I'm fed up being blinded by these lights. Santa seems to have distributed a job lot of eyeball melting countryside illuminators this Christmas. This morning I got caught in the beam from one of these just at a point where I had to make a right turn across a road which has fast moving traffic and it's on a bend so timing is critical. Apart from the stupid light I couldn't see a thing. I couldn't see the road I was turning into and I couldn't see if anything was coming on the carriageway I needed to cross. I'm usually fairly confident on the road but being blinded in that particular location gave me a fright.
I'm sure they are great and necessary off road but they are not designed for road use. I believe they are a danger to other road users.
Rant over
I'm not sure if I dreamed it but did CJ post something on here about lights and the BS being looked at? I've looked but can't seem to find it.
Behold mortals and tremble!
Stupidly bright front lights.
A bike does more miles to the banana than a Porsche.
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
I do agree, however I think that often double standards are applied.
Were these lights worse than if it had been a car on dipped lights that close to you?
I often find that I get accusations about my front light but it is a little less powerful and no higher in aim than a properly adjusted car light. However because it is a cycle light, people look at it directly, in a way they would not do with a car light and then are dazzled.
On the other hand if, as is probably the case, you are talking about real undipped death rays then I totally agree with you.
Were these lights worse than if it had been a car on dipped lights that close to you?
I often find that I get accusations about my front light but it is a little less powerful and no higher in aim than a properly adjusted car light. However because it is a cycle light, people look at it directly, in a way they would not do with a car light and then are dazzled.
On the other hand if, as is probably the case, you are talking about real undipped death rays then I totally agree with you.
Yma o Hyd
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
I think given that most cyclists infer greater protection from lights than they actually provide and that LED lights are getting more efficient, cheaper and more powerful and that battery technology is improving in leaps and bounds then expect this to become common place.
Ultimately I'd expect it to result in legislation requiring BS approved lights (or some such) fitted to bikes and all others made illegal.
Ultimately I'd expect it to result in legislation requiring BS approved lights (or some such) fitted to bikes and all others made illegal.
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
Yep. One end of my commute is a short 2 mile cycle on unlit country roads. I have a reasonably bright AA LED torch fitted with a dipping front lens so there's a nice sharp cutoff, and a much less powerful, less focused LED flasher to get seen.
I've seen people with two immensely bright undipped LEDs up front which effectively blind you and force you to slow right down for fear of ending up in a ditch. Most cars dip their lights as soon as they see me, which isn't a problem, especially compared with the eye-melters on handlebars.
It's not as bad when driving as your eyes tend to adjust to the brighter surroundings, but it's still pretty dangerous and confusing. I've almost hit someone riding two abreast on the outside, coming at me full speed on a narrow road. Just enough space for my van and a car to squeeze slowly past, but impossible to judge the speed of a pair of small suns coming towards you...
I've seen people with two immensely bright undipped LEDs up front which effectively blind you and force you to slow right down for fear of ending up in a ditch. Most cars dip their lights as soon as they see me, which isn't a problem, especially compared with the eye-melters on handlebars.
It's not as bad when driving as your eyes tend to adjust to the brighter surroundings, but it's still pretty dangerous and confusing. I've almost hit someone riding two abreast on the outside, coming at me full speed on a narrow road. Just enough space for my van and a car to squeeze slowly past, but impossible to judge the speed of a pair of small suns coming towards you...
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
This always makes me smile
I use "stupidly bright lights" in that I have a pair of Dinottes on the back, and a Magicshine on the front as "backup lighting" to a pair of RVLR compliant lights.
I have had lots of compliments, and one complainant... who is the unlit ninja on the off road part of my commute.
He is exactly the reason I have brighter lights as I can see the muppets who don't seem to have the common sense to put lights on their bikes
I use "stupidly bright lights" in that I have a pair of Dinottes on the back, and a Magicshine on the front as "backup lighting" to a pair of RVLR compliant lights.
I have had lots of compliments, and one complainant... who is the unlit ninja on the off road part of my commute.
He is exactly the reason I have brighter lights as I can see the muppets who don't seem to have the common sense to put lights on their bikes
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
Stupidly-bright front lights are great for being seen, but they must be set up properly. The bloke I see coming the other way most mornings has one. I can see that all right! Unfortunately,on the straight road where we pass his light is the ONLY thing I can see, and once we've passed each other I can't see at all for several seconds. 
I'm not going to start wearing sunglasses at 7 o'clock on winter mornings just because some pillock thinks it's a good idea to blind everybody coming the other way.
If you regularly ride down The Greenway aroud 7 am each day and are reading this, GET IT SORTED!
I'm not going to start wearing sunglasses at 7 o'clock on winter mornings just because some pillock thinks it's a good idea to blind everybody coming the other way.
If you regularly ride down The Greenway aroud 7 am each day and are reading this, GET IT SORTED!
What manner of creature's this, being but half a fish and half a monster
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
meic wrote: Were these lights worse than if it had been a car on dipped lights that close to you?
yes.
