Red Blinky lights

tholub said:

And I'm sure that's because you ride them on the wrong side of the road,
right?

I did a search on "motorcyclist struck by car" on Google News. It
turns out that *virtually every motorcyclist struck by a car* was
riding on the right side of the road! Clearly it must be safer to ride
on the wrong side.

I followed up by searching for "fatal auto accident," and once again
found that virtually every auto accident occurs when driving on the
right side of the road.

The news doesn't lie; it clearly must be safer to be on the wrong side
of the road, whether you're an auto driver, motorcyclist, or cyclist.

--
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woah this is at 5 pages now!

Update: I bought a cateye tail light to clip to my bag, and I am going
to look into getting that cateye 1100 that joe mentioned.

Also, I am buying some headlights that will actually allow me to see at
night. Probably going with the Cygolite Dualcross brand since REI
carries them and I have a 20% off coupon off a single item.
http://cygolite.com/2-Products/1-DualCross300.htm

The better version of that light is coming out soon though...but not
soon enough b/c my coupon expiers in less than a week.

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Since about half the people killed on bicycles are riding on the right
side of the road, and struck from the rear, it was perhaps the wrong
side of the road for them to be riding on at that time. Perhaps, but
not proven. As many have pointed out, if every rider rides on the right
side, all the fatalities shall occur there. Here is where I seem to be
losing some of you. It is logical to conclude from the body count that
riding on the right side of the road is dangerous. I never said the
data proves that riding on the left is safer, only that many people are
dying every day while riding on the right.
Here's where it gets tricky. You have to imagine yourself on a small
quiet road with only the occasional car . We know as a fact that a
small percentage of these cars are being driven by distracted or drunk
drivers. If you ride on the left, you can notice the car is weaving,
and take action to improve your odds of avoiding your last mistake
IMHO. Jerrick and some others seem to ride in a similar manner. No one
is suggesting you are safer riding always on the left.
I realize that some must clutch their book and ride religiously on
the right. Such individuals will wish to be assured by an expert that
they are doing the right thing, as safely as possible, and will be
angry at me for "trying to frighten them." I deal with benighted
individuals, who discus people and authority, rather then ideas data
and concepts, all the time. Please feel free to ridicule me as a
lunatic. I would be amazed if everyone chose to write about their
reasons for interpreting the data a certain way, rather then which
authority they trust. It never happens that way.🙂
The logic of riding on the left at times (not exclusively) is that
you are less likely to be hurt by a car you can see. I ride much like
Jerrick, on the left, but cross over to the right to put an oncoming
car on the opposite side of the road if possible. Of course use all due
caution at intersections. Crowded inner city, heavy traffic riding is
beyond what I am willing to try at my skill level. Certainly, at a
certain point, one must ride with traffic to avoid conflicts with
others.
But what about those hit and run victims on a lone quiet road with
no traffic ? Why were they riding on the right ? If they were on the
left they would be much less likely to have been clipped by that
drunk.
So by all means get the clip on cats eye blinky. I have two, and
they work great. But don't put all your confidence in them. Ride as
aware and as adaptable as possible, on the safest part of the road. Or
pray a lot and always ride on the right . Your life and your choice.
Good luck !:eek:

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siafirede said:

woah this is at 5 pages now!

Update: I bought a cateye tail light to clip to my bag, and I am going
to look into getting that cateye 1100 that joe mentioned.

Also, I am buying some headlights that will actually allow me to see at
night. Probably going with the Cygolite Dualcross brand since REI
carries them and I have a 20% off coupon off a single item.
http://cygolite.com/2-Products/1-DualCross300.htm

The better version of that light is coming out soon though...but not
soon enough b/c my coupon expiers in less than a week.

Last I checked, the Cateye 1100 was only available in the UK. In the
US, we have the 1000. I have the 1000 and the PlanetBike SuperFlash.
The only advantage of the 1000 is that it has lights on the side. The
PlanetBike has a bigger and brighter hotspot and the flashing mode is
more noticeable at a distance. The two rows of lights on the 1000 go
out of synch and it looks like a steady red light from a distance. The
1000 is also heavier and has to be mounted to the frame. I shot a
comparison of the PlanetBike and Cateye hotspots on steady mode from 4'
(Cateye on left, PB on right). I think you'd be happier with the PB.
It's cheaper too.

Jerrick said:

Ignore my post! You [censored]!!!

