Night Light: Utility Bike/Short Haul?

On Jan 1, 2:20*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

Your riding time is so short that almost anything would work. These
days, the hot setup is a 3W Cree flashlight with something to strap it
to the bars and a few NiMH AA batteries in the body.

What he said. Flashlights with a single 3W Cree XR-E or SSC P4 are
very cheaply available from places like dealextreme.com or
kaidomain.com. Strap one to a handlebar with a Twofish Lockblock or
some cheap homemade substitute, and you're done. Trivial to remove and
re-install. Flashlights with a "low" mode can last for tens of hours,
if that's all the light you need. And AA NiMH batteries and their
charger are very cheap at Harbor Freight Tools.

Stephen Greenwood

On Jan 1, 9:43*am, Stephen Greenwood
wrote:
On Jan 1, 2:20*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:



Your riding time is so short that almost anything would work. These
days, the hot setup is a 3W Cree flashlight with something to strap it
to the bars and a few NiMH AA batteries in the body.

What he said. Flashlights with a single 3W Cree XR-E or SSC P4 are
very cheaply available from places like dealextreme.com or
kaidomain.com. Strap one to a handlebar with a Twofish Lockblock or
some cheap homemade substitute, and you're done. Trivial to remove and
re-install. Flashlights with a "low" mode can last for tens of hours,
if that's all the light you need. And AA NiMH batteries and their
charger are very cheap at Harbor Freight Tools.

Stephen Greenwood

Oh yes, and you can try candlepowerforums.com for much more detailed
discussion.

Stephen Greenwood wrote:
On Jan 1, 2:20 am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
Your riding time is so short that almost anything would work. These
days, the hot setup is a 3W Cree flashlight with something to strap it
to the bars and a few NiMH AA batteries in the body.

What he said. Flashlights with a single 3W Cree XR-E or SSC P4 are
very cheaply available from places like dealextreme.com or
kaidomain.com. Strap one to a handlebar with a Twofish Lockblock or
some cheap homemade substitute, and you're done. Trivial to remove and
re-install. Flashlights with a "low" mode can last for tens of hours,
if that's all the light you need. And AA NiMH batteries and their
charger are very cheap at Harbor Freight Tools.

Argh, stick to Sanyo NiMH batteries, preferably Eneloops. While I like
some stuff at Harbor Freight, their batteries and chargers are junk.

I'd get the Sanyo Eneloop multipack which comes with AA to C and AA to D
adapters, then use the Lowe's Task Force 3W Cree LED flashlight and a
homemade bracket.

On Jan 1, 10:49 am, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
Per :

Riding on the left
is almost always a bad idea, as discussed here ad infinitum.

Yeah, I think I've read most of the threads.

But nobody seems to have spelled out the functional diff between
a person on foot jogging at 7 mph and a cyclist riding at 4mph.

Assuming there's a reason that a jogger is advised to run facing
traffic, nobody's illuminated me on the reasons why a person on a
bike moving at the same or slower speed with the same profile
should ride on the opposite side of the street - especially in
the context of people talking on cell phones, doing email, and
text messaging while trying to drive at the same time.

Maybe I'm missing something... but the variables seem tb closing
speed and profile.

And if they're virtually the same for both the runner and the
cyclist......

Admittedly, if you're really riding at walking speed, the differences
aren't as great. But one that remains is the difference in evasive
capability between a cyclist and a walker/jogger.

IOW, a walker or jogger can stop almost instantaneously, and can even
jump the curb or roadside swale if he chooses to. A cyclist typically
can't. He can stop, but not as quickly, and then he's got himself
astride an obstacle that hinders his agility.

And if you really are riding no faster than you walk or jog, you're in
a _very_ extreme minority. For almost all cyclists, speed is higher,
so closing speeds add rather than subtract when you're facing
traffic. Reaction times are worse, and resulting impact speeds are
higher. And of course, there's the surprise factor. You're throwing
an unusual problem at the motorist, and giving him less time to figure
out how to solve it.

Let's turn the question around: What benefits do you imagine for
riding facing traffic, compared to cycling legally with a rear view
mirror?