But some modern headlights do have a very bright spot in the lamp that shouldn't be looked at directly, it is still very bright.
Not everyone's eyes are the same of course, but if you think you need to have a light that blinds others in order to see where you are going, you are, plain and simple, wrong.
cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
In my commuting days I always wore a peaked cap for use at night - to dip the oncoming lights! Car lights are even lower than bike lights and, if on bright as for country lanes, are terrible to behold.
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
The problem is not bright front lights.
The problem is bright front lights which are not angled downwards.
Car headlights on dipped are angled down so other road users are not dazzled.
A lot of bike lights seem to be angled to point straight at the eyes of other road users.
This is anti-social at best. Apart from anything else, you can see where you are going better if your light is angled down.
I suspect that most users of these super-bright lights don't actually think about where they are pointed at all; they put them on the bike, turn them on and off they go.
The problem is bright front lights which are not angled downwards.
Car headlights on dipped are angled down so other road users are not dazzled.
A lot of bike lights seem to be angled to point straight at the eyes of other road users.
This is anti-social at best. Apart from anything else, you can see where you are going better if your light is angled down.
I suspect that most users of these super-bright lights don't actually think about where they are pointed at all; they put them on the bike, turn them on and off they go.
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
pyruse wrote:The problem is not bright front lights.
The problem is bright front lights which are not angled downwards.
Car headlights on dipped are angled down so other road users are not dazzled.
A lot of bike lights seem to be angled to point straight at the eyes of other road users.
This is anti-social at best. Apart from anything else, you can see where you are going better if your light is angled down.
I suspect that most users of these super-bright lights don't actually think about where they are pointed at all; they put them on the bike, turn them on and off they go.
Most are so diffuse even when angled correctly they still simply spray light out in all directions. The lack of a beam means that they need to be fairly bright just to illuminate the path ahead adequately.
There's no doubt they're great when off-road where spraying light in all directions allows you to see branches and other such stuff, but on road they're a bit useless.
(It's also a lot cheaper to produce such optics than to create 'proper' focussed optics).
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
pyruse wrote: The problem is not bright front lights.
The problem is bright front lights which are not angled downwards.
Car headlights on dipped are angled down so other road users are not dazzled.
.
Dip beams have a proper cutoff. Other lights don't.
The beam from a typical parabolic reflector might be 50% less intense when 5 degrees off axis, but that is still plenty enough to blind others with modern lights that are really meant for offroading.
I really cannot believe how it is that apparently normal folk can't put themselves in other people's shoes. When someone is coming the other way with a bright light, probably the ONLY properly safe thing to do is stop. You cannot see anything because of the inconsiderate actions of others.
There could be bollard, a huge hole, a watercourse, or a pedestrian right there, and you would never see them because of these ' I'm all right Jack' types.
D'uh!
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
I have not personally had a trouble from any cycle lights but it seems that I can not drive at night without at least one following car lighting up the ceiling of my car with their over-high dipped beams.
I am used to seeing my silhouette plastered on walls and signs.
Which is odd as the MOT test that my car goes through is very, very precise about dip beam alignment.
I am used to seeing my silhouette plastered on walls and signs.
Which is odd as the MOT test that my car goes through is very, very precise about dip beam alignment.
Yma o Hyd
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
meic wrote:I have not personally had a trouble from any cycle lights but it seems that I can not drive at night without at least one following car lighting up the ceiling of my car with their over-high dipped beams.
I am used to seeing my silhouette plastered on walls and signs.
Which is odd as the MOT test that my car goes through is very, very precise about dip beam alignment.
years ago this used to be bacause laden cars would sag at the rear and this would angle the dip beam up.
These days we have headlight aim adjusters.
People (the same kind of people who use offroad lights even when there are oncoming cyclists, presumably...) use them angled down to get through the MOT , then drive around with them angled up the rest of the time....
cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
It's not the lights that are the problem but how they are used. I have a bigger problem with the useless little yellow led front lights that so many seem to use. They are totally lost in even the darkest roads and among other vehicles. The bright ones are easily seen and make the cyclist so much more noticeable.
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stewartpratt
- Posts: 2566
- Joined: 27 Dec 2007, 5:12pm
Re: Stupidly bright front lights.
My experience with symmetrical-beam lights (which most of the bright battery lights on the market are) is that if you angle them low enough not to dazzle oncoming traffic, you basically end up with an very brightly-lit front wheel, with the beam falling off dramatically well before you get to the useful ~30m range. There's no happy compromise between the two.
I suspect they often do dazzle more than dipped-beam car lights; firstly because people understandably are not very interested in illuminating their front wheel, and secondly because the light is coming from a 5p-sized reflector as opposed to the much larger ones on cars.
I suspect they often do dazzle more than dipped-beam car lights; firstly because people understandably are not very interested in illuminating their front wheel, and secondly because the light is coming from a 5p-sized reflector as opposed to the much larger ones on cars.