Flashing LED pedals and mounting head lights

The flashing pedals sound fun, but I'm not convinced they
are legal or (more importantly) safe.

Legality will depend on where you are.

Safety: I count myself as a very very cycle-friendly driver.
I've been a bicyclist and tandemist, a motorcyclist and a
scooterist, used to being on 2 wheels in all weathers, all
year round, for as long as I can remember. Against this
background, I have had one or two incidents on fast dark
roads where I have had difficulty judging the distance to a
cyclist with very bright reflective pedals, or reflective
bands on his/her ankles. Flashing front and back lights can
also be a problem.

Add to this a driver who is either disinterested in
cyclists, or actively hostile, and I wonder whether the
flashing pedals might do more harm than good. I'm not saying
I'm right, and I fully expect others to disagree with me,
but please consider the point carefully.

On to the more prosaic matters. On my road uni (28) I have
an LED front light and an LED rear light. The red rear LED
is easily attached just below the seat with a standard
fitting. Because your legs project generally forwards
throughout most of the pedal stroke, the rear light is never
obscured by your legs as you pedal.

The front light is more of a problem. I managed to find a
cheap (5 GBP) white LED light which has a clamp which fits
around the seat tube (NOT seat post) at a local general
sports store (Decathlon). I mounted it as low as possible on
the seat tube, immediately above the fork crown, and I think
it is clearly visible from in front for most of the pedal
stroke. However, it isn't perfect.

Then I use a lightweight LED head torch with a choice of 1
or 3 LEDs. The elasticated band fits neatly round my helmet.
I have stuck some Velcro discs on the helmet (the hooky
Velcro, not the softer loopy part) and the hooks are just
enough to grip the elasticated band to stop the torch
pinging off and flying over the nearest hedge. I use the
head torch on really dark stretches of road, or where I feel
that an oncoming road user needs additional warning.

I NEVER use any of my LEDs on flashing mode. As a car
driver, I find it irritating and disorientating. In local
(UK law) most of these lights are not legal (not up to
British Standard), although they are tolerated if they are
not flashing.

Also, consider wearing retroreflective clothing, such as a
safety waistcoat or tabard, Sam Browne belt, etc.

As a motorist, I reckon to see an unlit cyclist from 200 or
more metres away, but that's because I'm looking for them.
The lights and reflective gear are not so much to make you
visible as to make you noticeable, and to consolidate your
'right' to be where you are. As a unicyclist, this is doubly
important. Look like a cyclist, be treated like one; look
like a clown, be treated like one.

So many motorists say, "I never saw you." They'd have
seen a naked

that's the problem, it's noticing.

--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling

Sometimes I ride like a demon, sometimes like a lemon. It's an L of a
difference.
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Amos_And_Ego said:

Has anyone tried out these LED pedals?

I bought metal (not plastic) flashing LED pedals in a sale a
few months ago, but haven't come round to mounting them. I
would think that they have mainly a novelty value, as
opposed to being safety devices. The good thing is that you
never need batteries.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
You have to keep in mind that those of us who post on RSU
are not normal. - John Childs

red flashing LED's are dirt cheap and even the cheapest ones
can be seen from 100+ meters away.

$5

I wouldn't bother getting them for pedals as i wear my
camelback all the time and it clips to it magically.

Had I no way to secure a light to myself, i would consider
getting pedal versions, knowing the abuse that pedals take,
they would probably not last too long.

I can't see any police arresting you for having your lights
on the pedals instead of on something else, they would be as
equally vidible to rear-coming traffic

--
Sofa - You Tu Tu Tuni?

'Unicycle Product Reviews'
(brianmackenzie.comunicycleReviews.aspxOpen ↗)

'London Unicycling Club Website ' (brianmackenzie.comLUCOpen ↗)
version 3.0

'when I'm at the limit of my endurance, 5% extra resistance could be
enough to stop me in my track. ' - MikeFule

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Mikefule said:

The flashing pedals sound fun, but I'm not convinced they
are legal or (more importantly) safe.

Legality will depend on where you are.

In the UK they would fall foul of the Road Vehicle Lighting
Regulations on 2 or 3 counts (depending on whether there are
flashing red lights on the front):
hmso.gov.ukUksi 19891796 en 1.htmOpen ↗

"11.—(1) No vehicle shall be fitted with a lamp which is
capable of showing a red light to the front, except ....
" (you might get away with this by calling it a side
marker lamp)

"12. -1) Save as provided in paragraph (2), no person shall
use, or cause or permit to be used, on a road any vehicle to
which .... there is fitted a lamp ... which is capable of
being moved by swivelling, deflecting or otherwise while the
vehicle is in motion."

"13.—(1) Save as provided in paragraph (2), no vehicle
shall be fitted with a lamp which automatically emits a
flashing light."

