Category: lights

NO SENSE CRYING OVER A LOST TAIL LIGHT

I had two of these BV taillights mounted on the rear of my trike. Yesterday at some point during my ride one of them fell off (unlees someone stole one while I was eating lunch). I didn’t discover it until half way thru my ride. I watched carefully for it as I backtracked my route but someone must have found it and got a nice taillight out of the deal. These are only sold along with their headlight as a set so I can’t just order the taillight. I don’t need another of their headlights as I already have three. It sickens me when I lose a headlight or taillight. Actually I hate losing anything off of my trike. I think I will just stay home and stay in bed. No, that won’t work either. Actually I have extra taillights I can use and already am. This one I lost is only rated at 35 lumen although it seems much brighter than that … closer to 100. This morning I replaced it with a set of 150 lumen  lights I had. The battery charge lasts a lot longer in them anyway so they are probably what I should have been using all along.

Mounted in between these two I have a 350 lumen version of this taillight I can use. It is almost blinding so I rarely use it.

One thing I have noticed is that taking still pictures or videoing bike lights doesn’t do them justice. I videod both of the head lights and the tail lights earlier today and  neither one appear like they do to my eyes. This video of my headlights illustrates my point quite well. I have two BV 300 lumen headlights on flash mode and right below them is a BV tail light. With my eyes this combination is very noticeable. The red really catches one’s attention. However in the video you can barely see the red tail light flashing.

And the tail lights  are very bright, especially the center one. But in the video they don’t appear anything at all the same. One would not even think that they are the same lights.

It is like when I was in the navy out at sea. I used to see some of the most beautiful sun rises and sun sets but when I would take pictures of them they didn’t look anything like what I saw with my eyes. I was always so disappointed in the pictures.

I just bought a taillight with an automatic brake light. I will install it tomorrow and see how that works. Hopefully it is not a waste of money. My biggest concern is the automatic brake light will be too sensitive coming on all the time when I don’t want it to.

I got the brake light mounted today ready to try out. I also mounted my new battery mount. My previous one broke in two and my battery spilled out onto the roadway as I was riding along. So now I have one of my two batteries mounted down low under the seat moving its weight forward. Previously I had both of my batteries mounted on my rear rack which is a lot of weight back there. Now when I lift up my trike to load and unload it from my truck it is much heavier toward the front and noticeably lighter toward the back. It makes it considerably harder to load and unload.

I bought a tail light with turn signals awhile back. They work but the control switch is too dim to see out in daylight so I was never able to use it. The tail light itself along with the turn signals is also too dim to be much good. It would be fine at night but I ride in the day light.

While working on my trike today I discovered that one of my two bike alarms is missing. They were attached to the bottom of the frame (out of sight) using plastic zip ties. I have only been using one of them and so I have not been carrying the other remote control with me. Since I haven’t been using it I haven’t heard the other alarm chirping letting me know it is still there. Oh well, what’s money?

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REPLACEABLE BATTERIES VS RECHARGEABLE LIGHTS

We have a choice between lights which use throwaway batteries or rechargeable batteries. Of course, most lights have “built in” rechargeable batteries. But even if our lights use AA or AAA alkaline batteries we can use rechargeable cells like pictured above. Just be sure you don’t throw the rechargeable batteries away as they are a bit more expensive than those made to throw away. I use to use rechargeable cells but now my lights are all built in rechargeable batteries. I like the rechargeable lights with one exception … they don’t last long enough. That being said … some last longer than others. If you ride several hours a day you might run into trouble with your rechargeable lights not lasting long enough for the entire ride.

My headlights and tail lights are the same brand but the headlights’ charge lasts a lot longer than the tail lights do. So I have additional tail lights I can use if this happens. The problem is I don’t have any way of knowing if and when the tail lights shut off while I am riding. I don’t like that but that is just the way it is. Since I can’t see my tail lights without stopping, getting off and walking around behind my trike I sometimes ask someone if my tail lights are still on and flashing. My headlights’ charge lasts me 2 to 3  days. I have had rechargeable headlights that don’t last long enough for one day of riding. That problem resolved itself as the lights themselves did not last. I ended up throwing them away. I am well pleased with the headlights I have now. The price has come up since I bought mine, but it is still a relatively inexpensive light set to buy at $15.99 thru Amazon.com. The shipping is free for Prime customers. I highly recommend this headlight. It is extremely bright on flash mode and definitely gets attention.  https://tinyurl.com/2cndfvts

The tail lights in the video above are not the ones use daily that I have written about here. The ones I use daily I write of can be seen in the video below. They are the middle set.

