Zero-
Those are some nice looking lights. I just use a cheap led flasher for the rear and my Fenix TK10 as my front light. I just couldnt justify spending that much on a taillight or headlight when you can get a nice torch and strap it on there. Not to get too far off topic but what do you like about those lights?
I only got the tail light after reading a lot on them and took advantage of the now imfamous sale that Dinotte had back in Oct/07 where it was $99.00 for each tail light or headlight.
For me I ride a lot more then I drive. I love riding to stay fit. I'd ride even if petrol was free for my car soit's not some financial thing for me. The issue I had was with cars always coming WAY too close and buzzing you while you're riding. I used to ride the sidewalks but changed to the road for a number of reasons. One being in T.O a cop if they are anal can ticket you if you have a wheel size of 26"+ if memory serves me right. That is hardly enforced except probably during bike week and only in the downtown core I believe. I live north of the city. Another reason is being a driver as well I know when you're pulling up to a road you tend to look the direction of traffic so your view of a bike is always the thing you're looking for then. I've had a number of close near minor bump ins when a driver did not see me when I was on the sidewalk because most drivers seem to always check the road as they're concentrated in thier lane turning. Yes I was using lighting at night when those near bump in incidents almost happened.
Now I ride on the road and have been for about 2 yrs now. Drivers during out of the streets see you way better as you're in the flow of traffic. I got the Dinotte because I don't really have eyes on the back of my head (I mean I could if I had an LCD screen with a camera pointed backwards but that's another story and that setup would cost you like probably 10 times the Dinotte cost
) and I wanted a tail light that ran off 4 x AA's so while I'm out and about if I ran out of rechargeable power and forgot my spare sells I could buy a package of cells (at rip off prices) from the convience store and still be able to have cars back off. That tail light is 120lms of eye searing brightness. Maybe it's eyes but that tail light is a little brighter then my Jeeps tail light. It will light up the house across the streets garage door which is about 10 meters I would say and on the road I would guess (I took a ride last night) it lights up signs about 2/3 of a block away with a red glow. I've nothing but wow comments from drivers and now I'm about 95% buzz free from cars.
I ride most of the time with the light on high but change it to low mode when I'm in low traffic residential streets where it's one lane only but on the main roads when I press the switch to go high I've noticed cars changing lanes about 2-3 transit buses away now. When I used my old tail light (Planet Bike Superflash
http://ecom1.planetbike.com/3040.html ) cars would get about 2-3 car lengths then change lanes or even only a few feet behind then change lanes. We're not talking rush hour traffic here but light traffic times. So huge difference there with the new light. Brighter means cars have more time to see you a longer distance away if they're travelling fast. If they're close and want to tail gate it's eye searing to tail gate. I do my best to stay to the side of the road but within 1-2 feet from the curb while riding to avoid the drain gates and such while on the asphalt. Cars can still pass around if they want to buzz me but with the light up close most have just passed because the light does give you a tomato complexion looking at it if you're behind it. :naughty:
I'm doing a DIY light for the front light right now with some DIY plans I've found on the web and on here. You should check out the CPF-BIKE area for more lighting. There are some crazy bike lights like the guy in I think Toronto with a 6000+ Terror HID light. You know it's serious lighting when you can see the beams during the day time in thier pics. I just concentrated my lighting to the rear for safety reasons. For the front I use dual PB Blaze lights which give a dual cateye glow while riding so it looks like a low powered motorcycle light in the distance and also for redunancy should one light fail. Not powerful enough for speed riding or downhilling but it's primary use is to BE-SEEN. My DIY light here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49184877@N00/ is for riding at a brisk pace ~20kph in lightless revine trails or ~25kph on the roads.
I wished I had the fundage for a Fenix after all I've heard of those lights. I am thinking of having one as personal defence attached to the Hydration Pack or belt should I run into some sketchies. Have a look see at my Flickr page. I'm still waiting for some DX drivers to come in then I can try to make my own turn signals for the bike. I need to get newer pics of the bike. That bag on the seat cover is :sick2: but it was because I was not sure I wanted to keep the seat or return it to the store so as a common courtesy I tried to protect the product to keep the item from damage if I was testing it out if I wasn't sure I wanted to return it.
I light the lights a lot. They are small and they hold on solid. I had my doubts when people asked about off-roading with them and bouncing off but I went curb jumping last night on my 40km ride and that light did not fall it. It was a surprise given how people see the o-ring mounts and thinking it won't be steady. On the roads it's rock solid. My curb jumping and minor offroading put my doubts away that this light will fall off. I have the newer mounting system with that extention mount which you can then pivot the light to point down or up. If you don't use the newer plastic mount you can still mount it to the seat post and when you mount it to the seat post it is rock steady and not coming off unless you want it off. IMHO keep a heads up on the sales. I was thinking the same as you before but when the sale happened it was at the right time and I got that light then and saved ~$70. If I had the extra $100 I would have gotten the headlight for the helmet or bars.
Sorry for the long post. Kinda hard to explain some stuff if I shortened it. Yah it's a bit off topic but to bring it back to the strobe thing I plan on making a 8 LED front light out of 1" cube alum. tubing. The middle 4 are for the white LEDs with a flood/spot optic. The sides are where I'll be having my fun. The top left/right will be my turn signals (amber LEDs) and using a flashing driver from DealExtreme and the lower left/right is what I was thinking of messing around with a blue/red strobe for kicks but using that very sparingly for obvious reasons. I may change the color combo but right now I've got stock on red/blue/amber/white at my place.
Cheers.
