Can anybody shed some light on this

[Rod_Saetan]

Those BLTs look pretty good!

 

[JamesM]

Not only that but a flashing light, by its very nature, is off half the time...

...and virtually invisible in fog.

When you are riding along in a stream of traffïc tiny flashing lights are lost amongst all the head/tail lights, especially in the rain!

Tiny perminent lights will get lost amongst all the large perminent lights. A tiny flashing light has more chance of standing out as it's different. Also it identifies you as a bicycles because nothing else on the road uses small flashing lights.

Another vote for Smart 0.5w and/or 1w rear lights, and I second the coments about better quality lights from the likes of Lezyne. The brightest rear light out there is the Hope District 3. I cant help but think that some of these rear lights are becoming too bright though.

 

[We_are_Stevo]

...just trying to point out that tiny cycle lights are a waste of time full stop in anything less than ideal conditions;

There is a big difference between cycling and driving in traffic...

...on a bike you have a better viewpoint and can concentrate on simply dodging myopic car drivers; the majority of commuting car drivers are anything but concentrating on the road, what with the car radio, mobile phones, paperwork, tablets/laptops, DVD players, animated conversations with passengers, squabbling kids, looking for a shop/petrol statio/Starbucks/public loo, you name it!

It's bad enough for drivers on the lookout for hazards, is it any wonder that cyclists are, in the main, lucky to get home at all let alone in one piece!

A couple of faddy cycle lights will make no difference to that whatsoever...

 

[Rampage]

Re:

As a driver, I hate flashing lights on a bike. It makes judging distance harder. I therefore never have my rear light on flash mode. I can understand why you do it, but I think if you are going to flash, have a permanent one on too. Although you won't get stopped, its also against the law to have a flashing light on your bike. It has to be attached to your person.

I know this is an old post, but completely agree about not being able to judge distances. Had a cyclist near me the other day while driving at night and the off part of the flash was much longer than the on part of the flash. I was really struggling to tell where he was. Also if your looking over your shoulder before turning and the light wasn't on for that second then you don't see them at all. Flashing should be a fast flashing not with a few seconds gap between flashes.

 

[xerxes]

Re:

I've got one of these: http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Blackburn-Mars- ... _11459.htm, it's very bright, painfully bright to look at close up, and now it's dropped in price to less than half what I paid for it a bit of a bargain.

 

[We_are_Stevo]

Re:

Personally I think cyclists should be banned from all public roads for their own good!

 

[secret_squirrel]

Agree that a combo is the best solution, however I think the distance judging is a minor issue - if the the driver is aware of you that's 90% of the jobs done. If the uncertainty causes them to be even more cautious of us that's the other 10%.

lately though I have been behind a few lights that are so stupidly bright they are verging on dangerous to both the dazzled driver and the cyxlist he will rear end.

 

[We_are_Stevo]

Re:

There's still no getting away from the fact that, particularly at this time of year, cyclists are virtually invisible at night in traffic no matter how much they spend on their lights...

Some car headlights are so bright these days that it is all too easy to 'lose' another car against the glare, let alone a tiny cyclist!

When you are driving along a busy 'commuter route' country road with zero street lighting it is almost impossible to distinguish a cyclist from the glare of approaching headlights: only recently I was nearly driven into head on by a saloon car driver who only became aware of the cyclist he was about to rear end at the last minute!

The one and only reason there wasn't a nasty accident is because I had slowed down whilst trying to figure out what I was looking at in the near distance...

...it turned out to be my headlights reflecting on the zip of the approaching cyclists BLACK cycling jacket!

From a distance I had been totally unable to discern his very bright pulsing lights from the headlights behind him.

 

[Rampage]

however I think the distance judging is a minor issue - if the the driver is aware of you that's 90% of the jobs done. If the uncertainty causes them to be even more cautious of us that's the other 10%.

Not really, most of my concentration was on the cyclist due to him undertaking me on a roundabout, I was in traffic and wasn't sure where he was, every time I turned round his flashing light was off, I only knew he was there somewhere as I'd seen the flash in my wing mirror.