Lights

Martin wrote:

If a blinky has a steady mode, it still has to be BS6102/3 compliant,
and have the BS stamped on the lit. AFAIK there is only one rear LED lit
that is legal as a primary light, the cateye TL-AU100BS[2], and I do not
know of any front LED lits that are legal.

I believe the Cateye EL300 is:
http://www.rutlandcycling.com/1691/C...Light-Set.html

--
Andrew Mobbs - http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~andrewm/

On Sep 22, 4:36 pm, Richard wrote:
Hi

I need some lights for a mountain bike for the winter and I'm a bit
confused about those on offer that seem to range from about 10 pounds
to over 600 and all of which seem to describe how bright they are in
different ways.

My journey to work is about 4 miles along an unlit disused railway
line (a rough surface but not extreme off road) and about half a mile
at each end on the road which has street lighting.

Can anyone recommend me some lights please that are powerful enough to
use along the unlit part (how many watts / lumens do I need for this?)
and also legal for the road, and given this as cheap as possible.
Ideally they should be easy to remove from the bike when not in use
and use a power source that can be recharged easily.

Some of the lights I have seen use LEDs, some traditional lightbulbs.
Is there any advantage to either?


A 1W LED light should do you fine. The EL530 mentioned above is not a
bad light - perfectly usable - but somewhat fragile IME.
The halfords/Hella 1W light is a poor design that requires a couple of
layers of gaffer tape to mask the backwash from the lens element so
that you are not dazzled.

I use a set of AyUp lights (ayuplights.co.uk) but these are probably
out of your price range.

...d

In article , Martin wrote:
Alan Braggins wrote:

However http://www.2pure.co.uk/Reelight-SL12...-Set-Hub-Gears
implies the Reelite lights powered by spoke mounted magnets are bright
enough to qualify, and they are flashing mode only (at least some models
are).

I keep forgetting about Reelites.
There is a CTC review on the same website:
http://www.2pure.co.uk/Reelight-SL12...C-Review-12-07

In fact it was the Chris Juden CTC review I meant to link to, and mentions
the legally required brightness for flashing lights:
"Flashing lights are legal now. But if you want to use one as anything other
than a subsidiary light it must emit at least 4 candela (4000rrcd) mid flash
and, crucially, not have any means of emitting a steady light.
These Reelights fit the bill"


The main things for the SL120 version are a 2Hz flash rate, with a 29cd
front lit, and 10 cd rear. (i.e. legal for the UK)

Though there's a potential issue with the height of the rear light
on small wheeled bikes.


I doubt the cheaper SL100 version is probably not legal in this country,
as the flash rate is proportional to speed. Once you hit about 10mph,
they will flash faster than 4Hz, and will be illegal.

And they'll flash faster on a small wheeled bike.

http://www.2pure.co.uk/Reelight-SL10...Std-UK-Version claims
"Reelight is British Standard Approved - passing all standards applicable to
cycle lighting in the UK and EU. Reelight lights are sufficient on their own
to comply with all current legislation."
but I'm not convinced that applies to the SL100, for the reasons you give.


I still have never seen any of these in the wild, only in bike shops and
on the web.

I think I've seen a set once.

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008, Phil W Lee wrote:

A smart insurance company lawyer may even be able to argue successfully
that recumbents aren't legal on the roads after dark, since the pedal
reflectors are obscured by nature of the design (even if fitted), and
anyone using one may need to know that it's legal to obstruct any
reflector, provided a replacement of the same colour is fitted in a
visible location (not sure how this works for pedal reflectors, since
movement is a large part of the function).

There's a standard interface for pedal reflectors, right? A pair of bolts.
How about making a little flange which bolts onto the pedal and then
provides a second set of bolt-holes at right angles to it, so when you
bolt reflectors onto *that*, they're pointing the right way for use on a
recombinant?

I think you'd want one on either edge of the pedal, arranged so whichever
was at the top was facing backwards, where it has a chance of being seen
when your foot is at the top of its orbit, and the one at the bottom is
facing forwards. I think.

