Hazards of night cycling

[Andreas Oehler]

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 18:03:13 -0400, vey:

>Andreas Oehler wrote:
>Minimum brightness requirement in germany is
>> 10 lux.
>>
>> Andreas - using a hub generator and a modified LED-lamp myself
>
>10 lux isn't very much. It should be considered a minimum,

This is what the german StVZO says about lamps which are allowed to be
sold as bike lights. Bikes with older, less powerful lights are not
required to upgrade.

> but I think
>it is enough for a dark street.

Most cycling happens on well lit city streets. A "be seen by" light would
be enough there IMHO, because drivers always have to be aware of unlit
pedestrians anyway.

> As I read the translated StVZO, that
>minimum light must be there, but a more powerful battery light can be
>added?

Usual bikes are only allowed to have a dyanamo powered headlamp (as well
as a dynamo powered rear lamp). It is allowed to add a additional battery
powered rear lamp, but not a battery powered head lamp. But this is the
strict reading of the StVZO - noone will get into trouble if he uses a
second "legal" battery lamp. Only light road-racing bikes are allowed to
use battery lamps only - but you are required to also have them with you
during the day.

All headlamps have to meet minimum requirements for a good light
distribution (similar requirement like are used for motor-vehicle low
beams). Most forreign "powerful" battery lights won't fulfil this
requirements - especially because they have no sharp cut-off at the upper
end of the light field to prevent uncomming traffic from being blinded.

> Or perhaps the light can be exchanged for a stronger dynamo
>powered one?

Of course. The best dynamo light reaches up to 40 lux in 10m distance -
this is about what "20Watt" narrow-beam battery powered halogen lights
will deliver...

Andreas

 

[Andrew Price]

On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:03:20 +0200, Andreas Oehler
<[email protected]> wrote:

[German StVZO]

>Only light road-racing bikes are allowed to
>use battery lamps only

Yes.

>- but you are required to also have them with you
>during the day.

I only realised that when I read it again a few days ago. From my
observations in Germany, I get the impression that most road-bike
users think that they don't need to have the lights with them at all
during the day.

 

[[email protected]]

On Sep 25, 3:46 pm, "Greens" <[email protected]> wrote:
> But how do they sell
> the lights? Look in the catalogs. They tell you this light is one of the
> brightest LED's available from the geniuses at Cateye. I called Performance
> up and the technician told me those cheap lights are "safety lights".
> They're there for you to be seen not to see. This isn't clearly spelled out
> in the ads. The idea that giving you false confidence in a cheap light is
> "safety" is perverse. If anything they're luring you into a dangerous
> practice so they can make a few measly bucks that they do on cheap lights.

I thought of this when I saw Planet Bike's light selector web page.
They might have it about right: they show pictures of what the light
beams look like!

"Sometimes you need a light to see the lay of the land and sometimes
you need a light to been seen...pick a light and we'll show you the
view." http://www.planetbike.com/page/learn/lightfinder

 

[SMS]

[email protected] wrote:

> "Sometimes you need a light to see the lay of the land and sometimes
> you need a light to been seen...pick a light and we'll show you the
> view." http://www.planetbike.com/page/learn/lightfinder

Yes, that's quite a nice way they've done their site.

Unfortunately, some of the lights they have in the lightfinder are no
longer sold by them, i.e. the 5000x which was quite a good deal and
bright enough for a relatively brisk pace. That's the lowest I'd go in
their product line-up on their lightfinder. There might be a few of
these still around in stores, but it's not being made anymore. The LED
lights of equivalent illumination to the 5000x tend to be much more
expensive.