Quoted message said:

I NEVER use any of my LEDs on flashing mode. As a car
driver, I find it irritating and disorientating. In local
(UK law) most of these lights are not legal (not up to
British Standard), although they are tolerated if they are
not flashing.

They don't have to be up to British Standard. The regs
specify that you must have one front and one rear light
which meet BS or some other equivalent national standard. As
long as you've got that, then you can have supplementary
lights that don't have to conform to any standards.
Obviously it's still illegal for them to flash, but the
regulations are currently under review with a view to making
it legal for cyclists to use a flashing rear light as long
as it is used alongside a steady light: chapmancentr-chapmancentr-Open ↗
al.demon.co.uk/Web/public.nsf/Documents/Road_Vehicle_
Lighting_Regulations?OpenDocument

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
speedy5.freeserve.co.ukdannyOpen ↗
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

Quoted message said:

Also, I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations
for mounting front headlights to unicycle frames. I can
only find front headlights that are designed to be mounted
horizontally on top of handle bars. Are there any
headlights that can be mounted vertically to a seat post
like most red back lights?

--Amos [/B]

For a front light I use a cavers head lamp fixed to the
frame and cheap red LED back light.

Cos the back light was a cheap one the plastic fitting thing
soon broke so I started to use rubber bands, I now also use
them to attach the head lamp to the frame.

They work really well, the elasticity is good for UPD's.

I use about ten bands for each light so I can be confident
that breakages won't be a problem.

Method of attachment is to center the light on the frame,
the bands go round the end of the light, then behind the
frame and are secured round the other end of the light.

--
onewheeldave - Semi Skilled Unicyclist

"He's also been known to indulge in a spot of flame juggling - but it's
the Muni that really fires him up."

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Danny Colyer said:

Quoted message said:

I NEVER use any of my LEDs on flashing mode. As a car
driver, I find it irritating and disorientating.

They don't have to be up to British Standard. The regs
specify that you must have one front and one rear light
which meet BS or some other equivalent national standard.
As long as you've got that, then you can have
supplementary lights that don't have to conform to any
standards. Obviously it's still illegal for them to flash,
but the regulations are currently under review with a view
to making it legal for cyclists to use a flashing rear
light as long as it is used alongside a steady light

As a driver I find flashing bike lights draw my attention
quicker and identify the vehicle as a bike. Although I agree
that without a steady light as well it can be a bit
difficult to focus on the bike.

As a cyclist I try to keep as close to UK law as possible,
whilst still staying alive. I use a steady BS standard
rear LED light, plus an illegal flashing light (about 25%
of brightness of the main one) mounted on my pannier bag.
I reckon the flashing will identify myself as a cyclist,
but it's not so bright as to detract from the main light.
Once the law changes, I think I should be legal (at least
at the rear).

At the front I have an illegal halogen light. In fact the
bike shop I bought it from (well regarded as a good shop)
didn't have *any* legal front lights, because they were
all far brighter than the BS standard allows. Well my
light is a small fraction of the power of car lamps, so
I'm not too bothered.

I also have a flashing yellow/green front lamp, which I
attach to my sam brown belt at the front. Not sure if this
is legal or not, because it's attached to me rather than the
bike. But I don't care, nor do I care about the fact I look
like a right turnip with all this stuff around me, if it
saves my life one day.

- Richard

Richard Loxley said:

At the front I have an illegal halogen light. In fact the
bike shop I bought it from (well regarded as a good shop)
didn't have *any* legal front lights, because they were
all far brighter than the BS standard allows. Well my
light is a small fraction of the power of car lamps, so
I'm not too bothered.

It would be legal if it was used in conjunction with a BS
lamp. It may also be legal if it conforms to e.g. a German
standard (none of the 4 front lights I use on my bike
conforms to any British lighting standard, but the dynamo
light conforms to German standards).

Quoted message said:

I also have a flashing yellow/green front lamp, which I
attach to my sam brown belt at the front. Not sure if this
is legal or not, because it's attached to me rather than
the bike.

Yes it is. The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations cover
lights attached to the cycle, not to the rider. So the
flashing red horns on my helmet are also legal.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
speedy5.freeserve.co.ukdannyOpen ↗
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

Mikefule said:

*I NEVER use any of my LEDs on flashing mode. As a car
driver, I find it irritating and disorientating. In local
(UK law) most of these lights are not legal (not up to
British Standard), although they are tolerated if they are
not flashing. *

They are legal if not flashing now. My rear LED is
British Standard.

They're also legal under the equivalent standard in various
European countries, which apparently thanks to the EU means
you can ride with them anyway (because you can ride a UK
road legal vehicle anywhere in the EU, and vice versa).

Joe

--
joemarshall - dumb blonde
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i'm getting a little L.E.D light that fits on my tyre valuve
and when you pedal fast it turns on and looks like your
whole wheel is lit up!

--
treepotato - No brakes, No limits.........Felix

Some unicycles can give nasty pedal bites.....i still have the scars to
prove it
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