night light

So the bike was leaned or held by a buddy across(see most recent ‘DIY cable bike/luber') the
intersection, for example Okeechobee and Military Trail at twilight and traffic hour or whatever
occurs in your travel.

Hard to see? The bike! Is the Bike hard to pick out amongst the visual debris? Assume the SUV
perspective assuming one exists to define by cyclists: use dark glasses, a stepladder, earphones
playing "BAD DUDES RIPOUT GRANNYS EXPLETIVE DELETED," then sweep (turn the head) side to side, sweep
eyes only head still, trying to catch the bike as the vision passes over the bike's image.

Number crunchers can plot the problem against local conditions/mortality stats(net available), gauge
distances to the bike asshort and long views gives diff results off course, work in some ft/sec with
the route mileage, exposure conditions. Gives the odds of getting crippled riding around the block
in that last summer evening.

Gather the friends' Blinky lights and add to front, rear, and don't forget the side views till the
bike image IS visible.

The Blinky isa good idea. Blinking activates more chemical responses to the environment until its
difficult to ignore the pain and you confess that "yes"(oh god please stop) you did see the bike but
yawl ran over it anyway just for the hell of it.

A bar mounted Photon Blinky gives a parking lamp visual. A plus. But the bar's narrowness visavee an
oncoming triax frontal area moves the bikes perspective back a few feet out of the ‘what is it?'
zone of SUV awareness. The answer in real terms??

I assume some SUV owners have SUVs to travel beyond the Blinky to a continuously overloaded visual
nervous system redefined by the calmer tribe as boredom. Desoto!!!

"g.daniels" <datakoll@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:41b0dda1.0312240932.23ac34e@posting.google.com...
>
<snip>
> I assume some SUV owners have SUVs to travel beyond the Blinky to a continuously overloaded visual
> nervous system redefined by the calmer tribe as boredom. Desoto!!!

Maybe you shouldn't post when 'lit'. ;^)

Mike ????

Last week while riding past my local downtown park which is illuminated with the seasonal multi-
coloured lights I was almost hit by a minivan full of festive gawkers diving for a parking spot. The
road is well lighted, I had a couple of blinkies, reflectors and and LED headlight, which were
luckily noticed at the last anti-lock brake rattling minute.

This incident almost scared the excrement out of me and so the next morning I added pieces of 3M
Scotchlite reflective material in white, red and yellow to the bike. The bike now lights up pretty
good from all angles when hit with a light source. As a bonus I think it is a lot less desirable
looking in the daylight, assuming potential thieves have any taste at all.

I have been considering buying a Barbie style Christmas tree angel at one of the Boxing day sales
and attaching it to the top of my helmet for added protection.

Here's wishing "yawl" including grackles a safe and happy holiday season.

Marcus

"Marcus Coles" <marcoles@ody.ca> wrote in message
news:1f64873a229845de1c2876c74c21ee54@news.teranews.com...
> Last week while riding past my local downtown park which is illuminated with the seasonal multi-
> coloured lights I was almost hit by a minivan full of festive gawkers diving for a parking spot.
> The road is well lighted, I had a couple of blinkies, reflectors and and LED headlight, which were
> luckily noticed at the last anti-lock brake rattling minute.

Even during non-holiday times, there are so many other sources of multi-colored lights that a
bicycle with dim lights, such as an LED headlight and an LED blinker, will not stand out.

This is why high-brightness bicycle lamps were developed. Commercial systems are expensive, home-
made ones are not. How much is your life worth? Get a 10-20W headlamp and a xenon strobe if you want
to be seen.

Have a happy and well-lit holiday season!

yup. the concept of one light rear, one light front is antiquo reverse kneejerk dating back to '33
ford pickup non thinking. its not '33. odd that the evil SUV owners are fronting their consumption
while the cyclists maintain a stealth attitude-except for the $125 jerseys.

bike light test and analysis in realtime