secondary rear light suggestions

I'm looking at getting a secondary light to complement my dynamo setup
primarily as a backup in case something breaks but also as a good
complementary "be seen" light. I was thinking of either a pair of Reelights
or one of those fibreflare things. The advantage of the Reelights is they
don't require batteries but they cannot easily be transferred to my folder.
Would a flashing light be a suitable complement to my current steady light
or are flashing lights likely to be annoying to people behind me?

Can any motorists here give a good description of what makes a good, visible
rear cycle light from their perspective (ideally I would like to cross-post
this to uk.rec.driving but I understand that is frowned upon)?

Thanks

Adam

Adam Lea wrote:
I'm looking at getting a secondary light to complement my dynamo setup
primarily as a backup in case something breaks but also as a good
complementary "be seen" light. I was thinking of either a pair of Reelights
or one of those fibreflare things. The advantage of the Reelights is they
don't require batteries but they cannot easily be transferred to my folder.
Would a flashing light be a suitable complement to my current steady light
or are flashing lights likely to be annoying to people behind me?

Just a comment on the Reelights, they are not particularly bright, and
if you do get some, the SL120 model appears to be better as it has a
stand light. It also flashes at (ISTR) 2Hz which means it is legal as a
primary light.

Adam Lea wrote:
I'm looking at getting a secondary light to complement my dynamo setup
primarily as a backup in case something breaks but also as a good
complementary "be seen" light. I was thinking of either a pair of Reelights
or one of those fibreflare things. The advantage of the Reelights is they
don't require batteries but they cannot easily be transferred to my folder.
Would a flashing light be a suitable complement to my current steady light
or are flashing lights likely to be annoying to people behind me?

Can any motorists here give a good description of what makes a good, visible
rear cycle light from their perspective (ideally I would like to cross-post
this to uk.rec.driving but I understand that is frowned upon)?

Thanks

Adam


As a motorist I like flashing lights on a bike, both front and back. It
was my view as a motorist that convinced me to use them on my bike.

I always drive in town but I find it hard to believe that a flashing
rear light is annoying even on dark country roads? I assumed this was
just a general complaint against anything cyclist, in much the same
style as people complain about Lycra.

I've used the cateye LD600 , which I like, but might get an additional
cateye LD1100 as a secondary. My problem is finding a place to fit a
second light onto the bike.

"Adam Lea" wrote in message
...
I'm looking at getting a secondary light to complement my dynamo setup
primarily as a backup in case something breaks but also as a good
complementary "be seen" light. I was thinking of either a pair of
Reelights or one of those fibreflare things. The advantage of the
Reelights is they don't require batteries but they cannot easily be
transferred to my folder. Would a flashing light be a suitable complement
to my current steady light or are flashing lights likely to be annoying to
people behind me?

Can any motorists here give a good description of what makes a good,
visible rear cycle light from their perspective (ideally I would like to
cross-post this to uk.rec.driving but I understand that is frowned upon)?

I think a solid bright red light is best. With the efficiency and light
output of modern LED lamps, there is no reason not to use a powerful rear
lamp. With the availability of inexpensive NiMH rechargable batteries, it's
not as if running the lights costs a great deal either. 7dayshop.com is a
great place for inexpensive rechargable batteries.

Mr Benn wrote:
"Adam Lea" wrote in message
...
I'm looking at getting a secondary light to complement my dynamo setup
primarily as a backup in case something breaks but also as a good
complementary "be seen" light. I was thinking of either a pair of
Reelights or one of those fibreflare things. The advantage of the
Reelights is they don't require batteries but they cannot easily be
transferred to my folder. Would a flashing light be a suitable complement
to my current steady light or are flashing lights likely to be annoying to
people behind me?

Can any motorists here give a good description of what makes a good,
visible rear cycle light from their perspective (ideally I would like to
cross-post this to uk.rec.driving but I understand that is frowned upon)?

I think a solid bright red light is best. With the efficiency and light
output of modern LED lamps, there is no reason not to use a powerful rear
lamp. With the availability of inexpensive NiMH rechargable batteries, it's
not as if running the lights costs a great deal either. 7dayshop.com is a
great place for inexpensive rechargable batteries.


I suppose this topic is open to personal
experiences. I favour the flashing light *and* a
non flashing one. The flashing light grabs a
drivers attention, while the static light helps
distance perception.

Bod

In article , Adam Lea wrote:
Would a flashing light be a suitable complement to my current steady light
or are flashing lights likely to be annoying to people behind me?

