New bike light... and more!

[Bean Long]

Well, yesterday morning was a drag. Spent about 30 min, after packing
off the family, repairing punctures in my spare tubes. The gods have
been looking down on me a lot lately, possibly since I'm not well set-up
for night riding on some of the CBR bike paths.

<stuff about my light>
My current bike light is low on power and has a nasty habit of bouncing
around in its mount. It makes shite-loads of noise and is rather
embarrassing on an otherwise quiet bike, but the obvious problem is a
lack of visibility in front during the ride home. As a result, flat
tyres about 5 times in the last two weeks (almost all occur as a result
of riding past the broken-glass-infested Melrose High School bus
stop)... and many of them in the dark. This is especially un-fun as I
tend to use up the juice in my light during repair before I get home.
The light is OK to be seen, but not so good if I want to see. I had to
get something new.
</stuff about my light>

Anyway, used up my entire patch kit fixing my spares and find that the
uni cycle man is closed when I arrive at work. Great! No more patches,
crappy light and I still have to ride home in the dark!!%&$@#!

Anyway, you may recall multiple discussion threads appeared on a.b.
about bike lights recently... making your own or which ones to buy etc.
HughMann pointed out the sale on lights at Torpedo7 (Power Beam
"Halogen" Headlight system) which retails for $299 NZ and is being
flogged for $139. I have a think about it and check out other options.
A few days later Dutch pointed out they've dropped in price again ($99
NZ). Decide to buy the buggers. Place an order with Torpedo7 on
Thursday 27th. Get home last night (wet and miserable, *****in' about
my lighting) and there's a knock at the front door just as I come in the
back. "A parcel for you sir". Lights have arrived and I'm chuffed.
Open the box and gasp with excitement... there's a little patch kit
inside as well ! All's well with the world and I'm a happy man!!

Still have to test the lights on the way home tonight though... watch
this virtual space!

BTW... Torpedo7 seem to have sold out on the Power Beam lights.


--
Bean

Remove "yourfinger" before replying

 

[flyingdutch]

cool! they seem to include the patchkit with everything they ship.
The only problem is i have endure 2 punctures since i took possession of the darned things! jinxed, i tells ya!
Let us know how the lights go longer term...

 

[cfsmtb]

Lights have arrived and I'm chuffed. Open the box and gasp with excitement... there's a little patch kit inside as well ! All's well with the world and I'm a happy man!!

Were you still fiddling around with them at bedtime? Xmas comes early ..

 

[adam85]

Well, yesterday morning was a drag. Spent about 30 min, after packing
off the family, repairing punctures in my spare tubes. The gods have
been looking down on me a lot lately, possibly since I'm not well set-up
for night riding on some of the CBR bike paths.

<stuff about my light>
My current bike light is low on power and has a nasty habit of bouncing
around in its mount. It makes shite-loads of noise and is rather
embarrassing on an otherwise quiet bike, but the obvious problem is a
lack of visibility in front during the ride home. As a result, flat
tyres about 5 times in the last two weeks (almost all occur as a result
of riding past the broken-glass-infested Melrose High School bus
stop)... and many of them in the dark. This is especially un-fun as I
tend to use up the juice in my light during repair before I get home.
The light is OK to be seen, but not so good if I want to see. I had to
get something new.
</stuff about my light>

Anyway, used up my entire patch kit fixing my spares and find that the
uni cycle man is closed when I arrive at work. Great! No more patches,
crappy light and I still have to ride home in the dark!!%&$@#!

Anyway, you may recall multiple discussion threads appeared on a.b.
about bike lights recently... making your own or which ones to buy etc.
HughMann pointed out the sale on lights at Torpedo7 (Power Beam
"Halogen" Headlight system) which retails for $299 NZ and is being
flogged for $139. I have a think about it and check out other options.
A few days later Dutch pointed out they've dropped in price again ($99
NZ). Decide to buy the buggers. Place an order with Torpedo7 on
Thursday 27th. Get home last night (wet and miserable, *****in' about
my lighting) and there's a knock at the front door just as I come in the
back. "A parcel for you sir". Lights have arrived and I'm chuffed.
Open the box and gasp with excitement... there's a little patch kit
inside as well ! All's well with the world and I'm a happy man!!

