Returned home from Yellow Bike very energized. On the drive home I paid attention to what my headlights were illuminating, especially looking for various reflectors. Because I couldn’t immediately go to sleep, I decided to play around with the camera and my cargo bike.
These shots are from about 100 feet. The bike is near a street light. I don’t know how well the standard flash on a Nikon D40 comes to simulating car headlights. For reference, I have a standard red reflector on the seat post, two small red reflectors on the back of the long tail kit, and two blinky lights (Planet Bike Superflash). You can see background reflections from neighbor’s cars.
This picture is with the two lights on steady (I couldn’t find a shutter speed that would capture the lights during blink).
This picture is with the lights off — reflector only.
Doesn’t appear to be much difference. But still photos don’t show the dynamic, attention-getting nature of the Superflash lights in blink mode.
I have Reelights all of my bikes, front and back. I use the 620’s which have both light and reflectors along with a capacitor for some power while stopped. They are a bit expensive, but I don’t ever want to forget to have at least one light that will always work.
I put a minewt 600 on the handlebars for watching for potholes and such, plus I use a Cateye light on my spokes. Of all of lights I use, I think the Cateye is the best at getting noticed, as it really enhances your side visibility. Plus I have the cool tron blue color.
http://www.reelight.com/
http://www.niterider.com/rechargeable-new/minewt-600-cordless-new/
http://www.cateye.com/en/products/detail/SL-LD120/
Couple things I have seen coming down the pipe that look good.
http://www.lightlanebike.com/about.html – Create your own bike lane.
http://www.revolights.com/ – A successful kickstarter project that has Rim mounted leds that are bright enough to be a primary light source plus has the 360 degree visibility. I’ll get some of these once they add in the wheel rotation power generation.
I’m a little concerned with reliability issues on the Revolights. That could be a real maintenance pain in the rear.
The light lane thing is intriguing but I’d like to see test data on visibility from useful distances. Most of the pictures I see are close up. What does it look like from 190 feet (3 second reaction time at 45 mph)?
Thanks for the reelight links. I’m looking for lights for my randonneur bike.
oh yeah, one of the coordinators at Yellow Bike was showing me the niterider 600, last night. spectacular forward visibility –