new bicycle light

[phil21]

I've seen this video before, cool idea indeed.

The problem with bike illumination is the purpose: see yourself or be seen? While very high output designs are great for seeing they are a pain in the *** when you look at them. I remember that i had to drive a few kilometers down the kanal to get to work. In october this was quite difficult, since early in the morning it was nearly complete darkness. Those LED lights were cool to have, but never the less useless if someone is coming from ahead and has some of them too: we were both nearly blinded by each others light and nearly crashed.

Now i use up to three different types of lights: the standard lightbulb, doing nothing for me but since it's required , a medium output battery powered device and for some rare occasions i even use LED headlamps.
I would really like to see the system from the video in use here, i think a lot of accidents involving bikes and cars could be avoided if these were used. And they don't interfere with other peoples vision.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by phil21

I've seen this video before, cool idea indeed.

The problem with bike illumination is the purpose: see yourself or be seen? While very high output designs are great for seeing they are a pain in the *** when you look at them. I remember that i had to drive a few kilometers down the kanal to get to work. In october this was quite difficult, since early in the morning it was nearly complete darkness. Those LED lights were cool to have, but never the less useless if someone is coming from ahead and has some of them too: we were both nearly blinded by each others light and nearly crashed.

Then you both had either bad lights with badly designed reflectors, or you did not have your lights correctly adjusted. A good reflector is part of the light, and it should give you a good separation between the light and the dark field of the brightness cone. I know the blinding effect you described, I happen to run into such idiots occassionally myself here, since in Münster we have extremely many bicycle riders. But it was every time a light cone adjusted too high when I ran into such a cowboy. The upper top of the light cone should never reach higher than a standing persons knee at lets say 10 meters away. That way it illuminates car's ID plates and "cat eyes" on poles or fences, but does not blind the driver sitting in a car. At best the ceiling of the light cone should run parallel to the surface of the tarmac, but it is even better if the height is slowly declining with distance. Bikes that blinded me I saw from the side and then could see in autumn fog that their lights reached 20° or even 30° upwards, instead of pointing downwards. Good reflectors like on those produced by Busch+Müller offer protection from such blinding effects when correctly adjusted. a light cone on a bike should NEVER point upwards.

That'S why they have separated the position lights and the searchlight on that light I have posted above. The reflector is offering the brightest and far reaching light, meant to illuminate the path ahead of you - and heck, it does, and focusses it as well. But if correctly adjusted, it does not blind you if you look at it from some meters away. The four LEDs below are unfocussed, they give the impression of a very bright "light-cloud" that illuminates the immediate 1-2 meters in front of you like with an old bulb light, but you do not get a focussed hotspot anywhwere. They do not reach far, but catch attention at dusk and dawn and on rainy or foggy days. The four LEDs attached underneath appear much brighter than the reflector's single LED, but the reflector in fact produces much m ore lux at a much greater distance.

However, these LED ologhts are not as bright as a car'S single front light, and since we pass cars all night long when driving in darkness without complaining about "getting blinded", we should not exaggerate the complaints. I would prefer to have a solution for my glasses when driving in rain, against car traffic. The water drops on the glass, the reflections from the car'S lights - now THAT is a serious viewing problem under certain conditions, especially when the bicycle trail is on the left side of the main traffic street.
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I wonder whether the revolights work properly on bikes with mudguards?

[phil21]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Then you both had either bad lights with badly designed reflectors, or you did not have your lights correctly adjusted.

Yeah, that's the problem. Sadly, most of the time people don't care about this and just want to see what's ahead of them. In the incident described, i had the headlamp, which is always a little to high if you look far (naturally, it's on your head ).

Originally Posted by Skybird

I happen to run into such idiots occassionally myself here, since in Münster we have extremely many bicycle riders.
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greatest city in the world, not only for bikers

[gimpy117]

this would be great for motorcycles

[Spoon 11th]

Originally Posted by gimpy117

this would be great for motorcycles

Electric Tron Lightcycle is Street Legal