Some people find flashing lights annoying, some don't.
Most people find flashing lights more noticeable, and some people
consider that more important than whether they are annoying.

(In the worst case a flashing light could even trigger epilepsy.
http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/photo.html says
"Most people with photosensitive epilepsy are sensitive to 16-25 Hz,
although some people may be sensitive to rates as low as 3 Hz and as
high as 60 Hz", which has very little overlap with the legal flashing
rate of between 1 and 4 Hz. (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20052559.htm)
http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/photo_other.html says there have been
cases of bicycle lights triggering seizures in people close to the
lights while setting them up.
So the risk of a legal flashing light being dangerous in use is very
small.)


Can any motorists here give a good description of what makes a good, visible
rear cycle light from their perspective (ideally I would like to cross-post
this to uk.rec.driving but I understand that is frowned upon)?

Personally I don't find flashing lights annoying. I do agree with the
consensus that a flashing light on its own is more noticeable but
harder to track the position of.

Bad cycle lights include a dim glow from under a coat hanging down
to hide a seatpost mounted light, or a backpack mounted light
pointed straight up in the air. Both can be seen fairly often - but
not from very far.

It would be a sensible question to cross-post, but past experience is
that cross-posts to uk.rec.driving tend to devolve into pointless
flame wars whether started as a sensible question or not.

On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:46:53 +0100, Adam Lea wrote:
I'm looking at getting a secondary light to complement my dynamo setup
primarily as a backup in case something breaks but also as a good
complementary "be seen" light. I was thinking of either a pair of Reelights
or one of those fibreflare things. The advantage of the Reelights is they
don't require batteries but they cannot easily be transferred to my folder.
Would a flashing light be a suitable complement to my current steady light
or are flashing lights likely to be annoying to people behind me?


I use a cateye TL-AU 100 BS as the secondary light alongside my dynamo
setup because
1: it has it meets the BS
2: it has a BS-compliant reflector
3: it takes AAs and lasts much longer than those that take AAAs

I have it flashing, while the dynamo light is on constant.

regards,. Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Nick wrote:
Adam Lea wrote:
I'm looking at getting a secondary light to complement my dynamo
setup primarily as a backup in case something breaks but also as a
good complementary "be seen" light. I was thinking of either a pair
of Reelights or one of those fibreflare things. The advantage of the
Reelights is they don't require batteries but they cannot easily be
transferred to my folder. Would a flashing light be a suitable
complement to my current steady light or are flashing lights likely
to be annoying to people behind me?

Can any motorists here give a good description of what makes a good,
visible rear cycle light from their perspective (ideally I would
like to cross-post this to uk.rec.driving but I understand that is
frowned upon)?

Thanks

Adam


As a motorist I like flashing lights on a bike, both front and back.
It was my view as a motorist that convinced me to use them on my bike.


Seconded.

Getting noticed amongst everything else is my biggest concern. Issues about
distance perception are IMO relatively irrelevant; if drivers know you're
there from a way back they've got a while to work out where you actually are
:-)

On 16 Oct, 13:23, Ian Smith wrote:


I have it flashing, while the dynamo light is on constant.


I have dynamo on constant and a SMART LED light (approx £5?, or less
for a clone from Wilkinsons!) which has three modes, two of which are
flashing. I like the combination of continuous and flashing; it makes
it easier, IMO to judge distances and speeds. It's also good if my
bottle dynamo is slipping in the wet, or if I have piled stuff on my
pannier, thus obscuring the dynamo light. (But on my other bike,
which now has a hub dynamo - or whatever - , slippage is a thing of
the past. No more seeking the least wet parts of the road)

The Smart batteries last for ages (years?).

On 16/10/2009 01:08, Nick wrote:
I always drive in town but I find it hard to believe that a flashing
rear light is annoying even on dark country roads?

Most of my night riding is winter commuting on the unlit section of the
Bristol-Bath cycle path - effectively a dark country road. I find
flashing rear lights extremely annoying when used on their own.

I don't often ride in town. On the occasions that I've seen flashing
lights used on their own in lit areas I'd say that they were annoying,
but not quite as annoying as on a dark country road.

I've used the cateye LD600 , which I like, but might get an additional
cateye LD1100 as a secondary. My problem is finding a place to fit a
second light onto the bike.

I use the LD600 as a secondary to my D-Toplight Plus. I rejected the
LD1100 on the grounds that I didn't want to dazzle people behind me.

--
Danny Colyer http://www.redpedals.co.uk
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"I'm riding a unicycle with my pants down. This should be every boy's
dream." - Bartholomew J Simpson