Lights!!

Ian said:

Got caught out the other night. Dark at 1900hrs - 10 miles from home!
Bugger. Very nervous cycle ride down back roads to home.

OK, I need lights for my road bike.

Looked at some nice powerful Halogen stuff, but with a battery life of
10ns :-(

As usual, I'm clueless.

I am quite interested in the "Cateye LD260 Front & Rear Light Set",
but am not sure that the front light will be bright enough or have the
beam reach.

It won't. All the LEDs are marginal and this is Cateye's least
powerful. The halogen lamps that take 4 AA cells are just about OK for
slow speed riding.

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 20:47:40 +0100 someone who may be Ian
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

As usual, I'm clueless.

Obviously.

The subject is being discussed in another thread in uk.rec.cycling
at the moment and Google will call up numerous threads on the same
subject.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

David Hansen said:

The subject is being discussed in another thread in uk.rec.cycling
at the moment and Google will call up numerous threads on the same
subject.

Thanks for the pointer.

You've OBVIOUSLY had a bad day.
I see your othe recent posts in a similair vain. Rude, short tempered
and with a bad attitude :-(

In article <[email hidden]>, Ian

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The subject is being discussed in another thread in uk.rec.cycling
at the moment and Google will call up numerous threads on the same
subject.

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the pointer.

Quoted message said:

You've OBVIOUSLY had a bad day. I see your othe recent posts in a
similair vain. Rude, short tempered and with a bad attitude :-(

You must be reading a different ng from the one that I am. The reply
seemed to be perfectly OK here.

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 21:53:58 +0100 someone who may be Ian
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

You've OBVIOUSLY had a bad day.

Don't give up the day job and take up mind reading for a living. You
will not be very good at it.

Quoted message said:

I see your othe recent posts in a similair vain. Rude, short tempered
and with a bad attitude :-(

Nice try.

Baby birds may be appealing sitting on their backsides, with open
beaks, squawking and expecting mummy or daddy bird to push food down
their throat. The same does not apply to humans.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as Ian
<[email hidden]> gently breathed:

Quoted message said:

Got caught out the other night. Dark at 1900hrs - 10 miles from home!
Bugger. Very nervous cycle ride down back roads to home.

OK, I need lights for my road bike.

Looked at some nice powerful Halogen stuff, but with a battery life of
10ns :-(

As usual, I'm clueless.

I am quite interested in the "Cateye LD260 Front & Rear Light Set",
but am not sure that the front light will be bright enough or have the
beam reach. What about the "Cateye Light Set HL-560 + TL-AU100" set?
Only snag seams to be is that it is bulky.

Any other suggestions? What do you use, or wish you'd bought?

I visited my friendly LBS the other morning on a mission for light, I
don't really care about beam reach as I cycle in a city centre, but I
wanted to be sure of being seen now I'm coming home just as darkness
falls.

For 10.95 I got a set of LED lamps, red rear and green front, each pod
takes 2 x AAA batteries and can be set to steady, flash, or knight-rider
style sweep. There are 5 LEDs in each light.

On Sunday night, driving some friends home from Black Sheep, I had a
nice demonstration of how effective they are when I passed a cyclist
with very similar equipment, in flash mode, on the A64 at about 11:30pm.

I use them both on flash, IIRC that'll make the batteries last longer,
and while I know you're not supposed to have flashing lamps the bloke I
passed had them flashing, which instantly let me know he was a cyclist
and not a moped or similar, so I was expecting him to be doing 10mph
instead of the 40 allowed on that stretch, and was well out in the
middle long before I reached him. They were also raving bright (as are
mine).

I also got a dinky little computer from the same LBS for 7.50, doesn't
do cadence but for the first time in my life I have a speedo on a
bicycle, was interesting riding to work today and actually knowing how
fast I was going, and how far it was! The fastest I went was about 20,
and the fastest I could pedal, in max top gear, was about 18 - guess
I'll need to get a proper audax bike some time if I want to ride faster
on the roads.

When I have a bit more cash I'd like to add a dynamo set to the bike,
which will give me a steady rear light as well as the flasher, at least
when moving, and a nice bright beam at the front, probably mounted low
on the forks to light the road.

The battery life I was quoted by the LBS for the lights is 100 hours, I
currently only need them at night and it takes half an hour to get home,
so that'll do me for most of the Winter.

A thought that came to me on the way home: Does anyone do a small
generator powered system? While I'm happy to power the actual bike
myself, I'd not be averse to some kind of minature petrol or diesel
engine driver generator on the back somewhere, driving a nice big set of
55W car halogen driving lamps at the front, and the kind of mega-bright
LED rear lights the new double-decker busses use on the back. Would
mean I could have air-horns too, for those "cyclists should be
flattened" drivers I occasionally encounter... <evil gryn>

NP: Inkubus Sukkubus - All Hallows Eve.
--
- Pyromancer Stormshadow.
http://www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk <-- Pagan Gothic Rock!
http://www.littlematchgirl.co.uk <-- Electronic Metal!
http://www.revival.stormshadow.com <-- The Gothic Revival.