😉

I read your post, sweet cheeks. Thanks for sharing. Let me know if you
require more validation than that and I'll try to do better.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: Cateye LD1000 vs PlanetBike SuperFlash.jpg |
|Download: http://www.unicyclist.com/attachment/22278 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

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siafirede said:

woah this is at 5 pages now!

Update: I bought a cateye tail light to clip to my bag, and I am going
to look into getting that cateye 1100 that joe mentioned.

Also, I am buying some headlights that will actually allow me to see at
night. Probably going with the Cygolite Dualcross brand since REI
carries them and I have a 20% off coupon off a single item.
http://cygolite.com/2-Products/1-DualCross300.htm

The better version of that light is coming out soon though...but not
soon enough b/c my coupon expiers in less than a week.

LED lights are getting really good.

Some things to play with at REI before you purchase it. See if you
can try it in a dark room and check how wide the beam is when aimed at
the ground close in front of you as it would be for unicycling. Some
lights have a narrow beam which is fine for on-road bicycling but not
good for unicycling (on-road or off-road). Also try out the helmet
mount on your helmet. Some lights mount forward on the helmet which
can cause the helmet to slide down your forehead as you ride which can
get annoying. Also make sure that the helmet mount allows you to aim
the light at the ground in front of you as it would be for unicycling.
REI is good for letting you try things first. And if it doesn't work
out for you after you get it home you can always return it.

For some light pron check out 'Lupine'
(http://www.lupine.de/index.php?lang=us). They have an LED light that
is over $1000 USD. And VERY bright. :eek:

--
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siafirede said:

I am looking at getting a red blinky light (tail light) for my uni. I
also want to be able to swap it over to my road bike.

I often commute by bike or uni and I didn't want to have to switch it
back and forth, so I mounted mine (like this one) w/ a velcro strap to
the back of my helmet. Much more visible than when mounted to the
bike. I switch the batteries w/ fresh rechargables when it starts to
get dim, every 3-4 weeks.

The helmet mounted headlights I've tried are more distracting than
hlepfull. The light keeps bouncing around as my helmet wobbles, I
usually ride in fairly lit places anyways. I think a full spectrum
light won't have that problem, but haven't tried one yet.

--
skilewis74

Ride everywhere and never just ride anywhere. If you can ride where you
are going within a hour, do it, and if you can do a trick 50-75% of the
time do it along the way.
Parafrasing a pro skater when asked for advise to kids who wanted to
get much better and maybee turn pro one day.
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skilewis74 said:

I often commute by bike or uni and I didn't want to have to switch it
back and forth, so I mounted mine (like this one) w/ a velcro strap to
the back of my helmet. Much more visible than when mounted to the
bike.

Is it? How do you know?

On your helmet, whenever you look round, or up, or down, or anywhere
other than straight ahead the light's going to be pointing in the
wrong direction. Especially with the relatively narrow pattern of
light from some LEDs, that could be a significant issue.

I wouldn't put the only light I have on a helmet.

How have you determined that it's much more visible?

regards, Ian SMith
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|o o|
|/ \|

I'm holding a Night Rider red blinky in my hand, in daylight. It is
pretty bright from about 180 degrees, but noticeably better when the
back 3 are looked at directly, and also from the side, where the other
two point. I never thought about it, but it is probably a good idea to
spend the extra couple bucks for a 5 or more leds blinky , especially
for a helmet. Given the small price, maybe worth it for any use. Also,
look for a faceted, rather then totally clear red lens, as this helps
with the diffusion as well.

--
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I have a cheep red blinky from Canadian Tire. I can’t remember the brand
but they have 5 LEDs and the mount with the elbow that has almost 108
degrees of adjustment. I also have two of them on my cargo bike (they
look like tail lights and I get more respect, but that is a different
story). I found that they are visible from anywhere in a 180 degree ark
but painfully bright from directly behind. I decided that I want to be
visible from the sides as well as the back so I took the lens off and
put a single ply of toilet paper between the lens and light. The result
is a light that is much brighter from all angles except from directly
behind where the light may be muted but still quite bright.

I recently put some 3M reflective tape on my N36, white all the way up
the front and red in an ark covering the back part of the frame. I put
it in front of my truck with the blinky on and shone my headlights at
it; the result was the reflective tape was almost as bright as my light
and MUCH bigger. I am not saying that you should use reflectors instead
of lights but that they can really help make you even more visible and
they don’t run out of batteries.

On the subject of which side of the road I ride: I stick to the right
but avoid riding with traffic as much as possible. In the city I ride
on the sidewalk when there are cars but no pedestrians but in the
street otherwise. On the highway it is illegal here to ride on the
wrong side at night (but not the day) because your lights might confuse
drivers if they see a headlight on their right.

