Your bike light setup

[igo]

Now that the days are getting shorter I am finding myself riding my bike dangerously in the night. I think I am going to set up a diy light setup with dollar store 9LED lights.


I figure I will put 2 in the front and 2 in the back (with a few layers of red saran wrap on then). 36 LEDs total should be plenty bright enough to be seen.

Dollar store led lights:

[Lazarus]

Lights are not something to skimp on. I would go with the blinky lights. Something alone the lines of bike planet lights. I think the best setup is a red blinky on the bike and one on the back of the helmet a white headlight that can flash on the front bars and one on the front of the helmet that points in the direction you are looking. If you have trouble with people not seeing you during the day multiply that by 10 at night.

[trebuchet03]

Probably enough to be seen.... Might not be enough to actually see the road though (depends on your riding conditions ).

I ride with a 4 LED blackburn headlight (with collimation lenses) mounted to the front of my bike and a 10W halogen on my helmet.... Then a 7LED chasing red rear light (apparently blinking lights attract drunk drivers).

Part of my route home is at night on a road without street lights :/

My bike is also bright yellow And, my tires have reflective sidewalls. AND, working on my

I'm trying to find a suitable lens for a 5W luxeon LED so I can project light ~30 feet in front of me

Be sure to use rechargeable batteries

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EDIT

I also agree, lights are not something to skimp on.... Recently, someone that goes on a ride I do got hit by a car.... He was in ICU for something like 1.5 weeks, now is in the progressive care unit and apparently, will need to go through speech therapy (brain damage - how much he recovers is still unknown). This is second hand info, but the fact is - it wasn't exactly daytime....

[almightybmw]

I only have a 1 led light....but its 1/2watt. I didn't feel like spending $80 on the 1watt light, but after 6 months with the 1/2w, I'm willing to upgrade. It's bright. I can easily see braking distance ahead of me with zero ambient light up to 20mph, beyond that and it gets a little hairy. I doubt you'd need a 5W Luxeon, as that'd be overkill. If you're worried about cars or people seeing you, see them first, and use a headlamp. I look at cars behind and infront of me, shining the light in the windshield for a brief second.

hmmm. you've got me thinking now, using a large li-ion battery mounted to the frame, with the 5W lux....I already have a friend who built a housing for 3 1W leds, and that is seriously bright, runs for 3 hours straight on 4 AA's. Wouldn't take much to mod it for a single 5W.
hmmm...

[bikin' Ed]

The quality/quantity of your light will depend a lot on your personal circumstance. If you're in town w/streetlights a red blinker in tha back and a white one in the front is probably sufficient.

My route takes me into unlit territory with animals that seem to be determined to commit suicide beneath my wheel. For that type of riding, don't mess around get all you can. When I commute, I use a 10W Halogen on the bike, with a 5W on my helmet. (It's nice to be able to see where you look, even if the bike isn't pointed that way.)

When I race, I have a 5W and 10W on the bar,using only what I need at a given speed. I only use the 5W helmet light when turning.

I use SLA batteries. They are very inexpensive and discharge less when sitting between uses.

[bikin' Ed]

Here's a place to check out how bright a light is... How Bright is that Light?? - Eddy's Bike Shop, Ohio Sorry, I don't know how to insert a link. Planet Bike also has similar page.

[jamesqf]

A headband-mounted LED light is also good - for a lot of things, not just riding - and it adds a degree of fail-safe. Not likely both sets of batteries are going to run down at the same time.

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

A headband-mounted LED light is also good - for a lot of things, not just riding - and it adds a degree of fail-safe.

Like
Urban Spelunking

and, the occasional late night Dumpster dip - because dumpster diving is illegal

[jamesqf]

Yet more reasons not to live in an urban area.

Though I admit I hate it when I have to take a load of stuff to the local landfill: I have to suppress the urge to come back with more than I took :-)

[i_am_socket]

I asked on a triathlon forum about being visible on a bike, and the best response was to go for "christmas tree" level visibility.

Can't argue with that, but it doesn't help against people talking on their cellphone while doing a rolling stop through a populated intersection and only looking one direction.

I'm beginning to think I need a train horn on my bike...