Super Bright Bike Lights: Annoying? Arms race?

Is it just me or are some of these front bike lights getting more and more annoyingly bright and blinding, to the point where it's rude to other bikers?

First we had 500 lumens.  Then 750. Then 1000.  Now 3000 lumens. I get that you want to illuminate the road and alert others to your presence, but I feel like it's getting out of control.

It's like when you're driving a car, and someone in oncoming traffic is driving with their brights on -- it's widely considered rude, it blinds oncoming drivers, it's dangerous, etc.  A lot of times drivers will blink their lights at someone who's driving w/ their brights on, as in, "Hey dude, turn off your gdf'n brights!"

I commute on the Lake Front bike path, and when someone comes up with one of these blindingly bright lights, you can't look directly forward and you have to look away, which is a bit dangerous.  Also, b/c the light is so bright, you can't see anything behind that biker.

Again, I do get that you want to have some light, and certainly something so that other bikers and cars and pedestrians can clearly tell you're there, but these lights are getting TOO bright.

So what do you think, are these ultra-bright lights obnoxious, or are they just fine?

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on January 7, 2012 at 1:11pm

Agreed. In hindsight I should have gone for a dynamo hub, combined with a good European light (B&M?)

Oh well, there is always my next bike.

James BlackHeron said:

+1

Plus I can run my headlights FOREVER -as well as have strong modulatable brakes right up to lockup on the front wheel.

Safety is paramount.  I often run my lights all the time -being seen is staying alive.

Duppie said:

My own safety is paramount. I have an 800 lumen headlight, and I will use it if I need to. Get used to it. I keep it pointed downward.
There is another advantage to high powered lights: they have increasingly longer run-times on lower power settings. I can run mine at 200 lumens for 5-6 hours. And mine is a 4 year old led. The latest batch can run at the same brightness for 10 hours. That means I have bright light that I only need to charge once a week
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 7, 2012 at 1:21pm

I'm thinking of upgrading my B&M Halogen with the newer LED Lumotec Lyt T Senso Plus that just came out this year from Peter White Cycles.

Wish the prices of nice LED lights would come down a little bit.  In order to do that more people are going to need to discover and start using them to get an economy of scale. 

Permalink Reply by Kevin K on January 7, 2012 at 8:54pm

I didn't say people should or should not be allowed to use ultra-bright headlights lights on their bikes. I was just curious, and therefore asked, if anyone else found them somewhat obnoxious.

For instance, here's the catalog description of one 1000 lumen light. "Cygolite Centauri 1000: For competitive riders, the CENTAURI-1000™ fires over 1,000 lumens of blindingly powerful light wherever you ride."  These lights are now up to 3000 lumens.

So yes, I do find it a tad annoying having "blindingly powerful light" fired in my face. But I guess I'm just a big baby.


kiltedcelt said:

This is what I do when confronted with really bright oncoming lights. If I see a cyclist coming towards me with a super bright light I tilt my head forward so that my helmet visor helps block some of the brightness and I focus more on the trail ahead and to the right rather than looking directly towards the oncoming brights. With that being said, I do run a fairly bright front light myself and it is pointed so that it illuminates basically only about 30 to 40 feet in front at the most. However, it is intended to do a good job of illumination so I have no doubts that it's a bit annoying to some other riders. As was mentioned before by some other posters, I'm gettin' on in age and don't see as well at night as I used to, so I run my "brights" when I get onto the southbound portion of the LFP that is not nearly as well lighted as the more northern sections. The southbound path is also a whole lot more crappy than the northbound sections so I need that bright light to make sure I'm staying away from the severely spider-webbed cracks along the sides of the path as well as the numerous rim-ruining pot holes on the southern section. I pass some guys sporting lights a whole helluva lot brighter than mine and I do just fine, so quit being a baby and stop telling the rest of us what gear to use and how to use it.

Michael J Blane said:

I always ride with my rechargeable LED light turn on, don't know the lumens.

Center of beam hits the road about 2 car-lengths in front of me and about 3' to the right of center. It's full-on bright for my 5:00am ride to work (westward on streets, not LFP) during daylight hours it's on flash.

I like the idea of motorists seeing me.

