Charge of the shite brigade/Mind out for him, he's a cycle-path.

[hirez]

Vaguely serious point follows, but first the scores:

Serious commute/roadie types with LED-deathray lighting: Lots.
Serious types who've worked out how to dip¹ said deathray: Four.

Amorphous medium-vis blobs with glow-worm-in-jar kit: Six or eight.
Glow-worm-pilots who complain they're blinded when I dip¹ my own deathray: One.

Tourette's suffering roadies: One².


I think LEDs have reached the brightness/popularity point where one really needs 'dip' and 'high-beam' modes.

It seems to me that there are two useful options and a useless one.

The useless one is 'Don't keep a LED-deathray because you're blinding other bike-pilots'. Since (Lots - (Four + Me)) other cyclists are unbothered about blinding other people, it's all a bit game-theory. I also like being able to see where I'm going and avoid dog-botherers. And stupid fucking pedestrians in black clothing.

Useful option one is 'Hack your lighting rig such that it's got a remote dip-switch.' I imagine this is theoretically possible with a L&M Vega, since repeated presses of the 'go' button cycle through the available lighting modes. However, this would require wholesale warranty-voiding and likely tying the thing to one bike.

Useful option two is to run a LED-deathray pointed up the road next to a glow-worm pointed at the front tyre (Or pair of deathrays ditto) and just turn off the bright one when approaching another cyclist.

Car drivers can whistle, frankly.



1: In this case 'dip' means 'cover right-hand-side of lens with finger such that there's enough light to still see the edge of the track, somewhat like what I remember Cibie Z-Beam headlights used to do.

2: One can only assume something unfortunate had happened to an expensive bike. He came swearing past me not far out of Bath, and vanished into the murk. Some minutes later, I come upon a high-vis pair bent over a bike not far from Bitton station. 'Fucking cunt!' one of them is going. I pedal on and stop for a half-time energy bar at Bitton. Mr. Sweary is only a few seconds behind me, since he comes steaming through the car-park as I'm pulling a glove off, yelling 'FUCKING CUNT!' at the top of his lungs.

Comments

[edwards.livejournal.com]

My bike has a Cat-Eye dual light rig (plus a third Nightstick one); there's a remote switch. Being a car driver, I understand high/low beams, I use my wide beam normally, and switch the spot on for appropriate areas. Downside is compared to LEDs these are power hungry, heavy and dim. They're also a fraction of the price.

Still, it's not exactly rocket science, is it?

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

Oi! As a frequent late-night Pedestrian In Black Clothing, I resemble that remark!

(I almost always have an escape plan involving diving into a ditch, though. Also, usually when I get hit by a car, the car comes off worse, so cyclists should beware.)

[hirez.livejournal.com]

I've been looking for the LJ entry where I nearly walloped into some black-clad twit a couple of years ago, but I can't find it.

I fear if I had hit that one, physics would have been on my side.

[christiffer.livejournal.com]

http://www.sniffpetrol.com/AdVisiGoth.jpg

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Found it: http://hirez.livejournal.com/231602.html

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite that bad -- if there's no pavement, I do at least walk on the right. Quite often I have a torch in my hand to illuminate me if I think a car's not seen me, too...

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

The instruction pack for Dinottes specifically recommends dipping. But they're easy to adjust on the fly as they're only held on with a glorified rubber band.


ION, My First Carradice arrived this week. The beard's on its way and the CAMRA membership's in the post.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Ah. The Vega's firmly bolted and is a MTB thing.

I trust you bought the Nathan Barley model.

[jarkman.livejournal.com]

Would a mechanical hack work, with two positions for your deathray ? Then you just click it downwards a notch to dip it.

In marginally-related news, I've replaced most of the 12v halogens in our kitchen with LEDs like this: http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/u16hb15cw-mr16-acdc-cool-white-angle-lumen-p-1994.html

Colour temperatures are a bit funny, but I am installing several sorts to average it all out a bit. Bulb cost payback is about a year.

[sarah-mum.livejournal.com]

Speaking of cycling. This http://www.cicleclassic.co.uk/ is happening in April and goes past our front door. Come up for a visit?

[hirez.livejournal.com]

And also this: http://www.cicleclassic.co.uk/cyclosportif2009_301184.html