Oops, missed the ‘Y’ out. Sorry SaJ.

:-)

S.

SootandJim.

Good post !.

S.

Spooky_b329 is right. Its down to inappropriate speed for the prevailing road conditions. Even plod will tell you that.

This is quite an old issue, which to my knowledge, nobody has provided a perfect solution. Restricting the NSL to 50 isn’t the answer, but you’ll never convince everyone, some will blindly believe that reducing road speed also reduces accidents/fatalities. Nothing will convince them otherwise.

Poor driving standards ?, not sure when viewed against the rest of the world, those who have taken a U.K. driving test tend to be not too bad.

More importantly, I have seen that it is people who choose to drive badly. The “me infront of you” mentality leads to a lot of issues on the roads.

This reminds me of a TV program in which I saw that two drivers had raced each other on a country road reaching speeds of above 70. One lost control and ended up embedding his car in the ROOF of a house on the opposite side of the road to the direction he was traveling in. His car had flown so far that initially, no one could see his car, just the bits of mirror and bumper left on the verge. It was only when someone looked over a high hedge, around a house, some way down the road, that they discovered where the car was !.

Now speed was a factor, but before you even get onto the speeds involved, why were those twits racing ???????. Those drivers made potentially fatal desicions to speed and race. For me, this is where the problem is.

It comes down to the choices we make.

Choose to speed ?, ok, its your choice, and its illegal.
Choose to speed in conditions which can not support that speed ?, accident.

This subject is full of statistic and hidden agenda.

If the NSL really is to be reduced to 50mph, the car haters will love as they think it will make car users miserable.

The cash greedy local Gov will love it as they launch another blow into the cash-cow that is the U.K. car driver. An NSL of 50mph will mean that more people may be tapped for £60, or whatever the fine is these days.

Drivers who wish to comply with road speeds are now more than ever, having to watch their speedometers like hawks.

My biggest concern is speeding on urban roads. As we all know, this is such a dangerous evironment as pedestrians are only feet away from 1.5 ton bits of metal passing by. A greater emphasis on controlling and enforcing urban traffic speed would be the better way to help reduce accidents, imo.

S.

Wow. There seems to be a lot “going on behind the eyes” when you lot ride.

I’ve never been aware that someone drafting me was causing me extra drag or then meaning that I had to push harder to keep going.

Let them sit there, is what I say. Although the safety point is a good one, once or twice some numpty has nearly crashed into my back wheel.
Much to their embarrasment :roll:

Anyway, don’t let it get to you, just do your own ride :-)

S.

Well, I’just been on a short trip using the light, I’m quite pleased with it, drizzling here, the light got wet, but no issues.

I’m sure most would agree, its quite pleasing when something you’ve made, works as intended.

Thanks for the comments, all.

S.

Oh, by the way, I was asked about what it cost me, the bar light cost me around £170 including the batt and charger. That price and the fun of making a 675 lumen light isn’t bad, I thought….

S.

40mpg. No worries, I was walking past a London Camera exchange shop and they had a basket outside with discounted camera bags in. I really like those Lupine batt bags, its a wonder that our friends in China haven’t started producing, ahem, similar items, although I’ll admit the demand is limited.

Yeah, you need a decent lock these days, it weighs a ton, the bike is pretty well secured-up.

I wasn’t aware of the Planet-X light, it has more than 675 lumens, batt and charger for £50. That is a bargain. Is it on their website ?, I’ll take a look.

The guy who sits next to me bought a P7 torch on my recommendation, we compared them today, P7 has a cooler colour, my light appears to be within a whisker of his for brightness, but has a larger spot, and of course, runtimes are longer on mine as its Smudge powered :-)

But fair dos, you’ve got some points there. I’ve just made this light as I had the parts anyway, from an earlier project, its now my most powerful light, with alternative brightness settings and when I reach my destination, it slides of the bars easily, and into the backpack, along with the batt, no faffing with clamps, etc.

Cheers :-)

S.

Thisisnotaspoon.

I would suggest the application of silicone sealant to the inner surface on the back of the hole, where the hole passes into the body.

My light is ‘O’ ringed, front and rear, so I don’t anticipate any water ingress.

This light wasn’t meant to have a wire coming out of it, but a last minute issue forced me to run it out the back.

The next light should be slightly shorter, and have no tail

Thanks for the tip on the helmet light, I’ll certainly look it up. If its a torch, then it shouldn’t be any hastle to convert it to run from an external batt, for longer run times, although I’ve no idea how long a Q5 runs for, yet.

Ta :-)

S.

RR. The bar light is around the £170 mark, I think its producing a respectable, but not up to date 675 lumens. BUT, I believe I can fit MC-Es or XP-Es into the same body, once I’ve figured out what to buy, etc. The LEDs seem to be getting smaller, so its the optics that will limit how many LEDs I can fit into the head. IMO, anything over 500 lumens is going to be good enough to ride by, just that sometimes, more is, more ?.

The helmet light is around £70, plus batt and charger, I forget what I paid Smudge for the batts.

NickC. lol, the bike in the pic is my urban-run around, it gets locked up outside the shops, in the high street, etc. I’ve covered most of the XT, XTR and other stuff so that passers by aren’t temped to remove said items. To enhance this, I have fitted security screws to items like the brake lever clamps, stem face plate, seat post clamp, replacing the normal hex drive screws they came fitted with, again in an attempt to keep the kit on my bike.

DCLs, I like them, but am fully aware that others do not, all my bikes have DCLs in some form. Can’t remember what its like to use conventional shifters. :-)

Cheers

S.

Saladdodger.

Thanks for that. I’ve tried to keep it convenitonal looking while including the useability of being able to easily attach and and remove the light, from the bars.

I’m looking at the cutter site now, trying to fathom out which LED to use with which optics. I have a couple of the empty bodies shown for both lights and would like to build some up with more upto date components.

I’ve seen mention of the MC-E, but I’m having troub;e knowing what format to get them in and how to wire them up etc. Then theres the matter of optics, I prefer a narrow beam, around the 10-12 degree.

Ta :-)

S.

Just starting from scratch isn’t a possiblity ?, using only the Batts and chargers you already have.

Just a thought.

S.

Oh !, idiot alert !!, They’re not P7s, thats a torch, Doh !, the LEDs are the Cree XR-Es. Sorry.

S.

The Blue bodied lights weigh around 120g each. Were I to hang one off one side then indeed there would be an issue. When I had only created one, mounting it in the centre, was fine.

Those little blue bodied lights are quite good for road use too, quick to strap on and off the bars using the twofish lock-blocks and enough light to ensure that motorists notice and even stop for you.

I guess I should have weighed the bar light, Oops.

S.

Turbo technics do replacement, refurbs, new, etc. I had a 130, great car, popped the Turbo at 177K, then found out that Ford test upto 150K !, so when my current TDCi gets to 150K, I’m replacing the turbo.

White smoke ?, doesn’t seem like a turbo issue to me, white smoke is water related. Then again, I’m not sure if the turbos are liquid cooled, but usually its the shaft bearings that go, and when they break down this leaks oil, oil system pressure drops and engine internals get damaged too.

I was quoted £1500 for a new engine form a place near heathrow, but with 177K on the clock, I just scrapped it, £550.

Got a 115 now, not quite got the sparkle of a 130, but they’re good cars for what they are and what they cost.

Good luck

S.