Aside from wheels staying in one piece and the frame holding together, the thing we take most for granted when riding a bike is how our bodies instinctively respond to and absorb bumps. The human body is, in fact, an incredible shock-absorber; our arms and legs are capable of flexing and shifting in ways that no mechanical suspension is capable of and reacts at near-instantaneous speed to the intelligence streaming in from the ocular system. Remove the power of sight from the equation and the effect is staggering.
My first encounter with night riding was during a 24-hour mountainbike race in Minnesota. Until that race, I had taken care to always ride during the day, partly because I couldn’t afford a reasonable headlight and partly because I could always arrange my training to take place during daylight. A 24-hour race, however, held distinct implications for nighttime riding.
I never bothered practicing riding at night, and I didn’t bother with buying a proper headlamp. Instead, I recommissioned my semi-reliable headlight which I used for nordic ski training in the dark winter months. The week before had also seen the decommissioning of my first-generation Rock Shox which had always graced the front-end of my beloved Schwinn mountainbike, made of what I assume were sand-filled tubes. I didn’t maintain the shock the way a shock should be maintained, and with its death came the rebirth of the fixed fork that had originally steered the machine.
I don’t need to go into detail on the race, but suffice to say that my headlamp stopped functioning within minutes on the first nighttime lap and that I rode the remainder of the race by the light of the moon and my insufficient instincts. Climbing was unpleasant, flats were uncomfortable, and descents were a blend of suicide and anarchy. Each bump the front wheel found blew through my unprepared arms and cascaded through my body, usually focussed on the saddle which ungracefully found its way to my crotch whether I was sitting on it at the time or not.
With this induction into the dark art of night riding, it has been something I’ve typically done with some reluctance. In other words, I’ve avoided it like the plague. Living in Seattle and having the privilege of a fulltime job does have certain ramifications on riding in daylight hours in Winter; namely that it isn’t possible. With the introduction of a good headlight comes the surreal solidarity of riding cocooned in a cone of light. The shorted line of sight together with the elimination of one’s peripheral vision has an inexplicable calming effect despite the sense that you can’t properly judge the bumps in the road as your headlight briefly illuminates them, and that every puddle looks like a small lake whose depth cannot be judged until you’re on top of it.
I’ve ridden with a Mammut Zoom headlamp and a Lezyne Super Drive, both of which served the purpose of making nighttime riding slightly less terrifying. But with my new 45km commute, I moved to the Lezyne Mega Drive, which is basically a car headlight refactored to fit on a handlebar. I heard that the lights in small villages dim when I turn it to full power and I’ve noticed that deer come running towards it when I ride by with the mistaken belief that it signals the arrival of a deity.
Never one for half-measures, I still mount the Super Drive on the helmet and the Mega Drive on the bars; its like riding with the Eye of Sauron on your bike. Oh, and I have three different red flashers on the back of the bike and another white flasher on the front. You know, just in case.
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@frank @Oli @brett
Whilst I hesitate to agree with Brett's agreement with me, I do not mind disagreeing with you other two who can never agree with each other. It is not just about lumens - its is about how a light is focused. And if you have a bright light that is very focused - like Fronk's 1000 lumen bike light - you end up temporarily blinding cunts who look directly into the light.
People need to use their judgement - I say that light strength assisting one to be seen will plateau at some point - even on unlit country roads. Any stronger than that and you are putting other road users at risk. And you are being a rude cunt.
Rather than increasing lumens on the front, you would probably improve your safety by putting lights in your spokes - they look cool from side on - and by wearing a YJA.
This argument - which has no way of anyone being found correct - could go on for weeks. I am in.
For what its worth I go with an Xposure that is about 4 years old that allegedly kicks out 720 lumens max that I only ever run on half power.
In the winter here in NZ I do a lot of training at night on the road in the forest so it gets pitch black. I use a 900 lumen light and under 30kph you can see everything. Over 30kph you can see the road fine but can't see the potholes in time so I stick to roads that I know well. I have clocked over 75kph on descents with this and if I could I would go brighter. 900 lumen is still not close to the brightness of car lights and when I get back onto lit roads amongst traffic I switch to flashing as you sometimes get lost amongst the rest of the traffic. Get the brightest lights you can afford.
Cars run about 2 x 700 lumens on low beam and up to 2 x 3000 lumens on high beam. Some HID systems run to 2 x 5000 lumens. Try beating that.
I have 2 or 3 Korg flasher clones on the back, and one on the front.
I also have a "Trustfire 1800" as a main light on the front. The 1800 is supposed to mean 1800 lumens - not sure it really is that much, but it does have a XPE-R2 main lamp AND two Cree XML-T6 outrigger lamps. It's brighter than a car light.
@Paul riding at speed in dark has just as much to do with light strength than it does about spread - I am betting that you actually "see" potholes at 75k but you only see them when you are about to hit (due to the much more focused and closer spread of a bike light versus a car light). The greater the beam is spread the lesser the "brightness" in a specific spot. Hence a 1000 lumen bike light can be a lot more blinding than a car light with greater lumens. Am very close to speaking out of my arse here (even closer than usual) but I believe this is the way it goes.
@Paul
Intrigued by the conversation I did some experimentation on the ride home. Helmet light only was fine in the city at low speed. As soon as the speed kicked up, the Mega was mandatory to see the road and what was coming in the way of debris. (It's been storming here.) on the country roads, the two lights together were like high beams on the car, the Mega pointed low and wide, the helmet out far for breadth. Amazing
It also appears that Lezyne added a notch into the helmet mount which lets you snap it into low-beam mode to keep from blinding others.
Here are the priorities as I see them:
1. Be visible from behind
2. Be able to see adequately for personal safety
3. Be considerate of those on the road with you and doubt point your light at the moon
Oh, and when the heavens opened up and the animals started lining up in pairs, I would have mounted six Megas and four super drives if I could have.
@frank
Seems logical. OK I'm going to big on light, the main reason being that my riding will be night on country lanes little or no traffic at all so consideration for others is probably a minor issue, I already have smaller lights for riding round lit streets and open roads in the moonlight, I am really looking for something akin to an Arc Light so that I can see the road ahead for some distance...particularly seeing as country lanes here tend to have pretty poor surfaces.
I like the functionality of the megadrive but probably need to invest in helmet light too which I don't have...
@brett I'm not advocating setting out with my lights angled in such a way that I'm going to be shining them straight into the faces of oncoming drivers. I tend to get rather fucked off with cars with poorly adjusted headlights and I make sure that my lights are angled down in such a way that they are going to light up the area of road in front of me that will allow me to pick out and avoid any hazard in good time at 30mph. I'm certainly not lighting up more road ahead of me than a car on low beam would. Set up like that I can't see how my lights are any more offensive than a car's.
Riding on the road I don't use a helmet mounted light but if there is a lot of traffic or the visibility is very poor I will use a flashing light on the front - a constant light in those conditions is too easily lost in the background clutter.
On the back, I use a Hope light that, on it's highest output, causes drivers to crash long before they get anywhere near me. it's always fun watching them explode in my helmet mirror.
@Nate
YES! I like this story from the past. I'm guessing you are alluding to Gu, that wacky stuff?
Does the Eye of Sauron now hold my nice usb headlight cap?
I took the darn thing off the other night to charge it and was rushing around all over the place doing far too many things. Now I can't find it and it's driving me mad. I'm blaming the cats at this point, since why else would I take the cap off to charge it and put it somewhere stupid? (considering how much I was doing at once...it might just be in my tool box top, in a pocket, on a mantel, etc.)