Quoted message said:

As usual, I'm clueless.

Obviously.

'Cos the other threads mentioned weren't too much help. Hansen - almost
everything on this ng could be answered by a google search through past
posts but who cares about lights from 5 years ago? Still, if you can
find a light that is perfect for bombing down unlit roads and fulfills
the OPs other criteria then I'll gladly stop calling you a whinging fart
:-P

AFAIK the lights you want don't exist unless your cycling is only on
roads with streetlights - then LEDs are ok. I recommend two lights - one
flashing to get you noticed and another constant to help the cagers gauge
how far you are away (I've always found flashing lights hard to get a fix
on when in the car).

The really bright cateye one didn't get a particularly good review from a
bloke that compared a few. He did recommend one light (google again) but
not sure if it'll be powerful enough for cycling on unlit roads at speed.

If you're on unlit country lanes then more money, more weight and less
battery life is what you're doomed to. The lights with huge batteries
aimed at offroaders are your best bet, or possibly the hub dynamos if you
don't mind paying for 'em. Haven't used one but they're always
recommended. Search google for recent posts with SON in.

Ian said:

I am quite interested in the "Cateye LD260 Front & Rear Light Set",
but am not sure that the front light will be bright enough or have the
beam reach. What about the "Cateye Light Set HL-560 + TL-AU100" set?
Only snag seams to be is that it is bulky.

I can only comment on the rear light of that lot: TL-AU100 -- that's
definitely a good'un. I was riding behind one tonight. Nice and bold and
bright, and takes AA batteries as opposed to AAA for better economy and
run time.

I've yet to get a front light that's good enough to see by at decent speed
on unlit roads. I tend to stick to urban cycling in the winter months
after dark, mainly to keep warm!

But to be *seen* by (you could have one in addition to a more powerful
system), Smart Polaris is very handy and slightly better than the Cateye
EL200.

~PB

On 27/9/04 8:47 pm, in article [email hidden],

Ian said:

Criteria.

1. not too expensive
2. effective brightness/beam reach
3. reasonable battery life.
4. quick fitting/removal.

You can't have your cake and eat it. For 1,2 and 3 you have to pick 2 of the
options.
For rear lights, a couple of sets of LED lights are great.

Taking them one at a time:
1. You will be limited to either a heavy SLA set (up to about 50 quid
depending on model) or doomed to low power disposable battery eaters with
krypton bulbs. The third alternative is LED lights which are inexpensive,
have long battery life, but are not up to the job for fast cycling on unlit
roads.
When you consider expense, also consider how long you will use the lights. A
rechargeable SLA (Sealed lead acid) set will not have any additional expense
over the initial purchase. LED lights are miserly in their battery use but
krypton lights are battery eaters, so will rapidly eat up any potential
saving in price.

2. LED lights are good to be seen with but can only just provide enough
light for cycling on dry roads at about 10mph, and even that is not very
nice as the beam is a single spot.
Krypton battery lights are better, but not much, and as the batteries run
down, the light becomes negligible.
SLA batteries will give you the best bang for buck in terms of light pattern
and output. Typically 10W of light is enough to ride a 30mph downhill (on
road). And in the fog the steam coming off the lamps is quite impressive.

3. Reasonable depends on what you want. A set of the SMART lights has a run
time at 2.4W of 8 hours, 1 hour at 10W and then needs an overnight (8 hour)
charge. If your commute is under an hour and you have a source of power at
work then you can charge during the day.
For me (with a very short commute) this is about two weeks on a single
charge.
LED lights, fit and forget, just keep a spare set of batteries 'just in
case'.
Krypton lights, You'll get about 5 hours from a set of batteries, less if
you are using AA instead of C or D cells. Rechargeable batteries help
greatly here, you'll want several sets.

4. Ease of fitting depends on whether you want the whole lamp removable or
are prepared to have a bracket left on the bike. Most LED lamps are
completely removable. Many SLA lamps are as well. For those that aren't,
spare brackets can be bought for a nominal price for additional bikes.

Hope this helps.

...d

On 27 Sep 2004 23:31:37 GMT someone who may be Mark Thompson
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

'Cos the other threads mentioned weren't too much help.

Really.

The criteria were

Quoted message said:

1. not too expensive
2. effective brightness/beam reach
3. reasonable battery life.
4. quick fitting/removal.

and, with the possible exception of 4., are covered by recent
threads.

Quoted message said:

Hansen

Excellent, using a surname to refer to someone. Always a good sign.

Quoted message said:

- almost
everything on this ng could be answered by a google search through past
posts but who cares about lights from 5 years ago?