I have changed my lighting around several times over the years. The setup I have now is much different than what is shown in this video. I don’t have the top ones at all anymore.

All my tail lights are mounted on the same bar. I have my BV tail lights on the outside ends. A 350 lumen rechargeable tail light is in the center and a AA alkaline battery powered tail light is mounted beside of it. I keep it there just in case my rechargeable tail lights fail me.

I have a free source of AA alkaline batteries from my wife’s employer but I had her stop bringing them home as I had way too many … far beyond what I could possibly use.  I still have quite a few of them left. And I still have rechargeable AA and AAA cells but I haven’t used them for years. When I still used them they lasted longer than the throwaway alkaline cells. So I am saying that I do recommend the rechargeable cells to anyone using removable AA and AAA batteries. They outperform regular alkaline cells.

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SO YOU BOUGHT A RECUMBENT TRIKE … NOW WHAT?

So you bought a recumbent trike … now what? That is a fair question. Do you have any questions? This video addresses some important matters and answers some common questions new trike owners have.

If you still have questions or concerns feel free to address them in comments or you can email me and I will do my best to answer them for you.

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STEADY VS FLASHING LIGHTS

 

Most of us have both headlights and taillights. And most of those lights offer both steady on modes as well as flashing modes. Some questions arise concerning both.

Keep in mind that having these lights is all about our personal safety while we ride. We want to be seen. Is a flashing mode more effective than a steady on mode? Many of us think so. I know I am fully convinced of it. Is it legal to use flashing mode? The answer to that is … “it depends upon where you are at” so it is best to do your homework so you will know the answer to that. To the best of my knowledge and understanding most places here in the United States it is legal. What about after dark? Should lights be flashing or steady on? I say steady on. I would never use flash mode after dark. I think it is distracting and confusing for others … as well as offensive. Again keep in mind that our lights and their use is all about our saftey. After dark a steady on light being constant can be seen continually and allow others to better judge our position  and know what they are seing, but a flashing light has the opposite effect. I personally think some people think they are seeing an emergency vehicle., especially if you happen to have multiple lights in use.

And if you happen to be riding in a group others will certainly appreciate it if you don’t blind and dazzle them with bright flashing taillights … or headlights for that matter.

Over the years I have had many differnt lights and light setups. Here is my current taillight set up. It definitely gets the attention of others. Most of the time I just use the two lights toward the sides and leave the middle one off.

HERE is a good article on this subject.

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BONTRAGER FLARE RT TAILLIGHTS

Amazingly small, amazingly bright … but only if you can get them to work.

I bought two of them about a month ago and plan on taking both of them back for a refund today. I am not impressed with them. They won’t turn on so I have to do a factory reset on them each time to get them to turn on. Also the battery charge does not last very long. I was having this problem with just one of them at first so I took it back and got it replaced under warranty. That was less than a week ago. Now both of them are faulty. Nope, I am not at all impressed. They are expensive junk in my opinion.

 

Bontrager is owned by Trek Bikes and Trek Bikes only carry Bontrager lights in their stores. This light is designed to mount on the seat post of a DF bicycle. Seat posts are angled back so Bontrager makes the mount for this light angled so that the light itself ends up level as you can see in the picture above. This is fine if you are mounting it on a DF bike seat post but it presents a bit of a problem mounting it else where as the light ends up on an angle instead of being straight and level.

 

My inexpensive BV taillights are just as bright and have always worked great. It comes free with a headlight I love which I paid $12 for a few years ago. Now the price is up to $17 the last time I checked. That is still cheap and a great light for the price. I would not want or need anything brighter in the daytime. I have not had any problem with them whatsoever over the years. I will continue using them and save $140 the two Flare RT taillights cost me. Quite honestly I have had poor luck with more expensive brand name lights whether headlights or taillights.

