[Westy]

So the weather is still warm but it is pretty much dark by the time I get home from work. My offroad night riding spots are no longer available to me so I was thinking about giving some night road rides a shot. I was going to just run a headlamp, red flasher in the back. Any other tricks to prevent from becoming roadkill?

 

[Wumpus]

I've thought about these --> http://www.tireflys.com/bicycle.html

Get a good rear blinky. Those little three light aren't very bright. I use a nightrider rear that runs off the same battery as my headlight. The Cat Eye TL-LD1000 is pretty neat as it has blinkies that point to the side also.

 

[loco-gringo]

I have a couple of Vista Lite blinkys that are really pretty good. If you don't have a NiteRider system the NiteRider thing is not such a good idea. I think the little tireflys things are illegal here, but I don't really recall what makes me think that.

 

[Heidi]

If you have to ride road at night, wear any possible reflective clothing you can find. Hell, I'd decorate my bike with some battery operated christmas lights or something. It's flat out dangerous to ride road at night. BE CAREFUL!!!

 

[Westy]

If you have to ride road at night, wear any possible reflective clothing you can find. Hell, I'd decorate my bike with some battery operated christmas lights or something. It's flat out dangerous to ride road at night. BE CAREFUL!!!

I figure a bar mounted HID, Helmet mount HID, flashing red rear LED, a high powered LED pointing down at the ground and a glowstick on the helmet I'll probably end up causing some UFO reports. I'll probably ride a slick shot MTB so I can exit the road quickly.

 

[ghostrider]

Dude, the only safe option is to strap five or six tiki torches to your bike. You can carry extra fuel in your camelback bladder.

 

[OGRipper]

I do night road rides now and then but it's kinda sketchy. Seems people are less likely to expect you to be out there than usual. Like others have said, get a couple blinkers and some reflective stuff. There are lots of new reflective fabrics that don't look too dorky in the sunlight. On the other hand, I don't think you need more than one headlamp unless you're worried about batteries or something.

 

[golgiaparatus]

I hate riding at night, I've almost been hit a few times... with the Headlamp. People dont pay attention at night, they only see headlights.

I'd stick to trails at night.

 

[Wumpus]

Strange. I haven't really had any more issues at night than I have during the day.

I really don't like the HID on my head because if you look around you can really blind somebody for a second.

 

[sanjuro]

I like night road rides. The primary road I ride on, Junipero Serra/Alameda, has a wide bike lane/shoulder, and when I start heading back to the urban sections, most people are not freaked to see a cyclist.

When I start a ride at dusk, I usually bring two Niteriders, one for the bar and the other for the helmet. I might skip the helmet light, since 2+ hour rides my neck gets sore. I usually bring two blinkies as well.

One thing I do is to shine my light at drivers on side roads. If they see the light, then they also see me...

 

[loco-gringo]

I feel ok riding at night with a bar mounted HID. I prefer to ride my CX bike in the neighborhood though. The drunk kids could be dangerous.

 

[splat]

As was said Before , Make your self look like a Christmas tree, being seen is more important than seeing

I really don't like the HID on my head because if you look around you can really blind somebody for a second.

I always Use that as a Benefit, Drivers tend to stop when you blind them :biggrin:

 

[loco-gringo]

As was said Before , Make your self look like a Christmas tree, being seen is more important than seeing




I always Use that as a Benefit, Drivers tend to stop when you blind them :biggrin:

Being seen is important. Blinding people is not. Ask a deer.

 

[splat]

Being seen is important. Blinding people is not. Ask a deer.

If I see some one is going to turn left in front of Me. and I don't think the are going to Stop. the blinding technique is quite effective . Drivers are kind of funny that way ( like Deer ) they Stop! when they can't see!

and I dam near hit a Deer in my Head lights last year on a down hill. I really thought I was going to , and When I yelled "Oh Sh1T! " my voice was enough to startle it and make it move.

 

[loco-gringo]

If I see some one is going to turn left in front of Me. and I don't think the are going to Stop. the blinding technique is quite effective . Drivers are kind of funny that way ( like Deer ) they Stop! when they can't see!

and I dam near hit a Deer in my Head lights last year on a down hill. I really thought I was going to , and When I yelled "Oh Sh1T! " my voice was enough to startle it and make it move.

I nearly hit two kids riding the wrong way in my lane on the way down to pick my truck up from the shop. It was before dark, but if it had been, I would have hit them. They were like 12 and yelled at me. I laughed it off, but it won't be funny when they meet a car.

I can see how the blinding thing could work, but you'd swear as most people are here that they are used to being blind and would speed towards the light.

It's sad, I am near the top of the food chain here.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

I wear a blinky on my pack and often ride without a headlight if there's no traffic. If I do have a headlight, I use it intermittently. I like my night vision.

Day or night, I figure that I need to assume that motor vehicles don't know I'm there, and I act accordingly.

 

[DBR X6 RIDER]

I don't f*ck around when it comes to night riding, which I like to do. I have a Nite Rider Mi-Newt headlamp, a typical seatpost-mount rear flasher (5-LED), firefly valvecap leds and a pair of Lumi-X LED's (made by Rav-X). The Lumi-X's mount virtually anywhere on your frame - they're mounted via an elastic strap. I have a clear one on each of my fork legs and a red one on each of my seatstays.
Sure, I look like a rolling rave but the beauty of it is I don't see any of the lights from my position on the bike. Not as many brushes with death since I've gone all-out.

 

[ito]

The Rochester crew does a ton of night rides on the road. We grab the fixies, through on some blinky rear lights and a few people have headlamps or some battery powered front lights. Nothing powerful, but enough to be noticed.

Loads of fun. lots of sprints and some fun urban playthings.

Get a group, it is much better in a group.

The Ito

 

[DBR X6 RIDER]

So true about the group thing. It seems I have way less incidents when riding with even one more rider.