In article <[email hidden]>,
Nate Nagel said:Telling everyone that wants to ride at night that they need to spend
$180 on a headlight is fine, I guess, if you want to encourage people
not to ride...
Well, you know, there those who encourage riding, and those who
encourage spending lots of money at the LBS, with riding being quite
optional, so long as the money gets spent - and not at any of your
hardware stores or evil on-line places.
Put on a tail-light and some side markers as well, preferably. You can
get the standard 3 red LED tail unit for $2.95 + shipping from
www.sciplus.com (just a happy customer). They also have a bigger one
(with 6 times the LEDs) for $8.50. At least you'll know how much your
LBS is extorting (above the commodity price) for this sort of thing if
you shop there.
If you're handy with a soldering iron, you can cobble tail and marker
lights up yourself, though you would have a difficult time breaking even
for the above price on a tail light with a nice lens and mount.
Don't bother with their 9 white LED "bike & head lamp", other than as a
possible side marker light, with a little yellow on the lens. Beats no
light at all (I got one for the headlamp function), but is shamed by the
low-end single emitter light mentioned below (which I got later on).
If you'll be riding a lot, a NiMH rapid charger and a pile of NiMH AA's
will cost a lot less than disposables. If you don't use them much,
disposables are cheaper. Best price I those I found last year was for a
20-pack at Adorama camera (also just a happy customer, and a very price
sensitive one for "commodity" items like this). Some other place may
well have them cheaper this week. Avoid coin-cell lights for regular use
- coin cells are expensive unless you buy thousands at a time.
I've got one of the less exciting super-duper LED lights (Terrralux
lower-end conversion for a 2AA minimag I already owned) and it's very
effective for being seen (by oncoming cars - I use it when walking along
the road at night - there's no sidewalk here), and pretty darn good for
seeing, though I'd suggest getting one of the better/brighter units (as
others have suggested) for that purpose on a bike. Goes a very long time
on a set of AA rechargables (I have yet to run it all the way out before
I decide to recharge for the sake of the batteries). Changed a dim
battery-eater into a useful light.
Be careful about aiming the bright LED lights - they are painfully
bright to look at and can blind/dazzle the same as a car high-beam if
aimed too high. That can help get you IN an accident.
Riding at night can be a hairy proposition - but that's regardless of
how much or how little you've spent on lights, and daytime does not
remove the hairiness in many places. Every route out of town here
involves long stretches of too many cars and not enough space for bikes
(one even has a goodly stretch of concrete retaining wall on the inside
of a corner - no place to go AND no visibility) - I'm surprised there
are not more accidents. Once out of town the bike-lane program on the
highway bills has had a noticeable positive effect on room for bikes -
getting there is not half the fun, however. At present, I try to stick
to riding during daylight.
When I lived in a somewhat more developed area, I rode at night on the
sidewalks, and got off and walked across the intersections. Faster than
walking the whole way, and safer than sharing the road with obliviots
who would run you over with or without lights. On the rare occasion I
encountered a pedestrian, I'd pop out into the road (for the space
between driveways needed to bypass the pedestrian) if there were no
cars, or dismount and walk by if there were, so as not to be an obliviot
on a bike hogging the sidewalk.
--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
