Do you ride your ebike at night?
- Thread starter broloch
- Start date
broloch said:
Yeah a little bit. Reflective clothing and stripes on the bike and blinky lights help. I find a helmut light to be really effective. At intersections, you stare down the car that's about to turn in front of you and the light on them does the trick to keep them from going.
ElectricEd
100 W
Yes, Shwalbe Marathons with reflective sidewalls, reflective stripes on Topeak rack battery bag, reflective vest over backpack, reflective stripes on front of backpack straps, rear flashing LEDs and a Visionstick xenon LED front-light that operates in flash mode when on a busy road.
Even with all of that, last night I had a dumb-ass blind as a bat driver nearly run me over by turning from the opposing traffic lane across my path.
Yesterday morning when riding to work in the dark, I saw another cyclist with what looked like coloured lit tubes running along his arms and legs.
He looked fantastic. Where can you get them and who makes them?
Even with all of that, last night I had a dumb-ass blind as a bat driver nearly run me over by turning from the opposing traffic lane across my path.
Yesterday morning when riding to work in the dark, I saw another cyclist with what looked like coloured lit tubes running along his arms and legs.
He looked fantastic. Where can you get them and who makes them?
adrian_sm
1 MW
Haven't been run off the rode yet but am worried about it.
I just ordered this.
http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=6472
I'll mount to my frame. Don't know if I'll keep it, but for $12 I thought I would give it a go.
I just ordered this.
http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=6472
I'll mount to my frame. Don't know if I'll keep it, but for $12 I thought I would give it a go.
A
Anonymous
Guest
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snowranger
10 kW
adrian_sm said:Haven't been run off the rode yet but am worried about it.
I just ordered this.
http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=6472
I'll mount to my frame. Don't know if I'll keep it, but for $12 I thought I would give it a go.
I have those strips (4 feet) except in green.
Gives it that hover effect from the rear.
Electric Ed ought to consider getting a Cree LED flashlight and mounting it onto your helmet. Then whenever someone tries to turn into you, you stare them down.
XR-E Q5, or
XR-E R2
I blinded the driver who was turning into me. He screeched to a halt.
XR-E Q5, or
XR-E R2
I blinded the driver who was turning into me. He screeched to a halt.
needWheels
1 kW
- Joined
- May 27, 2008
- Messages
- 481
I stopped riding at night as I've gotten older. It's not so much my slower responses, it's how virtually everyone in their oversized cars and SUVs has a cellphone today and thinks nothing of yammering away or even texting while barely paying attention to the road at all.
It's one thing during they day where they may have a 10 second window to see you, it's another thing at night where they may have 1 or 2 seconds. They may not even realize they hit you and drive off while you are bleeding, hidden on the side of the road - not worth it.
I wait for the sunrise, 6:05am and I'm out the door as soon as it's bright enough to read road signs.
It's one thing during they day where they may have a 10 second window to see you, it's another thing at night where they may have 1 or 2 seconds. They may not even realize they hit you and drive off while you are bleeding, hidden on the side of the road - not worth it.
I wait for the sunrise, 6:05am and I'm out the door as soon as it's bright enough to read road signs.
Zoot Katz
100 kW
I enjoy riding at night because there's less traffic.
Justin's lights make the bike highly visible even during the day when I run them in blink mode.
My helmets are primarily there to display retro reflective tape up high so drivers can better see me. The animation helps attract attention. Those reflective ankle straps are good for that too and identify your machine as a bicycle.
Most of my clothing has retro reflective flash. Packs and panniers that were lacking flash got it applied.
Judging by the response from motorists, I too feel that I'm more visible at night
A few thoughts on blinking vs solid lights:
If you're running rear red blinkies make sure you also have a solid red reflector or light displaying to the rear. It's more difficult for drivers to judge the distance of blinking lights. I've also read that drink or drug impaired drivers tend to fixate on a blinking light and thereby steer into it.
A single white blinking LED on the front of the bike or top of your helmet is more noticible than the high-watt paint peelers people buy hoping to be seen. Those bright lights are great for off-road or rural settings but they get lost in the other bright lights of city traffic.
Poorly aimed bright lights and blinking rear lights are rude on bike paths, IMO. Strobes are rude to use anywhere but a rescue beacon.
Blinking red lights on the front of a bike is assinine.
Justin's lights make the bike highly visible even during the day when I run them in blink mode.
My helmets are primarily there to display retro reflective tape up high so drivers can better see me. The animation helps attract attention. Those reflective ankle straps are good for that too and identify your machine as a bicycle.
Most of my clothing has retro reflective flash. Packs and panniers that were lacking flash got it applied.
Judging by the response from motorists, I too feel that I'm more visible at night
A few thoughts on blinking vs solid lights:
If you're running rear red blinkies make sure you also have a solid red reflector or light displaying to the rear. It's more difficult for drivers to judge the distance of blinking lights. I've also read that drink or drug impaired drivers tend to fixate on a blinking light and thereby steer into it.
