Bicycle lights, red log signature, regular, and strobe?

alfred10

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Messages
33
I want to set my bicycle up for night time trail and street use. I want the strobes to be bright and long lasting. Figure I can mount a rear strobe on the front. I want a red strobe to mount on the back and front.
I want a super bright long lasting head light.
Finally I want a lower power but long lasting front red light for low signature trail biking. The red light cant be seen as far away, it wont scare animals, or hurt my night adapted vision as much.
 

mcnair55

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 27, 2009
Messages
4,448
Location
North Wales UK
You maybe better posting this in the bicycle lighting section,you will probably get more expert answers there.
 

Chrontius

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 11, 2007
Messages
2,150
Location
Orlando, FL
I use a Surefire 6R with a cheap chinese clip and an M60 as a headlight. Outthrows some car headlights. :D

If you find a good taillight, let me know.

BTW, regarding frontal red strobes, I almost ran over a little girl because her only bike light was a front-facing red strobe and it was bright enough I couldn't tell she was riding *towards* me, on a collision course with my bumper. (Well, I say "almost" but I just stopped and waited until I could tell what was going on) She very nearly ran into me in my car after I stopped, by the way, but that's not the light's fault. There may be local laws regarding what kinds of lights you need where; I recommend following this to the letter as drivers will know what to look for to spot a bike. If you want to crank up the wattage by a factor of ten, that shouldn't bug people - but the red strobes should be strictly rear-facing, IMHO.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Bicycle-Fla...0?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories#ht_2362wt_1061
 
Last edited:

PCC

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
2,326
Location
Sitting' on the dock o' The Bay...
People have grown accustomed to seeing red blinkie lights on the rear of bicycles and white blinkie lights on the front. Mixing this up will cause confusion and could possibly risk your life.

My commuter bike has one steady-on red tail light and a blinkie that I use at the same time and the front has a similar setup but in white. The reason for using two tail lights (or more!) is that sometimes motorists don't see the one light or you can have the batteries drain in the middle of your ride and having redundancy here is a very good thing. Also, people say that a blinking light is hard to judge distance and speed by so the constant-on light is there to help people see where I am, to see how far and at what speed I am riding. Both tail lights are physically separated by about 6 inches vertically. On the front the main headlight is for seeing the road and the blinkie is to identify me as a bicycle. The main headlight is mounted on the handlebars and the blinkie is mounted on the fork. I also have a helmet-mounted flashlight to use as an offensive light to shine on the faces of drivers who are inattentive and potentially going to have a conflict with me. That one probably has saved my life.
 
Top