Night riding

[Blueberry]

Mimi-

Which lights do you have off your Schmidt?? I'm trying to make a decision about replacement lights for my bikes

We ride after dark all of the time - when after dark, I usually ride with DH. We're certainly well lit, and we do ride different routes. Sadly, where we live, once cannot ride but so far at night without being on either very rural roads (nice) or in terrible neighborhoods (not nice).

CA

[CR400]

Night riding is so much fun. It is important to find a good light that will illuminate the road or trail for you and of course let you be seen. It seems that the best bet if you have the money is to buy a light of at least $150 or more. Light N Motion seems to have good stuff that is what my buddies and I use. They have a light that looks like a blasted freight train coming down the trail and lights a few hundred yards ahead of you in a blue light (about $300 I think). Although this can cause problems with blinding oncoming traffic. Also you need lights on the back of your bike to be seen by others from behind, like traffic and other cyclists. Also remember to go slower then you would during the day at night as you cannot see as well with most lighting systems as in daylight. Also it is best to get a lighting system that is rechargable and not battery powered may be a little heavier and expensive but it will save you on batteries in the long run. It seems that most lights have a run time between 2 and 5 hours depending on brand and light settings.

Once you start riding like this you'll likely be hooked, it is a lot of fun.

[Geonz]

I don't go for fast riding at night but I do it a lot on my commute. (I still get a workout depending on which bicycle I"m riding.) I got a nice dynamo hub that lights my way, but I found the Cateye lights work well, too. WIth the dynamo I just don't have to worry about batteries. (I do kinda worry about "what about when the light bulb goes out" so I tend to have my light that goes around my head somewhere in my gear just in case. I would want that if I needed to get off the bike and see stuff anyway.)
I have put a Trek Flare 10 light on my helmet with its universal mount and cars give me a ton of room. I also got some strings of multicolored LED lights
that are wrapped around my camelbak and another one around theback of my bike.
I have hokey-spokes too but have to find the thingies to attach them or improvise something (soudns like an excuse to kibbitz at the LBS ) - they get lots of good reaction.
Just the helmet light works well - getting two strings flashing too gets me comments like "NObody's going to miss you!" I'll fire up the Christmas Tree and get it on the bike before too long...
(I'm in a college town on the prairie so I can get *some* traffic... if I go out a few miles I have to watch for wildlife but generally I'm not going fast enough to collide with them.)

[singletrackmind]

When I commuted I had blinkys on the back and front and a helmet light because it's less jumpy and looks where I do. Bright clothes and an orange safety vest with reflectives and lights on it that goes far enough down drivers can see it even when I'm bent over the bars. And a string of battery powered bright christmas lights wrapped around the frame.

And ride as if I was absolutely invisible to cars, pretty much like daytime riding.

[crazycanuck]

Since I can't see with the small lights I use Cat Eye Double shots during the winter & some other Cat eye one in spring/summer. I don't like handlebar mounted lights as i can't see so, I usually use a helmet light.

I hate blinky lights as man they hurt me eyes!! Ow! I leave my back light on normal mode just to save someone a headache.

C

[pinkychique]

Have any of you had experience with the knog lights? The little single led ones seem too small, but they have bigger ones, and they seem really easy to switch from one bike to another. I seem to need to do that between my good bike (for riding to my actual house) and my beater bike (for riding between my BF's house and school).

I love the Hokey Spokes!!!

[li10up]

How do you attach blinky lights to your helmet? I don't like the look of the light on my bike seatpost all the time...but how do you attach the light to the back of your helmet? Or do they make lights specifically for that?