I would never cross the road to be further from drivers as most drivers
would start driving in the wrong lane a good 500m away from me when
overtaking (around here anyways)

As a side note I ride my Unicycle in the city partially because I don’t
feel very safe riding my bike in the Prince Albert. It is not a very
bike friendly city – got hit thrice last winter (biking) Im pretty sure
two were on purpose (all three from behind with two at intersections)

--
saskatchewanian

The Coker isn't elegant, it's majestic
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saskatchewanian said:

As a side note I ride my Unicycle in the city partially because I don’t
feel very safe riding my bike in the Prince Albert. It is not a very
bike friendly city – got hit thrice last winter (biking) Im pretty sure
two were on purpose (all three from behind with two at intersections)

on purpose?

--
siafirede

James = my name
'This' (http://www.myspace.com/clawsout) = my myspace

Pump Air Not Gas
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saskatchewanian said:

On the highway it is illegal here to ride on the wrong side at night
(but not the day) because your lights might confuse drivers if they see
a headlight on their right.

When I used to ride my bike to school, there was a 100m stretch where I
would ride my bike on the wrong side of the road, to avoid going a
quarter mile past the school and back (due to medians), and one day a
cop stopped me and told me not to ride on the wrong side...and that
he'd just let me off with a warning.

So I assume it's illegal here, too, just not very vigorously enforced.

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onelesscar

Catching the coker fever.
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saskatchewanian said:

I don’t feel very safe riding my bike in the Prince Albert.

I suppose you'd have to be very careful not to get it caught up.

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I got the spoke lights I said I would order in the mail today.
Because of the distance between spokes, the light wouldn't fit closer
then about 5 " from the rim. To bad, I like the wheel to look big !
The 45mm wide units weight 35.4 grams with battery. Installation was
about 5 minutes.
The auto on-off feature works well. The 2 leds, one facing each side,
start blinking as soon as I move the wheel indoors, and stop at rest.
Outdoors they don't flash at all in daylight, even in the shade.
They aren't as bright as a regular blinky, but still pretty good. I
would say a good compromise for a secondary light, considering weight
and battery life.
I will write a real review in a few months, when I can comment on
durability.
http://brightideasusa.biz/bispli.html
You can get 2 lights, a red and white for 7$ + 2 $ postage.

--
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I have a few clip on Cat's Eyes that work well.

(Well, the "cat's eye" from Taiwan is cr*p. But the other two are
nice.)
Anyway, my favorite Cat's Eye worries me. There have been times when
I'm rummaging around in my bag and notice that it turned on. The
on-off button is just too sensitive. For night riding I clip the
blinky on a neon safety belt but find myself constantly looking behind
me to see it is is still on. If I can't tell, I wind up pulling the
belt around so I can see and then twisting it back.

I'm worried that it will just turn off while I'm riding. Anyone know
of a blinky where the switch is not so sensitive? Something you have
to give a little more effort to turn on and off?

--
Unibugg

johnfoss said:

If riding the unicycle seems impossible at first, that only proves
you're human. 🙂

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Unibugg said:

I have a few clip on Cat's Eyes that work well.

(Well, the "cat's eye" from Taiwan is cr*p. But the other two are
nice.)
Anyway, my favorite Cat's Eye worries me. There have been times when
I'm rummaging around in my bag and notice that it turned on. The
on-off button is just too sensitive. For night riding I clip the
blinky on a neon safety belt but find myself constantly looking behind
me to see it is is still on. If I can't tell, I wind up pulling the
belt around so I can see and then twisting it back.

I'm worried that it will just turn off while I'm riding. Anyone know
of a blinky where the switch is not so sensitive? Something you have
to give a little more effort to turn on and off?

The one I posted with the bungee cord doesn't have a physical switch;
you have to touch the magnet on the end of the bungee cord to a certain
spot on the light. Improves reliability and makes it hard to turn on
accidentally.

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tholub said:

The one I posted with the bungee cord doesn't have a physical switch;
you have to touch the magnet on the end of the bungee cord to a certain
spot on the light. Improves reliability and makes it hard to turn on
accidentally.

Ah, great. Thanks.

--
Unibugg

johnfoss said:

If riding the unicycle seems impossible at first, that only proves
you're human. 🙂

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Use 2 lights. One on your helmet and one on the frame is nice, but any
combination will work. No more worries.

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