Well, that is my story based on my personal experience. I can not recommend these taillights. Sorry Bontrager. You sell junk as far as I am concerned.

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STUPID Bright

Is it possible to have too bright of lights … front or rear? I say yes. And yet manufacturers keep increasing the power of lights. That would probably be okay if they included lenses which direct the light so it does not shine upward any higher than it needs to be.

But very few manufacturers do this. Most of the lights have the light beam going out 360 degrees shining upward illuminating everything out in front including the eyes of those who don’t appreciate  it. I have only had one headlight thus far with such optics.. I don’t use it as it has more lumens than I care to use in the daytime.

My 300 lumen headlights are certainly guilty of this. They are only rated at 300 lumen but man are they bright! I only use one at a time and I use it on flash mode. The picture below is with both on and on steady mode. That is STUPID  Bright!

Now I have a question to ask you … how bright are you? Riding at night in darkness we need lots of light as long as we are by ourselves.

We need lots of light so we can see the path ahead of us. It is downright dangerous to ride faster than our headlight is illuminating  the path ahead of us. In the daytime when most of us ride we still need lots of light but for an altogether different reason … to be seen by others. With headlights that shine the light beam equally 360 degrees  it does not do much good to aim the light downwards unless we aim it way way down. And if we do that we  then risk others not seeing us at all. So what is a person to do?

I am sure most of us have noticed and complained about newer motor vehicles whose headlights are blinding even on low beam. We often question whether or not they have their headlights on low beam as they are just too bright and seem to be aimed up at our eyes. I doubt very much if anyone is going to do anything about it. We are just stuck with dealing with it. Too bad, so sad! It also seems to be the case with bicycle lights. We want to be seen which means that others are just going to have to deal with it.

I was taught as a young child that if a driver in an oncoming car (truck, etc.) does have his  high beam headlights on and won’t/doesn’t dim them all I can do it look over at the right side of the road … hopefully at a white line painted along the side of the pavement. That is the best I can do in that situation. I would say the same is true for those dealing with our trike headlights. Don’t look at them. And if someone complains about our lights being too bright I suggest apologizing but explaining that I would rather offend someone than get hit by someone who says they didn’t see me.

Every once in awhile I encounter a bicyclist with an extremely bright headlight … so bright that it truly blinds me if I look toward it rather than look away at the side of the road or trail. As far as I am concerned there is no excuse for a cyclist to have such a bright light in use in the daytime. But they are out there and we just have to deal with it. I mean, after all, we can’t hardly shoot their light out. It is stupid and irresponsible to be STUPID  Bright. We all need to follow the commandment of Jesus … “do unto others as we would have them do unto us”.

I know this bicycle lighting subject is somewhat controversial and not everyone agrees with me. I just had someone say to me that my headlight is too bright and blinded the car driver who almost hit me yesterday when they turned in front of me forcing me to brake hard to avoid getting hit. I don’t agree with that person who said this. If this happened quite frequently I would have to consider it as a possibility. My headlight is bright, but it is not STUPID  Bright. BTW, there is a bicycle light named Stupid Bright. They make various lights besides this one I linked to.

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NOT ALL LIGHTS ARE CREATED EQUAL

That’s right … not all bicycle lights are created equal. It is possible to have a 35 lumen taillight appear to be brighter than  a 100 lumen taillight. How can that be you ask? I have written about this subject before. It is all about optics. Some lights just have better optics in them. The term optics here means lenses along with reflectors. They can sure make a big difference in lights. My 300 lumen headlights are amazingly bright on flash mode in the daytime. Anything brighter would be blinding. People find it hard to believe when I tell them they are only 300 lumen. They think they must be at least a thousand or more.

Here is an excellent example of what I mean. Bontrager offers their Flare R City  taillight pictured above. It is very small in size and is rated at only 35 lumen. Years ago 35 lumen was a powerful taillight but nowadays it would be considered low powered. Yet this particular taillight is quite bright. You would have to see it to believe it.

