Good topic. 'Tis the season to get blinded by bad bike light choices.
My 2 cents: - cyclists should NEVER use blinking front lights (motorcycles shouldn't either) - front light angle is more important than brightness (I don't mind a bright light as long as it's pointed down at the road in front of the cyclist and not in my eyes) - my headlight is bright, but mounted low, angled at the road in front of me and the beam is cutoff on the top (old version of this one: http://supernova-lights.com/en_US/page/e3-pro-dynamo) - rear blinkies aren't quite as bad, but should also not be angled up at eye level; there is evidence that suggests blinking lights make it harder to gauge relative speeds and are really problematic for impaired (drunk) drivers; I run a solid rear light and think it's a great option. I've also tested with my two boys on their ride to school in the morning in the winter both with PB superflash taillights and the solid setting is much more visible in my opinion My thoughts on how to try and improve the situation is to maybe work with the local bike shops to help us educate customers. I know there are a lot of folks that get their lights online, but I think it could really help. Does anyone know of a tip sheet that we could make available for bike shops to distribute/review with people buying new bikes and lights? Who has contacts for bike shop managers/owners? I'd be willing to help with this if there are a couple other interested folks. Contact me directly if you'd like to try and pull something together: [email protected] On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 2:31 PM Jason Vargo <[email protected]> wrote: > oddly I know Light & Motion <http://www.lightandmotion.com/> (which makes > some super bright lights; high quality optics) sells their rear lights with > no blinking option. They instead have a slow pulse the fades in and out > between high and low intensity. I was told this was to conform with > European standards which said no color flashers other than emergency > vehicles. > > a podcast discussing lights > > http://bikeportland.org/2014/07/23/bikeportland-podcast-great-blinking-light-debate-109190 > > > On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 2:19 PM, Andy Bach <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 7:25 AM, gordon sussman <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Lights are going to be used either to make ones self visible to others >>> or to illuminate ones way. If used for the former, low intensity random >>> pattern strobes draw the greatest to oneself without endangering others >>> with direct light in eyes. >> >> >> Just a note from a couple of the U.W. bike light give-away events - only >> emergency vehicles should have blinking front lights. Yes, nobody's ever >> got a ticket on this on a bike, but that's what the regs say. Blinking rear >> reds are fine (you shouldn't have a white rear or red front light also). >> >> >> -- >> >> a >> >> Andy Bach, >> [email protected] >> 608 658-1890 cell >> 608 261-5738 wk >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Bikies mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org >> >> > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org >
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