P
Philbert
Guest
Hi all... We're in the midst of a brief but breathtakingly beautiful bit of "indian summer" here in
mid Michigan with temps in the 70s today and still in the 60s right now. The sky is cloudless and
the moon nearly full - it's time for a night ride!!
I live on paved roads out in the country and have a pleasant 7 mile loop I can ride from home. Went
out tonight - wonderful! Once my eyes acclimated, the moonlight was plenty to ride by. The moonlight
casts a silvery glow over everything and the colors wash out into something that resembles a
Japanese watercolor. Saw lots of deer in the fields (and in the road!). The local farmers are
harvesting now and the deer are all spooked - they're every where around here. Only saw 3 cars.
I have two LED blinkers that are very conspicuous at night, but I don't have a headlight. More to be
sure that I'm seen than to see with, I improvised a headlight that works surprisingly well. I
consists of a 6V "lantern"-type flashight attached under the boom of my R42 with a few cable ties.
It's not light and definitely not pretty, but it works better than I thought it would. It has a
halogen bulb and is quite bright on a fresh battery - It illuminates reflective road signs nicely at
500 feet. The beam pattern is a little narrow, with a pronounced hot spot, but not too bad overall.
It's also not rechargeable. Even so, do the math: The flashlight cost $7, the cable ties cost next
to nothing, and battery is about $5 - cheap. I figure I could go through 20 batteries before I start
to approach the cost of a sophisitcated light system. I'll eventually get a real light system, but
for the occasional night ride of short duration, it's fine. (Even so, I must confess that I lust
after the NiteRider HID Blowtorch - Wow! But man, it costs almost as much as my bike did! Yikes!)
If you get a chance to ride in the moonlight somewhere quiet, do it - it's magic...
mid Michigan with temps in the 70s today and still in the 60s right now. The sky is cloudless and
the moon nearly full - it's time for a night ride!!
I live on paved roads out in the country and have a pleasant 7 mile loop I can ride from home. Went
out tonight - wonderful! Once my eyes acclimated, the moonlight was plenty to ride by. The moonlight
casts a silvery glow over everything and the colors wash out into something that resembles a
Japanese watercolor. Saw lots of deer in the fields (and in the road!). The local farmers are
harvesting now and the deer are all spooked - they're every where around here. Only saw 3 cars.
I have two LED blinkers that are very conspicuous at night, but I don't have a headlight. More to be
sure that I'm seen than to see with, I improvised a headlight that works surprisingly well. I
consists of a 6V "lantern"-type flashight attached under the boom of my R42 with a few cable ties.
It's not light and definitely not pretty, but it works better than I thought it would. It has a
halogen bulb and is quite bright on a fresh battery - It illuminates reflective road signs nicely at
500 feet. The beam pattern is a little narrow, with a pronounced hot spot, but not too bad overall.
It's also not rechargeable. Even so, do the math: The flashlight cost $7, the cable ties cost next
to nothing, and battery is about $5 - cheap. I figure I could go through 20 batteries before I start
to approach the cost of a sophisitcated light system. I'll eventually get a real light system, but
for the occasional night ride of short duration, it's fine. (Even so, I must confess that I lust
after the NiteRider HID Blowtorch - Wow! But man, it costs almost as much as my bike did! Yikes!)
If you get a chance to ride in the moonlight somewhere quiet, do it - it's magic...