[RobbieH]

I have a 3-4 mile commute to work on the northern edge of Trafford Park, something I have been doing 4 days a week for the last 5 years. Part of it uses "cycle paths" - I put that in inverted comma's as neither Salford Council nor pedestrians seem to appreciate what a cyle path should actually be for.

Anyway, on the commuting bike I have:
- 3 rear LED lights, one mounted just below the saddle (flashing), two mounted at the end of the rack, one flashing, one steady (actually iirc, [one of]the only "legal" LED rear light - Cateye TL-AU100 BS). No problems there.

I also have reflective patches, stitching etc on the rear of shoes, boots, overshoes, longs, jacket, waterproof and hi-viz vest which I wear in various combinations depending on the weather. Helmet is also fitted with a set of rear facing Busch & Müller Top Fire Helmet Lights. There are also retro-reflective patches spattered over various parts of the frame and wheels plus the tyres have reflective trim as well.

The interesting part comes with front lights. I have a Cateye Cateye Omni 5-LED unit on constant mounted on the handle bars. This gives out a reasonable amount of light both to the front but also to the sides.

I also run a Niteflux Vision Stik. This is slightly more serious piece of kit, capable of running 1W or 4W constant settings or 4W flashing. The beam is fairly well focussed but has a a definite blue tinge to the central part.

I've actually done a few experiments with various combinations of the front lights to see which is most effective and, literally, life saving.

What I have noticed more recently with the rise of (high power) LED DRLs on cars and the new (white, LED?) street lighting, some bike front lights, even running in flash mode are simply overwhelmed and effectively vanish. The rise of the SUV/Chelsea tractor with relatively high mounted LED DRLs surrounding the main head lamps seems to be a particular problem IMHO. LED DRL's mounted low down, ala fog light style are less of an issue.

If I ride with just the Cateye front, either flashing or constant, no-one seems to notice me. If I ride with the Niteflux on 1W constant mode, no-one seems to notice me. If I ride with the Niteflux on 4W constant mode, I get some better notice.When I say, get noticed, this includes vehicles turning right, straight across in front of me, cars overtaking on the other side of the road and entering into my lane despite my on-coming presence, etc.

But put the 4W flash mode on and cars are literally scrambling to get out of the way. And this is in daylight and night time. I can only think that people are so cozy and comfy inside their tin-cans, warm, dry, music on, etc they literally forget what is going on outside until a bright flashing light with a blue tinge makes them sit up, wakeup and take notice. They are certainly NOT maintaining awareness of what is going on around them.

Up until this year I never used lights during the day but now I'm using the 4W flashing NiteFlux even during the daytime. It is literally life saving.

And lastly, yes I've even been complimented by drivers (including "white van man" once) and the local police for being visible.

edit: and who's talking about mending car punctures.

Funnily enough, on last Sunday's club run, Mrs H punctured so I changed the tube and pumped the tyre up to continue the ride. Total time, 3 minutes. Some of the more recent members were amazed I could do it so quick, although my personal record is somewhat quicker.

And if you think cars vs bikes was bad; Mike, Campag. Pah, Shimano all the way baby!