A single white blinking LED on the front of the bike or top of your helmet is more noticible than the high-watt paint peelers people buy hoping to be seen. Those bright lights are great for off-road or rural settings but they get lost in the other bright lights of city traffic.
Poorly aimed bright lights and blinking rear lights are rude on bike paths, IMO. Strobes are rude to use anywhere but a rescue beacon.
Blinking red lights on the front of a bike is assinine.
needWheels
1 kW
- Joined
- May 27, 2008
- Messages
- 481
Zoot Katz said:
This would sadly explain the half dozen motorcycle riders I've known over the years that were killed by drunk drivers.
(and they were safe motorcycle riders too - helmet does nothing in a headon)
Toshi
10 kW
i haven't had a car since may 2008 (and haven't used one regularly since before then!) so i've ridden at night, yes. hell, for the vast majority of the year i've been on the road commuting at 4:45-5:45, and in seattle that's in the dark until late spring!
what i use on the e-bike is the same that i used when i was a "normal" bike commuter:
1) a bright colored jacket. mine happens to be a bright orange as it's a year or three old, but high-viz yellow seems to be the new rage. check REI: they have plenty.
2) a simple flashing, AA-powered front light. i used to run heavy, expensive lights (a Cateye Stadium 3, to be specific) and found that they weren't worth it to me. i ride mostly off of the streetlights anyway, and having that much less to unpack and stow at the end of my commute is worth it. additionally, fancy/bright lights often don't flash, and i am a fan of flashing. flashing lights, that is! pervs. :x
3) both a reflector and a flashing, AA-powered rear light. the flashing light does one thing, but doesn't reflect superbly, but a simple reflector does the trick.
4) reflectors on both of my wheels opposite the valve stems, and the reflective stripe built into my vittoria randonneur tires. my pedals might have reflectors, too. these are all incidental items.
ride carefully at night, as you would in the day, and it is no problem.
what i use on the e-bike is the same that i used when i was a "normal" bike commuter:
1) a bright colored jacket. mine happens to be a bright orange as it's a year or three old, but high-viz yellow seems to be the new rage. check REI: they have plenty.
2) a simple flashing, AA-powered front light. i used to run heavy, expensive lights (a Cateye Stadium 3, to be specific) and found that they weren't worth it to me. i ride mostly off of the streetlights anyway, and having that much less to unpack and stow at the end of my commute is worth it. additionally, fancy/bright lights often don't flash, and i am a fan of flashing. flashing lights, that is! pervs. :x
3) both a reflector and a flashing, AA-powered rear light. the flashing light does one thing, but doesn't reflect superbly, but a simple reflector does the trick.
4) reflectors on both of my wheels opposite the valve stems, and the reflective stripe built into my vittoria randonneur tires. my pedals might have reflectors, too. these are all incidental items.
ride carefully at night, as you would in the day, and it is no problem.
ElectricEd
100 W
adrian_sm said:
Thanks Adrian,
I'll give it a go. They don't seem to have them in red or rellow. I'm getting the blue type, I'll post the specs on voltage and current when I get it.
adrian_sm
1 MW
Hey Ed,
The kaidomain website is a pain to navigate but I managed to find a red version, if you are that keen on red.
http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=6471
I'll probably get mine first, so I will let you know how I go.
Cheers,
Adrian
The kaidomain website is a pain to navigate but I managed to find a red version, if you are that keen on red.
http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=6471
I'll probably get mine first, so I will let you know how I go.
Cheers,
Adrian
adrian_sm
1 MW
ElectricEd said:
Are they anything like this?
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25498
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5419
US$1.93
Adrian
Grinhill
10 kW
ElectricEd said:
Don't know about laws in Victoria, but up here I think the Police may get upset if a vehicle displays blue lights. Although the lights technically wouldn't be on the vehicle.
ElectricEd
100 W
Grinhill said:ElectricEd said:
Don't know about laws in Victoria, but up here I think the Police may get upset if a vehicle displays blue lights. Although the lights technically wouldn't be on the vehicle.
Yes, you're bang on. Blue is a reserved colour according to Australian road rules. Funny though, how come all of the young bloods with hot cars have blue LEDs on the wipers, windscreen spray nozzles, externally mounted tachometers and don't get pulled up by the plods (police) for it?
Shifting the subject, it's also illegal to drive with the fog lights on if no fog is present, but every derr-brained driver with fog lights likes to have them on just 'cause they have them. On thinking about it, there is fog but it's between their ears! :wink:
Obviously the plods here in Victoria are overworked and don't have time to worry about some of the minor infringements.
AnarchistEd says, if a blue light gets the notice of a driver, then it's a good thing. I'll take the risk that one day a plod may tell me to remove it.
Hyena
10 GW
With winter here now it's dusk when I leave work and properly dark by the time I get home.
