Do Bicycle LED Lights Provide Light for Riding?

[[email protected]]

My town requires bicyclists to have a bicycle light on when dark. I
found an LED front light online for $15.00. This will will make me
visable to traffic but will it provide any light for me? I sometimes
ride in a very dark conditions but would only need a little light. If
it doesn't provide any light can anyone recommd a light that does and
is under $30.00?

 

[maxo]

Lots of stuff on sale at Nashbar right now. I really like Cateye stuff
as it's fair priced and lasts.

At $8/per light, I'd almost be tempted to get two or three of these:

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=101&subcategory=1067&sku=12148&brand=

Then you can use as many as the situation suggests. Crazy, but would
work fine.

For real dark situations, you're going to need to spend considerably
more.

I've been perfectly satisfied with a Cateye LED for city riding.

 

[Michel]

Planet Bike 5-LED headlight. Not the brightest, but definitely good to
be seen and could allow you to light your way in a dark area if there
aren't other stay lights. At 18 $ (Canadian dollars, at MEC), it means
you can buy 2 for about 30 $ U.S.

When riding in highly lit areas, keep one fixed, the other flashing.
And in the dark, keep both fixed, but point them in 2 different places.

Regards,

Michel

 

[wafflycat]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My town requires bicyclists to have a bicycle light on when dark. I
> found an LED front light online for $15.00. This will will make me
> visable to traffic but will it provide any light for me? I sometimes
> ride in a very dark conditions but would only need a little light. If
> it doesn't provide any light can anyone recommd a light that does and
> is under $30.00?

Lights when riding at night are a seriously good idea. I'd simply not ride
at night without lighting. Without more detail of the individual light you
refer to it is impossoble to say whether it's any good at throwing a beam
for you to see by as opposed just prodiving a source of illumination that
you may be seen by... Where I live has little or no street lighting.

When cycling at night, my son uses three of these...

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/Default.asp...spx&Cat=cycle&w=0&CategoryName=Lights - Front

and he has a helmet-mounted light (LED) too.

At the rear he has two *bright* LEDs and then he wears a reflective vest see

http://www.hivis.net/

And the bike also has reflectives on it.

I am similarly lit-up when cycling at night. The low-flying UFO approach
gives ample light to see with and be seen by.

Here in the UK, white lights are for the front, red lights are rear-facing.

Cheers, helen s

 

[Ken M]

maxo wrote:

> I've been perfectly satisfied with a Cateye LED for city riding.
>
I have a set of Cateyes, front and rear, and would not commute in the
morning or home in the evening without them, especially the rear, red
led flasher.

Ken
--
Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. ~John F. Kennedy

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
"[email protected]" <[email protected]> writes:
> My town requires bicyclists to have a bicycle light on when dark. I
> found an LED front light online for $15.00. This will will make me
> visable to traffic but will it provide any light for me? I sometimes
> ride in a very dark conditions but would only need a little light. If
> it doesn't provide any light can anyone recommd a light that does and
> is under $30.00?

Last year I purchased an old-school bottle generator/light set
for $28.change (CDN). The mfgr is Tung Lin (Taiwan), and it's
basically a knock-off of the old Union bottle generators. Such
a system would elegantly fill the criteria you describe.

If you go this route, I'd recommend supplanting the supplied
one-conductor wiring with 2-conductor lamp cord which provides
dependabler connections and doesn't necessitate driving screws
into your bicycle's paint. And it would be a good idea to keep
your LED light as well; use both the generator and LED lights.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

 

[Cully_J]

"wafflycat" <w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> When cycling at night, my son uses three of these...
>
>
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/Default.asp...spx&Cat=cycle&w=0&CategoryName=Lights - Front
>
> and he has a helmet-mounted light (LED) too.
>
> At the rear he has two *bright* LEDs and then he wears a reflective vest
see
>
> http://www.hivis.net/
>
> And the bike also has reflectives on it.



Smart kid! He'll probably have a long, fruitful life if he remains brilliant
like that.

Cully_J

http://comatimes.blogspot.com/

 

[wafflycat]

"Cully_J" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>

>
> Smart kid! He'll probably have a long, fruitful life if he remains
> brilliant
> like that.
>
> Cully_J
>

Ta. Akchewallee, it's more like "Mustn't upset Mother From H*ll"...

To be honest, as far as teenagers go, he has not become that sub-species of
human the grunting teenage male. I am most astounded. And worried.... he
doesn't really rebel at all, and is remarkably sensible. P'raps he's really
17 going on 45 ;-) That or he's going to rebel late!

Cheers, helen s

 

[Reid Priedhorsky]

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 21:11:17 -0800, Michel wrote:

> Planet Bike 5-LED headlight. Not the brightest, but definitely good to
> be seen and could allow you to light your way in a dark area if there
> aren't other stay lights. At 18 $ (Canadian dollars, at MEC), it means
> you can buy 2 for about 30 $ U.S.

