lights

jas0n said:

there was me thinking I was ready to bike it to the gym on tuesday which
will be at 7pm - i have no lights! argh!

any recommendations for a cheap set of 'be seen' lights, should I go for
leds?

just thought ... as it will be left outside the gym for an hour a few
times a week I could do with an easy to remove set to take in with me or
maybe a difficult to remove set I leave on the bike ... !

jas0n said:

Quoted message said:

there was me thinking I was ready to bike it to the gym on tuesday
which will be at 7pm - i have no lights! argh!

any recommendations for a cheap set of 'be seen' lights, should I go
for leds?

just thought ... as it will be left outside the gym for an hour a few
times a week I could do with an easy to remove set to take in with me or
maybe a difficult to remove set I leave on the bike ... !

The Smart ones seem to be reasonable value for money and are certainly
easy to remove (At least, the rear is... I have no experience of the
front one). Most basic light sets are pretty easy to remove and the LED
ones will be light and small (Probably) making it easy to store them off
the bike.

Jon

jas0n said:

there was me thinking I was ready to bike it to the gym on tuesday which
will be at 7pm - i have no lights! argh!

any recommendations for a cheap set of 'be seen' lights, should I go for
leds?

<cough choke> Halfords <reach>

Hate to admit it but they have some quite passable lights. Single
superbrite white LED for the front and any red one for the back.

I use these as dynamo[1] backup

http://www.cateye.com/uk/products/viewProduct.php?modelId=28&catId=7&subCatId=4

[1] FER dynamos rock!

In news:[email hidden],

jas0n said:

jas0n said:

there was me thinking I was ready to bike it to the gym on tuesday
which will be at 7pm - i have no lights! argh!

any recommendations for a cheap set of 'be seen' lights, should I go
for leds?

just thought ... as it will be left outside the gym for an hour a few
times a week I could do with an easy to remove set to take in with me
or maybe a difficult to remove set I leave on the bike ... !

I have a set I got from the local Pound Shop. The front is some sort of
incandescent and gives a good beam. The rear is a 3-LED with choice of
steady or 2 flash patterns. The plastic is rubbish and the clips will break
after you've used them for a while. So buy 2 sets and keep the relevant
spare parts with you. The rear is not very bright, but ok as a
supplementary flasher.
--

Martin Bulmer

in message <[email hidden]>, jas0n

(') said:

there was me thinking I was ready to bike it to the gym on tuesday
which will be at 7pm - i have no lights! argh!

any recommendations for a cheap set of 'be seen' lights, should I go
for leds?

Yes. Much more efficient (=brighter, last longer on batteries) than
incandescents.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

'graveyards are full of indispensable people'

Tosspot said:

jas0n said:

there was me thinking I was ready to bike it to the gym on tuesday
which will be at 7pm - i have no lights! argh!

any recommendations for a cheap set of 'be seen' lights, should I go
for leds?

<cough choke> Halfords <reach>

Hate to admit it but they have some quite passable lights. Single
superbrite white LED for the front and any red one for the back.

I use these as dynamo[1] backup

http://www.cateye.com/uk/products/viewProduct.php?modelId=28&catId=7&subCatId=4

[1] FER dynamos rock!

ok, as theres a local one and needed them for tomorrow night have bought
from h*lfrods.

I got there Super BrightCycle LED Set at £13.99 ...

Now the question I didnt expect to be asking ...

The rear red one if fine and seems nice and bright and well RED.

The front one has a white plastic front but the LEDS light up a sort of
lime GREEN colour, not quite what I was expecting ....

..... does this sound right?

jas0n said:

Tosspot said:

jas0n said:

there was me thinking I was ready to bike it to the gym on tuesday
which will be at 7pm - i have no lights! argh!

any recommendations for a cheap set of 'be seen' lights, should I go
for leds?

<cough choke> Halfords <reach>

Hate to admit it but they have some quite passable lights. Single
superbrite white LED for the front and any red one for the back.

I use these as dynamo[1] backup

http://www.cateye.com/uk/products/viewProduct.php?modelId=28&catId=7&subCatId=4

[1] FER dynamos rock!

ok, as theres a local one and needed them for tomorrow night have bought
from h*lfrods.

I got there Super BrightCycle LED Set at £13.99 ...

Now the question I didnt expect to be asking ...

The rear red one if fine and seems nice and bright and well RED.

The front one has a white plastic front but the LEDS light up a sort of
lime GREEN colour, not quite what I was expecting ....

.... does this sound right?

Errrmmm no, but it will probably do. At least until plod decides he
doesnt like it.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ok, as theres a local one and needed them for tomorrow night have
bought from h*lfrods.

I got there Super BrightCycle LED Set at £13.99 ...

Now the question I didnt expect to be asking ...

The rear red one if fine and seems nice and bright and well RED.

The front one has a white plastic front but the LEDS light up a sort
of lime GREEN colour, not quite what I was expecting ....

.... does this sound right?

Errrmmm no, but it will probably do. At least until plod decides he
doesnt like it.

Im going to return and replace them with something else I think ... I
dont like the idea of being pulled over for a strange green front led
light. A quick search shows white leds are a moer recent more expensive
development hence the green in the cheaper ones.

I dont mind bending the law a little by using bright correctly coloured
constant LEDS which help me be seen more easily, especially if they are
generally considered better than a filament type light. But to use a
different colour .... nah!

Also, giving a green light to a motorist - doesnt that say, 'go' - run
me over now!!

jas0n said:

ok, as theres a local one and needed them for tomorrow night have
bought from h*lfrods.

I got there Super BrightCycle LED Set at £13.99 ...

Now the question I didnt expect to be asking ...

