too much on their ears (listening for motor vehicles) than using eyes, and motorists just don’t care about cyclists…whether blindingly lit or not?

at other times, I have used my Hope Vision 2 head mounted on full power, and found this more useful as you can control the light beam with slight head movements?

No such thing as too much power, just badly pointed power!

I agree its better to be moaned at than mown down.

I use a Troute liberator, on full but aim it down 5 degrees. The spread is good and similar to a cars dipped beam.
I then have a Hope vision 2 on my helmet, on full and slightly dipped, but ready to be used tactically to make sure drivers have seen me.

I use both on steady beam when dark and have separate flashing LEDS for getting the “i am a cyclist not a slow motorbike” thing.

I have a handlebar light which I usually have on low, plus a very spotty helmet light. Putting a splash of light on a drivers dashboard works a treat for stopping them pulling out.

Don’t use flashing modes on the front at all. I might also add that with all the distractions on the road I don’t think stock ‘bike’ lights are bright enough. At least with a trail light you’re as visible as the other road users but the light could do with being refracted better.

I commute 18 miles each way in Derbyshire about 2-3 times a week. The A road I have to negotiate is pitch black in various sections. Currently using my old trusty hope 2. I am are of this and this is pointed down but the only ones that seem to moan are the odd lorry drivers that flash me (whilst they have their wifes name illuminated in the cab with mini LEDs!!!).

Man, if I push the beam downwards any more its pointless! At the end of the day a good strong light is required to see safely in front of me for potholes, dead badgers, and trees.

I used to use my Hope vision 2 and no-one flashed me, but now just use 2 bright LEDs that flash (partly becaues I’m having battery connector issues ATM) – the lights don’t flash at the same time / rate so are far more noticeable than one really bright light – you get a weird knightrider effect.

A flasher on the helmet is effective too.

Regarding the ‘shining lights on yourself’ – do you get a little white LED front and rear pointing towards you (on steady or flashing?) to ‘activate’ your reflective gear?