I'm mostly talking about (and possibly slandering) college students
and casual bikers (and myself). And while I know there are many who
are conscientious and good at taking their bike parts off their bike
and keeping them on their person, I'd like to see another option. I
certainly don't argue that it's dumb to leave a $30 bike light on a
bike parked overnight on, say, State street (especially one that can
be taken off in a flash), but people do that, and I've done that.
Some of us need structural help ;-)
If we want to affect large scale, then we might consider how many
other ways (in addition to portability, which doesn't seem to work
for me at least) to keep the lights *working* and *on the bikes*. The
introduction of LEDs was a great first step because it greatly
minimized the times one needed to change batteries. It also made the
lights smaller so they could be taken off and kept with the person
instead of with the bike (like your new Cat-Eye), which works great
for some. In my experience, as a lazy college student biker, and now
as a less lazy but more forgetful bike commuter, I tend to leave my
$10 lights on the bike, (have mine zip-tied on -- not pretty but it
seems to work) because when I've tried taking them with me, I often
misplace them, or put them through the laundry, etc. (I know, I have
problems, which is why I try to find more structural solutions). So
I'd much rather have a $30 aluminum LED bolted to headset that I
never have to worry about getting ripped off (unless the bike goes),
or getting lost between my shirt pocket and the laundry.
I've seen LED blinkers that go in bar ends. Does anyone have good/bad
experiences with those?
Of course there are many ways to skin this cat, and different folks
require different strokes.
-john
On Nov 21, 2007, at 11:24 AM, Eric Westhagen wrote:
Dear John Martin, (stolen lights)
The new Catye I described in my last post comes off in a flash and can
be put in any shirt pocket. Why would someone have to leave their
$30.00 "flashlight" on the bike. And being at night, such a small
flashlight is handy anywhere. And the led red light, --for all the
years I have had that, I have used the "back pocket clip" rather than
fastening it to the seat post.
EW
-john martin wrote:
The problem casual bikers and bike lights, as I see it, is that they
often park outside and have their lights stolen. Bike light makers
seem to rely on theft to keep up revenue streams, and in way of
thanks to thieves, they make the bike lights easier and easier to
steal (I'd reckon that most light thefts are not for the vast used
bike light market, but are by drunks and hooligans who like bright
blinky things). I'd love to see a simple LED light that semi-
permanently affixes to the handlebars, and requires at least a
screwdriver to take off, and breaks if removed incorrectly.
And, this may be controversial, and indeed I would have argued
against it earlier in my life (pre-LED), but I'd like to see
citations issued for lightless bikes at dark.
-john
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