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.

They haven’t yet got round to fixing the blown bulbs yet, mind, and the habit of dipping lights when something is coming the other way is still to be relearned…

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.

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 swanky 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.