Still have to test the lights on the way home tonight though... watch
this virtual space!

BTW... Torpedo7 seem to have sold out on the Power Beam lights.


--
Bean

Remove "yourfinger" before replying

They sound pretty good. In the "be-seen" category I bought a new polaris 5 led front light like this one:
http://tinyurl.com/nd32y
for $30 which runs on 2 rechargable AAs. This is for when I don't want to lug around the bright but heavy 15w niteflux setup. I'm quite impressed by the visibility of this one. Much better than the single basta type flashies, which can be obscured by the shifters from cars entering from the left or right.

Adam

 

[Bean Long]

flyingdutch wrote:
> cool! they seem to include the patchkit with everything they ship.
> The only problem is i have endure 2 punctures since i took possession
> of the darned things! jinxed, i tells ya!

Aaargh... I didn't want to know that!

> Let us know how the lights go longer term...

Will do. I still have the box they sent it in just in case things go
pear-shaped!

--
Bean

Remove "yourfinger" before replying

 

[Bean Long]

cfsmtb wrote:
> Bean Long Wrote:
>> Lights have arrived and I'm chuffed. Open the box and gasp with
>> excitement... there's a little patch kit inside as well ! All's
>> well with the world and I'm a happy man!!
>
> Were you still fiddling around with them at bedtime? Xmas comes early
> .

Of course... what else is there to do when the kids have gone to bed.

--
Bean

Remove "yourfinger" before replying

 

[eddiec]

on the topic of lights...

does anybody know if a light exists which is/can be helmet mounted and has leds both front and rear? (ie. white front, red back)... I'm sure I've seen such a beast, but may be imagining it, or it may be back from the dark old days of primitive torch-style lights...

Would be handy for me as I'd like both front/rear helmet illumination to go with the bike mounted, and a single unit would be more convenient than two separate items... Plus I just think it'd be nifty...

 

[SteveA]

cool! they seem to include the patchkit with everything they ship.
The only problem is i have endure 2 punctures since i took possession of the darned things! jinxed, i tells ya!
Let us know how the lights go longer term...

They sent me a patch kit just for registering on their email list. Didn't even have to buy anything.

SteveA

 

[flyingdutch]

on the topic of lights...

does anybody know if a light exists which is/can be helmet mounted and has leds both front and rear? (ie. white front, red back)... I'm sure I've seen such a beast, but may be imagining it, or it may be back from the dark old days of primitive torch-style lights...

Would be handy for me as I'd like both front/rear helmet illumination to go with the bike mounted, and a single unit would be more convenient than two separate items... Plus I just think it'd be nifty...

try this. cheaper and probably better than some in-one units
this is my setup, refer helmet shots on right:

http://www.boroondarabug.org/pages/lights.htm

PS Torpedo have em on special now too!
Jeyzoos I need to start chargin these guys commission
PPS BlueProdukcts on eBay have em even cheaper

 

[SteveA]

try this. cheaper and probably better than some in-one units
this is my setup, refer helmet shots on right:

http://www.boroondarabug.org/pages/lights.htm

PS Torpedo have em on special now too!
Jeyzoos I need to start chargin these guys commission
PPS BlueProdukcts on eBay have em even cheaper

On the Boroondarabug site the comment in relation to penalties for not having lights and reflectors ("altho what this '1 penalty unit' has to do with cyclists is anybody's guess!!") seems a bit strange.

It is relevant to anyone who gets booked - 1 penalty unit is a fine of $104.81 in Vic, if I recall (too lazy to look it up at present). 2 penalty units is a fine of $209.62 etc.

Not many cyclists have such deep pockets that a fine of $104.81 would not be relevant.

SteveA

 

[flyingdutch]

On the Boroondarabug site the comment in relation to penalties for not having lights and reflectors ("altho what this '1 penalty unit' has to do with cyclists is anybody's guess!!") seems a bit strange.

It is relevant to anyone who gets booked - 1 penalty unit is a fine of $104.81 in Vic, if I recall (too lazy to look it up at present). 2 penalty units is a fine of $209.62 etc.

Not many cyclists have such deep pockets that a fine of $104.81 would not be relevant.

