Bright Lights and the Big City

[Douglas Ruby]

I ride on tree lined rural roads that have curves, hills and almost no room for riding on the margins. I live in fear of a rear end accident on these roads when cruising along at higher speeds, since I need to ride more "in the road", and there may not be room for a car to go around me comfortably. So I have added to my rear visibility. I rewired the Specialized Rack kit for my Turbo so that the seat light and the rack light run in parallel. In addition, I have a 1000 lumen flashing rechargeable light strapped over the reflector that contains the capacitors for the rack light. Attached are two views of these three lights all fired up:



PS I picked up the Racktime City bag on eBay and took off my handlebar rack. Only accessory I am still considering is the Thudbuster ST 30.9 mm seatpost

 

[Jack Tyler]

I'm going to be facing a different - but in a safety sense, similar - circumstance on single lane county roads with little paved shoulder and high speed cars, Douglas. Multiple strong rear lights seems worthwhile, and I like the redundancy. What do you think of those 'blinkers', which I think I see on the ends of your handlebars. Can you tell if they help drivers anticipate your plans?

Jack

 

[Allan47.7339]

I use a Fly6 on the seat post which is a camera and a blinky. I would prefer a steady second light but it doesn't have that mode.

 

[Douglas Ruby]

I'm going to be facing a different - but in a safety sense, similar - circumstance on single lane county roads with little paved shoulder and high speed cars, Douglas. Multiple strong rear lights seems worthwhile, and I like the redundancy. What do you think of those 'blinkers', which I think I see on the ends of your handlebars. Can you tell if they help drivers anticipate your plans?

Jack

Jack, the Winglights probably help as turn indicators. However, they are not overly bright. Still should use hand signals as well.

Doug

 

[Douglas Ruby]

Jack, here is an outside view with all of the lights on and the Winglights flashing. Gives you an idea of daytime visibility:

 

[Jack Tyler]

Thanks, Doug. That's quite the handsome machine!

 

[Tonqin]

nice and mint Douglas.
are the mirrors supposed to be mounted on the underside of the bars? i didn't see instructions in mine so didn't know...

 

[Douglas Ruby]

..are the mirrors supposed to be mounted on the underside of the bars? i didn't see instructions in mine so didn't know...

Mirror is supposed to be on top of the bar. But then you get a good view of your elbow. I had to bend the mirror stalk to make it work when I mounted the mirror under the bar.