Don't forget the cost of batteries. If you use it more than occasionally,
it's probably a big win to buy a couple of sets of NiMH cells and a
charger.

Reid

 

[Matt O'Toole]

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:17:17 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

> My town requires bicyclists to have a bicycle light on when dark. I
> found an LED front light online for $15.00. This will will make me
> visable to traffic but will it provide any light for me? I sometimes
> ride in a very dark conditions but would only need a little light. If it
> doesn't provide any light can anyone recommd a light that does and is
> under $30.00?

The standard for small, battery powered lights is the Cateye Micro, a 2.4W
halogen unit. Cateye makes two newer LED models (HL300, EL500) that are
supposedly equivalent, but IMO they don't even come close. They may be as
bright, but their beams are too narrow.

So for an inexpensive, minimalist solution it's still hard to beat the
Micro. If you shop around you can get them cheap too, like $10. Busch
and Muller makes a similar light that Peter White says is better:

www.peterwhitecycles.com

There's a good comparison of various beam patterns here:

http://eddys.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=493

I use a Micro for short trips around town, slowing down a lot for dark
areas and bad pavement. To actually see where I'm going I add a 6W
Sunsport helmet light.

Matt O.

 

[Darin McGrew]

[email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
> My town requires bicyclists to have a bicycle light on when dark. I
> found an LED front light online for $15.00. This will will make me
> visable to traffic but will it provide any light for me? I sometimes
> ride in a very dark conditions but would only need a little light. If
> it doesn't provide any light can anyone recommd a light that does and
> is under $30.00?

You might be able to find a 5-LED headlamp on sale for about $15. That will
serve mostly as a "be seen" light, but might be okay as a "see the road"
light if you ride slowly. I used to use a Cateye EL300, but mostly as a "be
seen" light on well-lit streets.

For about $30, you can probably find a 1W LED headlamp on sale. Now I use
the Nite Hawk Emitter, which is okay as a "see the road" light, but just
barely.

To help you compare other LED lights, the Cateye EL300 has a runtime of 170
hours on 4 AA batteries (about 40 hours/AA), and the Nite Hawk Emitter has
a runtime of about 30 hours on 4 AA batteries (about 7 hours/AA).
--
Darin McGrew, [email protected], http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/
Web Design Group, [email protected], http://www.HTMLHelp.com/

"I'd love to make time, if only I could find the recipe."

 

[Fred]

"wafflycat" <w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Cully_J" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>
>>
>> Smart kid! He'll probably have a long, fruitful life if he remains
>> brilliant
>> like that.
>>
>> Cully_J
>>
>
> Ta. Akchewallee, it's more like "Mustn't upset Mother From H*ll"...
>
> To be honest, as far as teenagers go, he has not become that sub-species
> of human the grunting teenage male. I am most astounded. And worried....
> he doesn't really rebel at all, and is remarkably sensible. P'raps he's
> really 17 going on 45 ;-) That or he's going to rebel late!
>
> Cheers, helen s
>

Or maybe he uses visine and peppermint drops. That's what I did.

 

[Gooserider]

"maxo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Lots of stuff on sale at Nashbar right now. I really like Cateye stuff
> as it's fair priced and lasts.
>
> At $8/per light, I'd almost be tempted to get two or three of these:
>
> http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=101&subcategory=1067&sku=12148&brand=
>
> Then you can use as many as the situation suggests. Crazy, but would
> work fine.
>
> For real dark situations, you're going to need to spend considerably
> more.
>
> I've been perfectly satisfied with a Cateye LED for city riding.

I use these:

http://tinyurl.com/b22eg

They're from a seller in Hong Kong. This is the seller I used but there are
lots of HK guys selling these lights. 21 LEDs, four light modes. I have two
of them on my town bike and they're plenty bright enough. Cheap, too.

 

[Mike Kruger]

"wafflycat" <w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com> wrote in message

> To be honest, as far as teenagers go, he has not become that sub-species
> of human the grunting teenage male. I am most astounded. And worried....
> he doesn't really rebel at all, and is remarkably sensible. P'raps he's
> really 17 going on 45 ;-) That or he's going to rebel late!
>
As a teenager, you are supposed to develop an independent identity. Maybe
your son is able to do this without rebelling, because of the amount of
space the adults around give him. Not every kid rebels.

Or, maybe, he's "rebelling" but you just don't see it because it's not
rebelling against YOU.

My older daughter (now 23) "rebelled" by coming first a vegetarian and then
a vegan. I sometimes pretended mild objection, just so she wouldn't think
Dad approved. In reality, though, if my kid wanted to do vegetables instead
of drugs, sex and alcohol I considered myself darned lucky.

