Bicycle lights

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trojan

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Long ago as far as i can recall there was only two types of bicycle lights. One a battery lamp and the other worked off the back. Nowadays lights are very bright and intermittent which can nearly dazzle a person. How has this change been achieved?
 
The old style lights were not very bright. I think that they use halogen bulbs now which make them brighter. Ask in any bicycle shop.

I have an inbuilt dynamo on my bike, which is Kelly's brand. The great advantage is that you don't need to remember to bring out an attachable light with you. On the old style dynamos which rubbed against the wheel, they often didn't work very well in the dark.

The back light on my bike stays on for a few minutes after stopping, so that you can be seen at traffic lights. The front light has a very bright bulb.

Brendan
 
Most modern bicycles lights use LEDs which use a fraction of the power of traditional bulbs to achieve the same level of brightness. Therefore they can easily be made brighter without the battery running out too often.

They are also easy to use in flashing mode
so it have being fashionable to use flashing mode ( Im not a fan myself, speaking as a driver and a cyclist)
Traditional bulbs would burn out if you turned them on and off that often.

Batteries are a lot better than they were, even 10/15 years ago.
 
I should also add that there are lots of rich cyclists these days who like buying gadgets, so there is a market for lots of features that you don't really need ( like 4 different flashing options).
 
Thanks for all the replies. In passing i would add that in my youth in rural Ireland one always feared being stopped by a Garda for no lights and the prospect of appearing in the local paper for the offence.
 
LED lighting has come a long way. I've one bright enough to mountain bike at night :D

Flashing LED lights have two advantages, they approximately double battery life (assuming a 50:50 duty cycle), and research shows they stand out more to other traffic.

That said, some of the options on the market now are very bright, to the point of distraction in some cases. In an urban setting, you don't need to be seen from 100+m, and lights that are too bright have the potential to result in other less well lit cyclists not being noticed. Germany have strict rules on how bright these lights can be, you'll see notes on the product pages of some online retailers warning that particular lights exceed the permitted output.

As someone who's been hit a few times on a bike during the day, I just don't understand how anyone thinks they're safe on a bike at night without lights.
 
The flashing ones are great to attract attention, especially if it the street lighting is dim as it bounces off signs etc. In most cases you dont need the illumination to travel, its just to make sure not hit by someone pulling out onto the road, so flashing lights better for that.

If you're in the pitch black of rural Ireland then would use full light.

They're not that expensive either - I got a set in Lidl recently.
 
Leo said:
That said, some of the options on the market now are very bright, to the point of distraction in some cases. In an urban setting, you don't need to be seen from 100+m, and lights that are too bright have the potential to result in other less well lit cyclists not being noticed. Germany have strict rules on how bright these lights can be, you'll see notes on the product pages of some online retailers warning that particular lights exceed the permitted output.
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Some of these cycle lights are ridiculously bright. They are dazzling to the extent that they ruin night vision. Add in a flashing light, and I'm left unable to see anything. If you're using one of those, I hope you have a will made out, because no-one can see you after that first flash.
 
I totally agree with Seagull there, often when I am cycling at night in the city I get stuck behind someone with the super duper bright Led flashing light, this certainly does not bode well for someone who suffers from 'night blindness'. It often leaves me seeing stars!!! Because of that I always cycle with my rear light flashing on the curtesy mode, meaning it is visible but not blinding and saves on having to charge it every day...
 
Seagull said:
Some of these cycle lights are ridiculously bright. They are dazzling to the extent that they ruin night vision. Add in a flashing light, and I'm left unable to see anything. If you're using one of those, I hope you have a will made out, because no-one can see you after that first flash.
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I rarely use the monster 1150 lumens one on the road, and only then generally during races while on country back roads where it's directed down so I can see where I'm going. Even then, full power is reserved only for use on technical off-road trails to preserve battery life. Otherwise I use a small blinker on the road. Like I said, in an urban setting, it's vehicles within a closer range you want to see you, not those a mile away.

Any of the stats/ research I've seen just refers to blinking lights versus constant lighting in their results, and that all indicates blinking is more effective. There has to be a point at which the blinking lights become so bright as to render them less safe than constant lighting, don't think there has been any research on that though.
 
I typically have one fixed and one flashing light on the back when I'm cycling, but a fixed light on the front. The primary purpose of these really bright forward facing lights should be to make the road visible for the cyclist, not to make the cyclist visible to other road users. I find a flashing light at the front also wrecks my night vision, so I don't use one.

Some of these cycle lights are now at a point where alignment becomes a factor. A car with lights like that would spend its life being flashed and hooted at.
 
I use a flashing light and an always on light front and rear.
When I drive I find motorists using their front fog lights produce most glare, cyclists aren't the problem.
 
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