This is dependent on their being a pair of bolt holes on the end of your
toeclip, though, since a reflector on the pedal itself would be obscured
from behind by your foot.

Don't ask me how it works if you have cleats. You get run over, probably.

tom

--
Know who said that? ****ing Terrorvision, that's who. -- D

Quoting elyob :
And to slightly hijack the thread, if anyone can recommend a small
blinky for putting on my Brompton?

Well, let me hijack it in two directions. For some time I've used a Cateye
TL-LD260 as a backup rear light. I mount 'em on the back of the pannier
rack on the tourer and the roadster. However, this means the brackets get
their tongues broken off. I don't mount them on the seatpost, because I
often use a saddlebag.

I've got a Smart light with a chunkier and less sticky-out bracket, but it
is 2xAAA and my headtorch is 3xAAA (and the 260 will continue to work fine
on the Brompton, so I'll also have a 3xAAA tail light in service), so I
was wondering if anyone could recommend a 3xAAA tail light with a robust
bracket or a mounting option that isn't the seat post and isn't off the
very rear of the bike?
--
David Damerell Distortion Field!
Today is Thursday, September.

"Martin" wrote in message
...

I still have never seen any of these in the wild, only in bike shops and
on the web.

Martin.

I have a pair on my road bike to complement my main lights. Useful for
making myself more visible in dull weather or within the shadow of trees.
One of the reasons for getting them was that my main lights (i.e. the ones I
need to see on dark unlit roads) were not road legal on their own but they
are OK as supplementary lights to a set of legal lights.

Phil W Lee wrote:

The only danger comes in a potential insurance claim, where a drivers
insurance company will look really hard for anything they can use to
imply that "you weren't legally lit up, and it therefore wasn't my
client's fault, your honour".

Has there been an actual case where the outcome of an insurance claim has
been affected by a cyclist not being legally lit up at night when they had
lights?

I know that insurance companies do not always examine the bike at all.

~PB

Alan Braggins wrote:
In article , Martin wrote:

The main things for the SL120 version are a 2Hz flash rate, with a 29cd
front lit, and 10 cd rear. (i.e. legal for the UK)

Though there's a potential issue with the height of the rear light
on small wheeled bikes.

Good point, as they are axle mounted, it is questionable whether they
are legal on a 26inch wheeled bike, although they would only need to be
about an inch above the axle on my slick tyres (less for knobblies).

Andrew Mobbs wrote:
Martin wrote:
If a blinky has a steady mode, it still has to be BS6102/3 compliant,
and have the BS stamped on the lit. AFAIK there is only one rear LED lit
that is legal as a primary light, the cateye TL-AU100BS[2], and I do not
know of any front LED lits that are legal.

I believe the Cateye EL300 is:
http://www.rutlandcycling.com/1691/C...Light-Set.html


That explains why the police around here have been using them on
mountain bikes for the last few years.

Daniel Barlow wrote:

Martin writes:

On my ridge back I have a Cateye Single shot plus (HL EL610RC) which
is excellent for railway paths and the like. (about 65-90 ukp). Other
people recommend the EL530, which can be got for about 35ukp, however
I have heard complaints about the 530.

I had an EL530 until it stopped working for no obvious reason. I
replaced it with a Fenix torch, which is one of the Cree-based lights
that was referred to upthread, and about the same price. The Fenix
torch far outclasses it for light output and (I think) for spread -
the EL530 seemed to have a very small bright spot and a wash around it
that wasn't actually much cop.

http://www.coruskate.net/Order_of_the_Fenix is what I said about it
two weeks ago.

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/rev...1dce-l2dce.htm is a
proper review done by actual (or at least, apparent) experts


-dan

I have also replaced my wobbly EL530 with a Fenix this year.

IMO the main problem with the 530 is the spill. In particular, on a
wet road the spill cannot be seen, leaving only the ludicrously small
spot of light remaining to guide your way.

The Fenix is at least twice as bright as the Cateye, has a better beam
and costs less.

Regarding your lockblock problem, try securing the flashlight closer
to the point at which it balances. On mine this is quite far forward.

Andy