The rear red one if fine and seems nice and bright and well RED.

The front one has a white plastic front but the LEDS light up a sort
of lime GREEN colour, not quite what I was expecting ....

.... does this sound right?

It sounds normal, but not right. The green lights can be quite
effective as forward facing auxiliary lights attached to your clothing,
but you must show a white light at the front of your bike. I've no idea
why Halfords sell these lights in the way they do. It's natural to
assume that because you bought your lighting set in a bike shop it must
be (a) adequate and (b) legal. Neither assumption is necessarily true.

In practice if you use the lights as supplied and you have fresh
batteries in, you are unlikely to be stopped by the police who will
probably be impressed that you have lights at all. I would, however,
get a good bright white LED front light at the earliest opportunity.

--
Dave...

"jas0n" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The front one has a white plastic front but the LEDS light up a sort of
lime GREEN colour, not quite what I was expecting ....

.... does this sound right?

It'll be ok if it's pale green and very bright, but the greeny and yellowy
LEDs I've seen have been naff: too dim. Actually it's rare for an LED
light to be pure white. Many of the better-but-still-quite-cheap ones
have a blue hue, eg. Smart Polaris and Cateye EL200.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

"jas0n" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The front one has a white plastic front but the LEDS light up a sort of
lime GREEN colour, not quite what I was expecting ....

.... does this sound right?

It'll be ok if it's pale green and very bright, but the greeny and yellowy
LEDs I've seen have been naff: too dim. Actually it's rare for an LED
light to be pure white. Many of the better-but-still-quite-cheap ones
have a blue hue, eg. Smart Polaris and Cateye EL200.

~PB

I took them back and swapped for a set of cateye ones which I was
assured were red rear/white front - will see later on when I fit them.

Id have bought the cateye ones if they were on the shelf earlier today
but they'd only been put on late this afternoon ... typical, eh!

jas0n said:

there was me thinking I was ready to bike it to the gym on tuesday which
will be at 7pm - i have no lights! argh!

any recommendations for a cheap set of 'be seen' lights, should I go for
leds?

Do you have any rechargeable NiMH AA batteries? If so, get thyself down
to Wilko and buy the Energizer halogen twin-pack for £15. The headlamp
is very good; the rear lamp, also halogen, is overkill but you could
replace it with an LED. Don't forget a rear reflector!

Quoted message said:

there was me thinking I was ready to bike it to the gym on tuesday which
will be at 7pm - i have no lights! argh!

any recommendations for a cheap set of 'be seen' lights, should I go for
leds?

Have a look at these, they've been going for silly prices (couple of quid)
lately.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22689&item=7130843771&rd=1

George

Pete Biggs said:

"jas0n" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The front one has a white plastic front but the LEDS light up a sort of
lime GREEN colour, not quite what I was expecting ....

.... does this sound right?

It'll be ok if it's pale green and very bright, but the greeny and yellowy
LEDs I've seen have been naff: too dim. Actually it's rare for an LED
light to be pure white. Many of the better-but-still-quite-cheap ones
have a blue hue, eg. Smart Polaris and Cateye EL200.

~PB

yes, even the replacement ive swapped it for, when they tell you its
white, it turns out to be yellow .. i guess thats closer than lime green!

jas0n said:

Pete Biggs said:

"jas0n" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The front one has a white plastic front but the LEDS light up a sort of
lime GREEN colour, not quite what I was expecting ....

.... does this sound right?

It'll be ok if it's pale green and very bright, but the greeny and
yellowy
LEDs I've seen have been naff: too dim. Actually it's rare for an LED
light to be pure white. Many of the better-but-still-quite-cheap ones
have a blue hue, eg. Smart Polaris and Cateye EL200.

~PB

I took them back and swapped for a set of cateye ones which I was
assured were red rear/white front - will see later on when I fit them.

Id have bought the cateye ones if they were on the shelf earlier today
but they'd only been put on late this afternoon ... typical, eh!

Thems the ones Sir! Much better they are!

jas0n said:

yes, even the replacement ive swapped it for, when they tell you
its white, it turns out to be yellow .. i guess thats closer than
lime green!

Take it back again. If they told you it was white then they've mis-sold
it. They must have a white LED light in the shop somewhere.

--
Dave...

jas0n said:

Pete Biggs said:

"jas0n" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The front one has a white plastic front but the LEDS light up a sort of
lime GREEN colour, not quite what I was expecting ....

.... does this sound right?

It'll be ok if it's pale green and very bright, but the greeny and
yellowy
LEDs I've seen have been naff: too dim. Actually it's rare for an LED
light to be pure white. Many of the better-but-still-quite-cheap ones
have a blue hue, eg. Smart Polaris and Cateye EL200.

~PB

yes, even the replacement ive swapped it for, when they tell you its
white, it turns out to be yellow .. i guess thats closer than lime green!

You do have fresh batteries in there, I take it? Just a thought (though
normally it just makes them dim, rather than yellowing the colour!)

--

Velvet

jas0n said:

I took them back and swapped for a set of cateye ones which I was
assured were red rear/white front - will see later on when I fit them.

Id have bought the cateye ones if they were on the shelf earlier today
but they'd only been put on late this afternoon ... typical, eh!

Well one cyclist I regularly see has a glow-worm on the back and a
flashing red led light on the front....Better than nothing?

dkahn400 said:

jas0n said:

yes, even the replacement ive swapped it for, when they tell you
its white, it turns out to be yellow .. i guess thats closer than
lime green!

Take it back again. If they told you it was white then they've mis-sold
it. They must have a white LED light in the shop somewhere.

Maybe, but it'll end up costing me more in time/fuel in then end! I knew
I should have just ordered the ones from wiggle I was looking at!!