My younger daughter went through a phase where she would (gasp) ride my
recumbent to high school, purely for the sheer perversity of it. This
bizarre behavior was certainly a form of asserting her identity, but from
Dad's point of view it wasn't "rebelling".

 

[[email protected]]

A page of pictures of bicycle lights showing on a wall
http://eddys.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=493
I use the Cateye HL EL 300 for US$35 110 hours on 4 AA

[email protected] wrote:
> My town requires bicyclists to have a bicycle light on when dark. I
> found an LED front light online for $15.00. This will will make me
> visable to traffic but will it provide any light for me? I sometimes
> ride in a very dark conditions but would only need a little light. If
> it doesn't provide any light can anyone recommd a light that does and
> is under $30.00?

 

[Dave Larrington]

In article <[email protected]>, wafflycat
(w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com) wrote:

> To be honest, as far as teenagers go, he has not become that sub-species of
> human the grunting teenage male. I am most astounded. And worried.... he
> doesn't really rebel at all, and is remarkably sensible. P'raps he's really
> 17 going on 45 ;-) That or he's going to rebel late!

Sooner or later he'll discover BEER and GURLS though.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
My only hope in life is to die before I get my comeuppence.

 

[wafflycat]

"Dave Larrington" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
In article <[email protected]>, wafflycat
(w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com) wrote:

> To be honest, as far as teenagers go, he has not become that sub-species
> of
> human the grunting teenage male. I am most astounded. And worried.... he
> doesn't really rebel at all, and is remarkably sensible. P'raps he's
> really
> 17 going on 45 ;-) That or he's going to rebel late!

Sooner or later he'll discover BEER and GURLS though.


Indeedee. I have warned him about the dangers of women. I've told him to
have naught to do with them until he's at least 30 ;-) As for drink, he has
partaken already - a glass of wine/beer with a meal is allowed in the
household.

Cheers, helen s

 

[Mike Rice]

On 13 Dec 2005 22:42:25 -0800, "[email protected]"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>A page of pictures of bicycle lights showing on a wall
>http://eddys.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=493
>I use the Cateye HL EL 300 for US$35 110 hours on 4 AA
>
>[email protected] wrote:
>> My town requires bicyclists to have a bicycle light on when dark. I
>> found an LED front light online for $15.00. This will will make me
>> visable to traffic but will it provide any light for me? I sometimes
>> ride in a very dark conditions but would only need a little light. If
>> it doesn't provide any light can anyone recommd a light that does and
>> is under $30.00?

If you can stretch a few more $ the Cateye EL-500 is a darn nice
light. I used to use the EL-300 and it was a good 'see me' light, but
not really as bright as I would like for seeing the road. The EL-500
does a decent job of lighting the road, and I get 50-60 hours of
bright time on four AA's.

It retails for around $50, but I see it on ebay all the time for about
$37 after you add in shipping.

Indiana Mike

 

[[email protected]]

[email protected] wrote:
> My town requires bicyclists to have a bicycle light on when dark. I
> found an LED front light online for $15.00. This will will make me
> visable to traffic but will it provide any light for me? I sometimes
> ride in a very dark conditions but would only need a little light. If
> it doesn't provide any light can anyone recommd a light that does and
> is under $30.00?

Something you should probably check out is your provincial/state
highway traffic act and see if there are any specific requirements for
lighting. If not, maybe also check the town's bylaw and see if it has
formal requirments. There's your first need-comforming to the act. My
suspicion is that the requirement is more provincial/state than town.

Other than that, any light that can be seen by other people makes you
much safer. If you always ride on lighted streets the extra light from
your own lights may not be a serious consideration.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

 

[The Wogster]

[email protected] wrote:
> [email protected] wrote:
>
>>My town requires bicyclists to have a bicycle light on when dark. I
>>found an LED front light online for $15.00. This will will make me
>>visable to traffic but will it provide any light for me? I sometimes
>>ride in a very dark conditions but would only need a little light. If
>>it doesn't provide any light can anyone recommd a light that does and
>>is under $30.00?
>
>
> Something you should probably check out is your provincial/state
> highway traffic act and see if there are any specific requirements for
> lighting. If not, maybe also check the town's bylaw and see if it has
> formal requirments. There's your first need-comforming to the act. My
> suspicion is that the requirement is more provincial/state than town.
>
> Other than that, any light that can be seen by other people makes you
> much safer. If you always ride on lighted streets the extra light from
> your own lights may not be a serious consideration.

I think an ideal rear bike light would be a 2 lamp unit with a steady
red, and flashing amber. For front lights, there really should be two
lights, a handle bar mounted light to be seen, and a fork mounted light
(or two) to see road surface problems with.

W