I have an assortment of cheap lights from dealextreme that do the job well enough - 5 led bright flashing red tail light and one of THESE budget 1W led lights that is suprisingly bright and rediculously good value for under $10 delivered. Part of my ride home is on a completely unlit forest path and its not bright enough to ride with confidence at full speed (~40km/hr) but I angle it more towards the ground to light the path for me (rather than pointed straight ahead to catch the eye of oncoming traffic) and its good enough to cruise along around 30km/hr
I also have blue valve mount LED firefly type lights. Yes, I'd be a douche el grande if I drove around with them on my car but any attention you get on a bike at night is good attention right ? I haven't had any run ins with the cops yet but I suspect if they know what a 200w street legal ebike can do they'll be frowning on more than my blue lights. I always pedal like a hamster when I pass one in traffic :lol:
The valve lights certainly do get you noticed, about on par with riding with a set of deer antlers on your handlebars :lol:
I have an assortment of cheap lights from dealextreme that do the job well enough - 5 led bright flashing red tail light and one of THESE budget 1W led lights that is suprisingly bright and rediculously good value for under $10 delivered. Part of my ride home is on a completely unlit forest path and its not bright enough to ride with confidence at full speed (~40km/hr) but I angle it more towards the ground to light the path for me (rather than pointed straight ahead to catch the eye of oncoming traffic) and its good enough to cruise along around 30km/hr
I also have blue valve mount LED firefly type lights. Yes, I'd be a douche el grande if I drove around with them on my car but any attention you get on a bike at night is good attention right ? I haven't had any run ins with the cops yet but I suspect if they know what a 200w street legal ebike can do they'll be frowning on more than my blue lights.
I always pedal like a hamster when I pass one in traffic :lol: The valve lights certainly do get you noticed, about on par with riding with a set of deer antlers on your handlebars :lol:
heathyoung
100 kW
A red alarm strobe on the rear of the bike is pretty noticible, and it doesn't get affected by viewing angle.
A Hella DE Xenon driving light also makes for a headlamp thats brighter than a car - its pretty obnoxious, but so are the drivers I am sharing the road with.
That and a high visibility vest make the ride home a bit less worrying... Less likely to become road pizza when you are the brightest thing on the road.
A Hella DE Xenon driving light also makes for a headlamp thats brighter than a car - its pretty obnoxious, but so are the drivers I am sharing the road with.
That and a high visibility vest make the ride home a bit less worrying... Less likely to become road pizza when you are the brightest thing on the road.
adrian_sm
1 MW
ElectricEd said:Grinhill said:ElectricEd said:
Don't know about laws in Victoria, but up here I think the Police may get upset if a vehicle displays blue lights. Although the lights technically wouldn't be on the vehicle.
Yes, you're bang on. Blue is a reserved colour according to Australian road rules. Funny though, how come all of the young bloods with hot cars have blue LEDs
Bugger. I picked blue because it was more common, and thought it would only stick out because of the way I was using the light, rather than the light colour itself.
Now you have me second guessing whether I should put it on the bike. Don't really want to give a bored cop an excuse to pull me over.
Hyena
10 GW
I just ordered a blue rear flasher for mine, I reckon it will get you more noticed by vehicles, although you'll also get more noticed by vehicles that have their own blue lights...
I think if you got pulled over you'd just get a warning, and if you're just minding your own business at the time most cops would understand that you're just trying to draw attention to yourself to reduce the chances of getting squashed rather than trying to impersonate a police vehicle. That said, I'm in NSW, the Victorian cops might shoot you for it :lol:
Also, I just noticed that half the people posting in this thread are Aussies. We must be more nocturnal riders
I think if you got pulled over you'd just get a warning, and if you're just minding your own business at the time most cops would understand that you're just trying to draw attention to yourself to reduce the chances of getting squashed rather than trying to impersonate a police vehicle. That said, I'm in NSW, the Victorian cops might shoot you for it :lol:
Also, I just noticed that half the people posting in this thread are Aussies. We must be more nocturnal riders
adrian_sm
1 MW
adrian_sm said:I just ordered this.
http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=6472
I'll mount to my frame. Don't know if I'll keep it, but for $12 I thought I would give it a go.
Just had my blue LED strip hit my desk at work. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try them out this weekend.
They are basically LEDs mounted on flex-circuit, inside a soft silicon type extrusion. Endcaps glued on each end, with two wires out one end.
The cicuit has the LEDS in groups of three, with the ability to trim the cicuit in between each group. So you could cut the strip, add a few wires, seal the end, and have multiple shorter strips if you want. I would take photos, but my camera phone can't do macro.
Zoot Katz
100 kW
I've seen Hokey Spokes. They're a programmable persistence of vision type of device that attaches to your spokes.
They're wild but not as not as configurable as my friend Ian Patterson's home made POV devices.
Lots of my friends have also played around with Vibe-Lights.
They're wild but not as not as configurable as my friend Ian Patterson's home made POV devices.
Lots of my friends have also played around with Vibe-Lights.
adrian_sm
1 MW
Okay fired up the blue LED strip. 12V @ 0.33 Amps, so about 4 Watts.
They are pretty bright. Not sure if I will use them. Feels more bike bling, than safety feature.
But they will definitely help people see me...
They are pretty bright. Not sure if I will use them. Feels more bike bling, than safety feature.
But they will definitely help people see me...
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