SteveA

no it isnt.

you are forgetting something.
Penalty points only apply to licensed road users.
Fines certainly apply to cyclists. Just another bit of admin oversight on law-writing...

 

[SteveA]

no it isnt.

you are forgetting something.
Penalty points only apply to licensed road users.
Fines certainly apply to cyclists. Just another bit of admin oversight on law-writing...

It is so, it is so, it is so

I ain't forgettin' nuttin'.

Penalty points is points off yer licence (aka demerit points).

Penalty units is a way of quoting the value of the fine.

Penalty points ain't penalty units,

(although if you are a driver and breach road rules, your penalty may consist of both penalty units and penalty points.)

The rule about lights on bikes applies a 'penalty unit' or fine and therefore is relevant to cyclists. It does not apply 'penalty points' which as you say would only be relevant to drivers' licence holders.

'Penalty units' are used in some jurisdictions as a way of making fines easier to update for inflation. Legislation quotes penalty units instead of $ amounts. Another piece of legislation is used to update the value of the penalty units when it is desired to raise the value of all fines. Saves having to find and separately update fines in 100s of pieces of legislation. Sort of an automatic update for fines.

Easy mistake to make, but the BUG site could be corrected so that pedantic lawyers are less likely to pick on it

SteveA

 

[sinus]

no it isnt.

you are forgetting something.
Penalty points only apply to licensed road users.
Fines certainly apply to cyclists. Just another bit of admin oversight on law-writing...

maybe you're thinking of demerit points. In Vic, Penalty units have replaced $ amounts as fines for all types of offences.

 

[Treadly]

no it isnt.

you are forgetting something.
Penalty points only apply to licensed road users.
Fines certainly apply to cyclists. Just another bit of admin oversight on law-writing...

The penalty points ARE fines. They are not demerit points. It's an easier way of indexing fines with inflation.

 

[flyingdutch]

It is so, it is so, it is so

I ain't forgettin' nuttin'.

Penalty points is points off yer licence (aka demerit points).

Penalty units is a way of quoting the value of the fine.

Penalty points ain't penalty units,

er, fuggit
There was I thinkin i was bein a smartypants nitpickin over definition of points v units. shall change site

PS you get fined 127 'units' for cheek!

 

[rooman]

The penalty points ARE fines. They are not demerit points. It's an easier way of indexing fines with inflation.

units...

 

[SteveA]

PS you get fined 127 'units' for cheek!

Ummm, guilty, Yer Honour.

SteveA

 

[Random Data]

On Tue, 02 May 2006 13:12:04 +1000, flyingdutch wrote:

>> does anybody know if a light exists which is/can be helmet mounted and
>> has leds both front and rear? (ie. white front, red back)...

I've seen such a beast, but I can't remember who made it. These days I'd
be tempted to get a couple of the keyring lights and mount them front and
rear. I've got a couple floating about that I leave on bikes as a Just In
Case measure, and it's about time to reattach the findy-Vista to the back
of the helmet

--
Dave Hughes | [email protected]
"Strata and syncline are not terms typically used in office
filing systems." - Doc Nickel

 

[Random Data]

On Tue, 02 May 2006 11:58:12 +1000, Bean Long wrote:

> Of course... what else is there to do when the kids have gone to bed.

Hang on, what type of patches are we talking about? Did I just stumble
into aus.spam.erectile-dysfunction?

--
Dave Hughes | [email protected]
Like most computer techie people, I'll happily spend 6 hours trying to
figure out how to do a 3 hour job in 10 minutes. --Rev. James Cort

 

[Random Data]

On Tue, 02 May 2006 15:21:19 +1000, flyingdutch wrote:

> er, fuggit

Hmm, that sounds suspiciously like a Sydney-ite's philosophy. Didn't
know he was an a.b. denizen posting as a frontman for the BV Mafia.

> PS you get fined 127 'units' for cheek!

It's a fair cop, but society's to blame.

--
Dave Hughes | [email protected]
Never go off on tangents, which are lines that intersect a curve at
only one point and were discovered by Euclid, who lived in the 6th
century, which was an era dominated by the Goths, who lived in what
we now know as Poland." - Nov. 1998 issue of Infosystems Executive.