I just bought a 350 lumen Cygolite Hypershot taillight (pictured above). It is extremely bright of course. I would not think of using it at night time as it would be blinding unless it can be “dialed down” sufficiently. But I ride in the daytime almost exclusively and I WANT TO BE SEEN.  Anyway, I have the same brand of taillights in 150 lumen and they are extremely bright as well. 150 lumens was their most powerful taillight when I first bought mine.  Cygolite first came out with a much lower powered taillight and then kept making new models increasing the lumens each time. They have 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and now 350. I wonder what is next.

You don’t want to look at it up close as you will be seeing a dot before your eyes for awhile. Would you believe that the 35 lumen Flare R taillight is as bright as this 150 lumen? It would seem impossible but I have witnessed it with my own eyes.

I have some 35 lumen taillights (pictured above) made by BV that came free with their 300 lumen headlights I use.

The taillights are very bright but they are not as bright as the 35 lumen Flare R City cube. And the battery charge only last 4 or 5 hours on flash mode. At present I am using my new 350 lumen taillight along with two of the 35 lumen BV taillights. They are working very good together. Here is a video of them flashing.

I was going to buy the Bontrager Flare R cubes to use but I already have these BV taillights and they offer much better side visibility. I still have the 150 lumen taillights I can use if the 350 turns out to be too much as in too bright, obnoxious, overbearing. I don’t want to be guilty of “STUPID Bright” which is the title of a soon upcoming article on this website.

I have such a difficult time understanding most British people when they talk. I found another one I wanted to share but I could not hardly understand a word they were saying. This one is a little better.

 

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NICE LIGHT SETUP

I came across this video of a fellow trike rider illustrating the lighting he has on his trike. I really like it. It’s got everything needed … bright headlights, bright taillight, brake lights, side light and turn signals front and back.

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CYGOLITE HOTSHOT PRO TAILLIGHTS

Thru the passing years I have tried a number of different headlights and taillights. Some were near the best available at the time I bought them but as time passed other lights came along which were superior to what I had already bought and had been using. That’s the way the cookie crumbles as they say. Or as a good friend used to say … “you’ll have that!” I have not been much of a fan of USB rechargeable lights for a couple of reasons … 1) the charge often does not last long enough and when it is depleted the light no longer works. It this happens in the middle of a ride it leaves you without a working light. And 2) I have experienced too much trouble with the USB charging ports going bad and the  charging cable plug no longer plugging into the light leaving me with no way to recharge it. So I have purposely stayed clear of most USB rechargeable lights. I do have  6 or 7 rechargeable taillights at this time. One of them is difficult to recharge because of this problem mentioned. Just today I received a new light to replace the one I am having trouble with. This is a  quality control problem in manufacturing as far as I am concerned. From brand new out of the box there were problems with the USB port. I like and want bright flashing taillights and headlights on my trike as I want to be seen. I rarely ever ride at night so I don’t need an extremely bright headlight so I can see where I am going. I just need lights that others can readily see in the daytime. Besides rechargeable lights I also have lights that run on AA and AAA batteries. For taillights I like the Niterider Cherry Bomb 35. I use my Cygolite Hotshot Pro 150 taillights as my main taillights but if they should fail during a ride I have the battery powered lights to use and I carry extra batteries along with me should they fail. Cygolite Hotshot Pro taillights are offered in different brightnesses. When I first bought mine the most powerful one they had was 150 lumens. Since then they have come out with 200 as well as 250. The 150 is plenty bright so I never bought a 200 or 250. They not only cost more but the charge in these models don’t last as long as the 150. I think they come in 50, 80, 100, 150, 200 and 250 lumens. I know one needs to be careful when shopping for them online. You may be looking up 150 but the search results often show other powers and you many not notice this when looking at the search results.

I have changed my light configuration several times over the years. Just recently I made a major change in the taillight dept. I removed all of the battery powered lights and just have the rechargeable lights now. Even the BV 35 lumen taillights are very bright and would do the job all by themselves. They are just smaller than I care for plus the charge doesn’t last long enough in them.They came free with my headlights so the price was right.

Just a side note – – – I have had problems with the USB charging port in one of my tailights. I finally threw the taillight in the trash and ordered another one.

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