Greens said:
I've got inch and a half wide reflective strips for my ankles and a
reflective strip on one side of a frame bag. I don't know what's up with
that. You'd think they'd put the reflective on both sides of the bag. I do
want to get more lights. If you're going to be crazy enough to go out at
night, you better be visible. The manufacturers always make a big deal out
of the tiny reflective bits they put on clothes and shoes....
I don't describe night riding as "crazy." It's unusual, but only
because most Americans use the evening to enlarge their butts in front
of their TV or in their car. Unusual isn't crazy.
If you're worried about being seen, you should _definitely_ perform a
test. Get a friend to ride your bike at night while you observe from
a passing car. To be thorough, do the observation test at different
angles and in different lighting conditions. I've done this several
times with various cyclists (mostly as part of "night riding
workshops" I arranged for our bike club). We've consistently found
that a bike with a reasonable set of lights and reflectors is very,
very visible - more noticeable at night than in daylight, in fact.
Moving reflectors help a lot, and they don't have to be large.
There's a psychological effect at work, causing people to notice
motion, especially motion occurring in a "human" way - like your pedal
reflectors moving alternately up and down.
Regarding headlights: First, if you're being blinded by oncoming cars
for 5 to 10 seconds, you're looking in the wrong place. You should be
on the right side of the road; the oncoming cars should be on the
opposite side. Don't stare at them. In fact, you got an excellent
tip about using a cap with a visor to block their glare. Try it.
Alternately, if a yahoo motorist insists on high beams, close one of
your eyes to preserve its night vision until he passes.
There is no need to have a headlight as bright as a car's. Those are
designed for moving at 50 mph. And I don't think there's much need to
see how deep a pothole is! If you see one, ride around it, not
through it!
As others on this list know, I'm a fan of good quality generator
lights. I find them to be much less hassle than any battery light,
and I find that they give much better vision than most battery lights
(again, as demonstrated in our club's night rides). In those parts of
the world where bikes are actually used a lot at night, generators are
almost universal. They're about as reliable as your car's lights, and
decent ones take very little energy to run.
Unfortunately, they're a bit hard to find in the US. If you're
interested, here are some sources, listed in increasing order of price
and quality. (These guys are frequent contributors to this discussion
group).
http://www.yellowjersey.org/dynamos.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/lighting/shimano.html
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/schmidt.asp
There are other American sources, of course; and overseas sources,
like St. John's Street Cycles in Britain have very wide selections,
and are as easy to buy from as, say, Nashbar.
- Frank Krygowski
