increasing night time visibility

Hi all.

i have some very powerful lighting on the bike, totalling 2400 lumen's.
this is not too pedestrian friendly at night, and is even too much for oncoming cars when im riding on the road.

i ride mostly on cycle ways wherever possible, so the lumenator is too powerful for a lot of my night riding.

i wanted some lighting that would make the bike more visable to pedestrian traffic without making a nuisance
with the magicshine and the lumenator running.

here's what i came up with.



powered by one of Justins 12V DC-DC converters.
i also have a set of red ones for the rear that i will be installing in the not too distant future.
the led strips cost about $9 a pair inc shipping from ebay.

im very happy with the result. i should now be much more visable and not blind anyone that's walking
towards me at night. i will be able to leave the magicshine on low settings when im on my local cycle ways.

Jason.

After hitting the guy in the all black outfit that was walking with his back to me in the bike lane I'm inclined to say screw em. I went over the handlebars at 27 mph. My light was not crazy weak, but it clearly didn't provide enough to see a damn ninja on the path. Better to see them, and annoy them, than to hit em going fast.

Too bad for those walking towards you, but the guy walking away from you will be oblivious, and wearing all black.

I use lights and my old army reflective PT belt.

i also wear a reflective yellow vest when im out on the bike.
the kind that roadside workers wear.

the magicshine on low beam (900 lumens) is plenty for me to see with at lower speeds.
i just added the fork leds to increase pedestrian awareness of me.

if im going fast, ill be running the whole 2400 lumens.
the magicshine is rated at 1400, and the flood of the lumenator adds another 1000.

i wired up a remote switch for the lumenator, so i can now switch it on and off quickly,
and without taking my hands off the bars.

lester12483 said:

I use lights and my old army reflective PT belt.

Click to expand...

This is great, but how do you get the guys wearing black to wear the belt, and how do you get it back?

No kidding. All black is a homeboy uniform around here. I just stopped riding in to work so early. Now I wait till there is a glow, and I can see a black shadwow out there in the predawn.

Monkey lights work pretty well but you'll occasionally get unwelcomed attention. But prefer attention than getting hit by a distracted driver whose mind is more on his/ her iphone than the road!
http://www.monkeylectric.com/