- Frank Krygowski

Per :
Let's turn the question around: What benefits do you imagine for
riding facing traffic, compared to cycling legally with a rear view
mirror?

Being able to see it coming.

Been there, done that once already. Dunno what the guy was
doing - email, notepad, or what.... but I zigged and he
did *not* zag - in fact, he never even looked up.

The mirror thing calls out to me. My neighbor has one that
slides into the handle bar when not in use and I'll
probably buy one eventually - not for road use, since I ride so
few miles on streets/roads - but for bike path use when riding
abreast with people so we can single-file before closing riders
have to slow down.

Maybe there's some magic in mirrors, but I personally would not
hope for a mirror to function as a talisman against somebody in a
Ford Excursion with mirrors fully extended closing on me at 25
mph over the speed limit - especially since I'm not all that
competent to begin with and I've got other things vying for my
limited cognitive capacity besides that little square of glass.

It only takes one...

I've been through this discussion a few times.

My conclusions a
------------------------------------------------------------
- Conditions (road size/layout, traffic, driving habits,
adherence to rules by drivers....) vary from area-to-area
so drastically that some well-intentioned people in location
"A" may not be able to imagine the hazards present in
location "B".

- The cyclist's exposure to risk has changed significantly
since people started talking on cell phones, doing email,
and text messaging while trying to drive - but conventional
cycling wisdom has not.

- Which side of the road to ride on at any given time is
a judgment call depending on the road, type of traffic,
speed of traffic, speed of cyclist, speed of cyclist
relative to traffic, type of bike (fat or skinny tire),
shoulder width, condition of the shoulder, condition of
the road, type of fencing/barriers along the road,
frequency of intersecting roads/streets, type of
intersecting roads/streets, number of "exit lane" type
intersections on one side of the road vs the other, and
ambient conditions.

- Strict adherence to conventional wisdom and strict compliance
with traffic laws can enhance one's safety in one locale
yet get them killed or injured in another locale.
------------------------------------------------------------


--
PeteCresswell

In article ,
SMS éz‰�ï∂• ⃠wrote:

Stephen Greenwood wrote:
On Jan 1, 2:20 am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
Your riding time is so short that almost anything would work. These
days, the hot setup is a 3W Cree flashlight with something to strap it
to the bars and a few NiMH AA batteries in the body.

What he said. Flashlights with a single 3W Cree XR-E or SSC P4 are
very cheaply available from places like dealextreme.com or
kaidomain.com. Strap one to a handlebar with a Twofish Lockblock or
some cheap homemade substitute, and you're done. Trivial to remove and
re-install. Flashlights with a "low" mode can last for tens of hours,
if that's all the light you need. And AA NiMH batteries and their
charger are very cheap at Harbor Freight Tools.

Argh, stick to Sanyo NiMH batteries, preferably Eneloops. While I like
some stuff at Harbor Freight, their batteries and chargers are junk.

I'd get the Sanyo Eneloop multipack which comes with AA to C and AA to D
adapters, then use the Lowe's Task Force 3W Cree LED flashlight and a
homemade bracket.

Eneloops have a specific advantage: low self-discharge. Standard NiMH
batteries lose their charge fairly quickly while not doing anything
(they'll typically go near-flat within a few weeks). That means typical
NiMH batteries are a poor choice for stuff like remotes or emergency
flashlights which don't go near a charger.

In this application, using one over the other is pretty marginal, but if
you're using the light every day, you'll probably need to charge often
enough that the difference will not matter. Eneloop-type batteries
sacrifice a bit of capacity for their really neat trick; this may or may
not matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eneloop

If you buy any brand of low self-discharge batteries (that article has a
helpful list of brands) they're all about the same. the 2000 mAh
capacity is not that bad, though 2700 mAh batteries do exist (and
flatten themselves after a month or so).

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"My scenarios may give the impression I could be an excellent crook.
Not true - I am a talented lawyer." - Sandy in rec.bicycles.racing

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

In this application, using one over the other is pretty marginal, but if
you're using the light every day, you'll probably need to charge often
enough that the difference will not matter.

