visibility in dark commute

[Jones]

When I put a blinking light on the front of my bike I realized I became much more visible to cars. Far fewer close calls. I use this light to see http://www.rei.com/product/826129/ni...750-bike-light and this light to be scene http://www.rei.com/product/843467/ni...350-bike-light. I never realized how much money I had invested in bike lights. Yikes.

[ZenBiker]

After discovering GeoMan Gear was out of business (see earlier post) I looked around and found that the light I bought from them is basically a Magicshine light like this one:
http://magicshineusa.com/products/li...men-bike-light

The specs on mine are very similar. The battery will operate 180 minutes at the highest brightness setting. I like how the power button on the light changes color to show how much charge you have left, and the brightness and span of light thrown. Like I said earlier it is kind of heavy and you deal with a separate battery pack and cord. But it's a lot of light for the money and can be mounted on a helmet or handlebars.

[Giulianna23]

I got this one on ebay...I love it...the actual light has about 7 differet settings and the laser lines has the normal solid setting and blinking setting as well.

[Sky King]

had to laugh at the DH last night so am bringing this up. He reset his generator powered light on his commuter and in the process cleaned the light. So he comes home and said "huh, amazing what cleaning your light will do to improve brightness" So on that note, grab the alcohol or windex or whatever you use and wipe off all your lights. I know it is something I don't think about.

[Eden]

I'll second all the suggestions for helmet, down lighting and side lighting. I look like a traveling carnival, but no one should ever be able to say they don't see me....from the front, behind or the side. I have a helmet light (Stella 200) a small flasher on my handlebars (Flea) Two rear red blinkers (Flea on my messenger bag, Dinotte on my bike), A blue bar LED on my downtube and a green flasher on my valve stem (cheapo from Toys R' Us, with overpowered silver calculator batteries put in it) Not to mention various reflective bits here there and everywhere. Most of this comes off pretty easily for daytime training rides - just the downtube light is zip tied on pretty permanently.

[NadiaMac]

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I currently have a niterider mininewt mounted on my drop bars and a cateye red rear light mounted on my tool bag. I definitely want to improve side visibility as well as getting a helmet light. I'm pretty happy with the niterider, though it doesn't do a terrific job at illuminating the actual street surface (a problem on darker streets).

Can't wait for the time to change so my longer morning ride is in the light! Or more of it, at least.
thanks again,
NM

[Eden]

Here's my commuter in all of it's light show glory (sorry it's just a bad ipod photo though). This doesn't include my helmet or messenger bag lights of course. The dinotte rear light is pretty thermo nuclear bright.....
The green on on the front spins with the wheel as well as flashing, so it's pretty eye catching. The blue one puts a pretty good light pool on the ground and also catches my front fender.

[redeyedtreefr0g]

I'm currently using a flashlight mounted to my handlebar with an innertube. Its remarkably sturdy and a very good way to have a light. But, soon I'll have to replace the batteries in the flashlight. I also don't have a rear light, which concerns me. I figured I should just buy another bottle generator- the cheap plastic one I got for free off a free mountain bike quit on me- it had seemed pretty abused to start with, but I loved it while it did work.

So, any suggestions for a generator light set? I think LED bulbs might be brighter or last longer, and I've heard some sets have a way to keep the lights lit as you stop pedaling to wait for a red traffic light or something, so I'd prefer those features I think.

Edit: I also have some spoke lights! Two green ones, since that is my favorite color. They are simply circles and you twist them to turn on or back off. The only time that becomes a pain is when its raining and they are wet- i might cut little notches int he edges to give some grippy texture to them. I mounted one on each wheel opposite from the reflector. I've only seen one other bike with wheel lights like these, but s/he looked fantastic! My roommate was driving us and he saw the bike a long way off and we had no idea what it was at first. It made me so happy to realize that my cute little happy lights might be so much more useful than I'd thought.

[Geonz]

I don't think color matters so much on the spoke lights; they're going round and round and that's what speaks "bicycle here!"
(I have had 'em all at some time or another. Oh, and you can put one 2032 battery in there and it does as well as the two 2016 that are stock; our bike project sells 2032 for a dollar so I do that).
Lane position is pretty important, too...
You can do lights much much cheaper -- a five dollar flashlight and rubber bands... a head lamp from a camping store... rear blinkies are a little harder to come by, tho', and IMHO they're really important.