Perhaps you should study the advanced groups search option on
Google. It is perfectly possible to restrict the search to whatever
time period one wants.

Quoted message said:

Still, if you can
find a light that is perfect for bombing down unlit roads

Not something that was mentioned.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

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

Quoted message said:

Got caught out the other night. Dark at 1900hrs - 10 miles from home!
Bugger. Very nervous cycle ride down back roads to home.

Criteria.

1. not too expensive
2. effective brightness/beam reach
3. reasonable battery life.
4. quick fitting/removal.

it's the same old problem light/strong/cheap pick any 2

Take the plunge and buy some lumicycles I umm'd and aah'd before I
could justify the cost to myself but they are probably the best value
thing I've brought for my bike.

At the time I really thought they were too expensive but after using
them they more than paid for themselves I could see the road properly,
cars dipped their headlights and the battery life is good.

Al

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

Quoted message said:

On 27 Sep 2004 23:31:37 GMT someone who may be Mark Thompson
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

'Cos the other threads mentioned weren't too much help.

Really.

The criteria were

Quoted message said:

1. not too expensive
2. effective brightness/beam reach
3. reasonable battery life.
4. quick fitting/removal.

and, with the possible exception of 4., are covered by recent
threads.

Quoted message said:

Hansen

Excellent, using a surname to refer to someone. Always a good sign.

Quoted message said:

- almost
everything on this ng could be answered by a google search through past
posts but who cares about lights from 5 years ago?

Perhaps you should study the advanced groups search option on
Google. It is perfectly possible to restrict the search to whatever
time period one wants.

Quoted message said:

Still, if you can
find a light that is perfect for bombing down unlit roads

Not something that was mentioned.

Go back to bed, get out the other side.

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

Quoted message said:

Got caught out the other night. Dark at 1900hrs - 10 miles from home!
Bugger. Very nervous cycle ride down back roads to home.

OK, I need lights for my road bike.

Always keep a rear LED on your bike throughout the year. You never know when
you'll get a puncture and that 'just in time' clock will be out the window.

Mark Thompson said:

If you're on unlit country lanes then more money, more weight and less
battery life is what you're doomed to. The lights with huge batteries
aimed at offroaders are your best bet, or possibly the hub dynamos if you
don't mind paying for 'em. Haven't used one but they're always
recommended.

Exactly the kind of advice I was looking for, thank you.

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 11:43:47 GMT, "elyob" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Go back to bed, get out the other side.

:-)

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 11:47:38 GMT, "elyob" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Always keep a rear LED on your bike throughout the year. You never know when
you'll get a puncture and that 'just in time' clock will be out the window.

Mmm. Good advice. I have kind of settled on a Cateye LED for the rear,
due to the aparrent excellent visibility (to other traffic) and
battery longevity.

The Front light is still something I'm thinking about. It seems that
LEDs are out, as it gets pitch black real quick around here. The roads
have a lot of trees either side which even blocks out
ambient/moonlight for long distances. Hitting a rut/drain/rabbit, etc
in pich black on a wet road is not something I relish.

It is becoming apparent that I need to spend a little more than I had
bargained on, not something that comes easily to me as I'm a "Tight,
fat, Scots, git" (c)E.G.Hogg

Powerlight FIreballs were suggested, nice, but these are _well_ out of
my price range.

Looking at wiggle, amongst others, I'm quite interested in the Smart
10w/2.4w Twin Rechargeable Headlight or the Vistalite NightStick Code
5. I read elsewhere that the Iistalite is badly manufactured and
unreliable. Can anyone confirm/contradict this?

Sandy Morton [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

You must be reading a different ng from the one that I am. The reply
seemed to be perfectly OK here.

Really? It seemed a little close to the bone to me as well.

Have you calmed down yet David?

Jon

On 27 Sep 2004 23:31:37 GMT, Mark Thompson
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

If you're on unlit country lanes then more money, more weight and less
battery life is what you're doomed to.

Or a SON. Indefinite life, low weight, *ulp* money though :-)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

David Martin said:

1. You will be limited to either a heavy SLA set (up to about 50 quid
depending on model) or doomed to low power disposable battery eaters with
krypton bulbs.

Some little battery lights have 2.4W *halogen* bulbs and are much better
than the krypton ones, although not quite as good as a dynamo running a
2.4W headlight. I'm not sure why, as the electrical power is the same
on paper, but maybe the AC from a dynamo gives a brighter light - after
all, the rated power is only the RMS value - and I suppose the dynamo
gives slightly more than 6V at anything above its minimum design speed.
Presumably bulb life is reduced pro rata.

FWIW, I get about 2 hours out of a 2.4W halogen lamp using 4 x AA NiMH
batteries. Halve that for NiCd. When the batteries die, they do so in
a matter of minutes!