Ryan, you are far more diplomatic than I am. After using numerous
rechargeable batteries and seeing the pluses and minuses of each, I
wanted to answer the know-it-all SMS, but knew that I couldn't be
polite, so I passed.
Thanks.

Harry (Lincoln, Nebraska) wrote:
On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 08:20:17 -0800 (PST), cmcanulty
wrote:

Planeybike makes a head or helmet mounted front and rear light


A little shopping around locally one can find those head/helmet mount
lights a LOT cheaper. Granted, they may not have the run time but, as
they are usually designed for hunters, they can be a bit more durable.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/co...l&N=47&nyr= 1


http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=8111444

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=6043630

Last year I got a 3W Luxeon head strap light from Harbor Freight for
$15, last month I got a 3W Cree from Kaidomain for $10. I like
Microbattery for chargers/NiMh's.

On Jan 1, 9:01 pm, Ryan Cousineau wrote:


In this application, using one over the other is pretty marginal, but if
you're using the light every day, you'll probably need to charge often
enough that the difference will not matter.

Of course, any such battery violates the OP's criterion:

"- I'd prefer something where I don't need remove/replace/charge
a battery. 'Set it and forget it'. "

- Frank Krygowski

On Jan 1, 6:55 pm, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
Per :

Let's turn the question around: What benefits do you imagine for
riding facing traffic, compared to cycling legally with a rear view
mirror?

Being able to see it coming.

With a mirror, you can! And you'll see "it" coming at a slower
closing speed, allowing more reaction time and less shock and surprise
for the driver of "it."

Been there, done that once already. Dunno what the guy was
doing - email, notepad, or what.... but I zigged and he
did *not* zag - in fact, he never even looked up.

I don't recall - were you riding facing traffic when that incident
occurred?

The mirror thing calls out to me. My neighbor has one that
slides into the handle bar when not in use and I'll
probably buy one eventually - not for road use, since I ride so
few miles on streets/roads - but for bike path use when riding
abreast with people so we can single-file before closing riders
have to slow down.

IMO, they're very handy in many situations. And if using one on the
road gets you onto the proper side, it will help not only you, but any
other properly riding cyclists you may encounter.

Maybe there's some magic in mirrors, but I personally would not
hope for a mirror to function as a talisman against somebody in a
Ford Excursion with mirrors fully extended closing on me at 25
mph over the speed limit - especially since I'm not all that
competent to begin with and I've got other things vying for my
limited cognitive capacity besides that little square of glass.

It only takes one...

I've been through this discussion a few times.

Which leads us to despair...



My conclusions a
------------------------------------------------------------
- Conditions (road size/layout, traffic, driving habits,
adherence to rules by drivers....) vary from area-to-area
so drastically that some well-intentioned people in location
"A" may not be able to imagine the hazards present in
location "B".

.... yet some of us have cycled in hundreds of cities, nearly every
state, and many different countries and done fine without violating
the most fundamental rule of the road.

- The cyclist's exposure to risk has changed significantly
since people started talking on cell phones, doing email,
and text messaging while trying to drive - but conventional
cycling wisdom has not.

.... but even _if_ true, it's not clear how adopting one of the most
dangerous riding practices could possibly increase one's safety.

- Which side of the road to ride on at any given time is
a judgment call depending on the road, type of traffic,
speed of traffic, speed of cyclist, speed of cyclist
relative to traffic, type of bike (fat or skinny tire),
shoulder width, condition of the shoulder, condition of
the road, type of fencing/barriers along the road,
frequency of intersecting roads/streets, type of
intersecting roads/streets, number of "exit lane" type
intersections on one side of the road vs the other, and
ambient conditions.

But under what specific conditions do you think wrong-way cycling is
safer? Do you have any data to justify your hunch? And are you aware
that essentially _everybody_ with significant cycling experience
disagrees with you?



- Strict adherence to conventional wisdom and strict compliance
with traffic laws can enhance one's safety in one locale
yet get them killed or injured in another locale.

Sorry, that's just a variation on "OMG, riding around here is, like,
SO dangerous!!!!"

Whatever it is, there are a million elderly ladies who ride in worse
every day, without feeling a need to invent their own rules of the
road.

- Frank Krygowski