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Bicycle lighting

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Old Dec 7th, 2013, 12:07   #11
stephend
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Originally Posted by Bill_56 View Post
Just found this Sunday Times article, where seem to claim to have investigated this very issue and found that 80% of 'popular' LED bike lamps exceed the legal brightness limits for car headlamps, even when angled towards the road.
Hmm, maybe I should upgrade...!
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Old Dec 7th, 2013, 12:42   #12
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Why do so many motorists get such a big kick out of criticising cyclists ?
Have they never ridden a bike ?
Are they fault- and blame- free at all times ?
Or another way to look at it could be this. Why do so many cyclists started blaming 'the motorist' for everything without even considering the possibility that we all (motorist, cyclist, pedestrian, human) make mistakes?

It should never be a question of who's right, or 'us vs them'. At the end of the day 'motorist' and 'cyclist' are not terms that define who we are, they define what we're doing at a particular time. I, like many, am sometimes a motorist and sometimes a cyclist, and sometimes I walk so then I'm a pedestrian. Sometimes I load my bike into my car so that I become a motorist for the purpose of becoming a cyclist

This debate comes up a lot, and it always descends into a motorist vs cyclist riot. Meanwhile cyclists are still getting killed and instead of considering how and why, and how to reduce the risk of it happening to someone else, it turns into a game of apportioning blame to one or other entire group of people.
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Old Dec 7th, 2013, 12:46   #13
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I am trying my best to stop myself swearing on here as I am normally a fairly easy going guy. The whole lets have a go at cyclists doing this that or the other really bugs me. You should all be made to spend a month cycling on the roads to see how scary it is being on a bike up against two tonne lumps of metal and even bigger lorries. FFS umpteen people have been killed in London recently and you are whingeing on about a bright light on a bike ! Next week you will be moaning about people on bikes with no lights !!!!!

I cycle every day right through the winter and the level of driving ( not Volvo of course ) is absolutely shocking. Cars constantly going through red lights at high speed and changing lanes without warning along with driving far to close but rather than trying to educate car drivers they have a tv campaign about cyclists stopping at red lights !! when was the last time they had a tv campaign about cars charging through red lights ??

I could go on all day but that's not going to change the attitude of the majority of British car drivers.
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Old Dec 7th, 2013, 13:02   #14
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anyone remember the old blue driving licenses? on there back cover it was wrote in bold letters , care courtesy and consideration saves lives.

just my view but if everyone was to take this notion should it be cyclists caring about other road users and there own safety they would make sure to have reasonable bike lighting when required and not have ultra bright or flashing lighting.

also if vehicle drivers where to treat cyclists the way they would like treated if they or there son , daughter , mum or dad etc where on a bike i think not only would the roads be safer but a lot more fun.

ps only 18 days to xmas.
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Old Dec 7th, 2013, 15:13   #15
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Blinding lights are blinding whether on a car or a bike. They still dazzle people coming the other way. I don't see why that is causing controversy. Surely cyclists could set the lights to point at a downward angle rather than dead straight ahead.

I have been dazzled a few times by cyclists with these led lights so it is an issue, not hard to resolve either.
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Old Dec 7th, 2013, 15:40   #16
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I teach a new course which is being introduced into schools by the national exam board called cycling safely and consists of 2 units one on basic cycle maintenance and the second on how to cycle safely . This involves road positioning , signalling , highway code and how to cycle in groups safely. This starts with a basic bike handling skills section riding slowly , riding with one hand (left and right). When to take the lane and always if you are uncomfortable / afraid get off and walk this section of road. In addition they have to plan a short route and lead the group safely. This is nationally accredited and is free in schools taking the next level up from the primary schools bikeabilty courses (old cycle proficiency courses). It is delivered in conjunction with Glasgow Life (arms length council dept).

So hopefully the use of this course will spread throughout schools in Scotland resulting in a major improvement in safety.

Recently ( since the olympics and the increasing number of cyclists on the road , cyclists have to a greater extent become self-policing shouting at other cyclists who jump red lights etc. I find the idea of being blinded by a cycle light quite amusing given that the height of lights and the brightness of headlights on the 4x4 cars blind me regularly as I drive my 480 . Does your mirror not have a dipped adjustment for just this problem. As for being invisible this really is a problem how many times have you sat at a T junction at night and a car with these uber bright headlights has indicated to turn but you cant see the indicator light because its swamped by the headlamps? This will become I suspect a major design issue in future for cars. Cyclists with only a helmet mounted light is just so wrong. I personally ride with 3 rear reds the outer two flashing and the inner central one permanently on. On roads two two front mounted lights are one on full time and one flashing. High vis jacket or vest at all times. You have to ride defensively and assume quite often that the fast approaching driver on the side road is not going to stop.
You have to take the lane as drivers look to see other cars so you have to be positioned in their field of vision.

A major problem for all road users is the state of the road surface , one near me is so bad that you cant take your hand off the handlebars to signal as you will end up decked on the road and hit by a following car. The surface is ok for cars but not bicycles however a non cycling motorist will get frustrated behind a cyclist who slows down and doesnt indicate. Yes there are bad cyclists as there are bad drivers. The injury consequences for cyclists are considerably greater. The way ahead is improving education for both cyclists and drivers and improving the infrastructure for all road users.
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Old Dec 7th, 2013, 16:01   #17
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Roadcraft is important for all road users, when I was a schoolboy we were not allowed to cycle to school unless we had the red and green badge (Cycling Proficiency Test).

Of course in the golden age of cycling (1930s-1950s) there were few cars and hence no school run lunatics to spoil our ride in :-)

In those days we didn't need an exam, our Dad's knew about bikes and this knowledge was passed on...a recent piece of research by the CTC revealed that today's Dad cannot even mend a puncture - something we took for granted.

Happy days.

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Old Dec 7th, 2013, 16:14   #18
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a recent piece of research by the CTC revealed that today's Dad cannot even mend a puncture - something we took for granted.
This is something I still take for granted as I have taught both of my kids the basics of looking after their bikes, the daughters race bike is currently in bits (full strip down, respray and rebuild) which she is doing most of the work - Best way to learn - Taught me a bit as well bloody Campag groupset with opposite hand threads to anything else on the road! - Will it have lights fitted when it is finished, No, because it only goes out in daylight and not at all in the winter. The other bikes all have working lights which is rare to see these days, too many idiots dressed in dark clothes riding around with no lights - Mike
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Old Dec 7th, 2013, 17:04   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prufrock View Post
Roadcraft is important for all road users, when I was a schoolboy we were not allowed to cycle to school unless we had the red and green badge (Cycling Proficiency Test).

Of course in the golden age of cycling (1930s-1950s) there were few cars and hence no school run lunatics to spoil our ride in :-)

In those days we didn't need an exam, our Dad's knew about bikes and this knowledge was passed on...a recent piece of research by the CTC revealed that today's Dad cannot even mend a puncture - something we took for granted.

Happy days.

J.
It does depend on how you define "mend a puncture" - if focusing on cars, what with on a car the modern vehicles practical choice of tyre gunk? Only fixing holes upto 5 mm big and some amount of stupid steps?
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Old Dec 7th, 2013, 17:08   #20
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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!
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