--

I remember from my drivers' ed classes (in the '60s) that if oncoming lights were to bright, you were to watch the right side of the roadway; not looking at the lights. It helps some, and keeps your irises from constricting as much.

--

"Communists hate lights" hahahaha

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on January 7, 2012 at 9:43pm
Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on January 7, 2012 at 9:49pm

Too much sexiness, yeah.  

Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on January 8, 2012 at 4:01am
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 8, 2012 at 4:20am

I can see why they ban blinking lights for bicycles in Europe.

Flashing lights are extremely distracting and cause disorientation to other road  users.  It's sometimes hard to tell where a flashing light even IS as it tends to jump around because of the strobing effect.  I don't use the flashing/blinking effect of my own lights, but only use the side-to side blinking progression that looks sort of like the old-style cylon eye that moves slowly horizontally back and forth in my tail light.  The eye tends to pick up side-to-side motion very well.  Flashing/strobing lights are distracting.  The brighter and slower they flash the more distracting an disorienting they can be.  

Flashing lights should be reserved for emergency vehicles only -the types of vehicles one SHOULD be pulling over and stopping for.  When one is pulled over and stopped the distraction isn't a problem -the whole purpose of the flashing lights are to get your attention and make you stop.  When bikes use a flashing/blinking light I feel it not only takes away from the effect of emergency vehicles but it also is dangerous as many other road users cant really tell where on the road a flashing light is because of the way our eyes move rapidly.  The flash of the light doesn't really correspond to where the eye is when the light is perceived.  Sometimes it looks to the eye like the flashing light is not at all where it really is.  This is mitigated somewhat by a flasher that flashes more often so that the visual receptors in the brain can place the flashing light's location better in the field of vision.  The slow-flashing strobes are the worst.

Like others have said it's not about the brightness as it is the aim.  Very few (if any) bicycle lights are brighter than modern car headlights.  But when those are aimed properly other cars and even us bikes don't have an issue with it all.  For the people who are having an issue with bright bike lights what do you do when you are riding on the road with all the car headlights? 

Permalink Reply by Allen Wrench on January 8, 2012 at 4:32am

I think there should be a special permit for Thunder Snow to ride with that whenever he wants.

The lights with an asymmetric beam pattern like the B&M Cyo and Schmidt Edelux are great, don't blind oncoming traffic if aimed right, and run off a hub or tire generator forever without needing batteries. But you don't have to get them from Peter White Cycles - he has good info on his website but Boulevard Bikes usually carries a small selection of items, JC Lind often has some, and Rapid Transit has them sporadically. PW gets his cut - he is the wholesaler.

The expensive ones are brighter in my experience but the Lyt and Oval Plus which were as cheap as $23 at one point are still much brighter than a blinky and good for a dark path. I run them off old Union tire generators from Working Bikes or a Dynohub.

With a rear light like the B&M standlights and a standlight LED headlight your bike becomes an all season vehicle - much more visible in traffic during the day and at night, in rain and fog, and seems to earn the respect of other drivers, who leave me more room when the lights are on. I don't notice the drag of the hub at all, the tire generator isn't bad when adjusted properly.

There's a post about dynamo lights on Chicargobike.blogspot.com, linked in the top right of the page.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 8, 2012 at 4:58am

I run with my lights on all the time as well.  I do not even feel the drag.  What is 3 watts?  Really?  I'm fat and can use losing a bit more weight.  When I'm down to my perfect body mass maybe I'll start to complain about wasting energy pedaling a little bit harder getting where I am going  Until then it's just a better workout.

The one thing I don't like about my light set-up is that when I turn it OFF when I get to where I am going the stupid stand lights don't turn off.    The lights continue to burn for 5-8 minutes after I park the bike and I sometimes get people telling me that "You left your lights on!" -which can get old after a while.  And I feel that the bike gets a little too much attention and makes me nervous about theft.  

I love the standlights, don't get me wrong.  But when I flip that switch OFF the lights should turn OFF.  I know there is a capacitor that keeps the lights going when stopped but that should only happen when the bike lights are set to ON.  When it is turned off the capacitor should be shorted and drained down so that the lights turn OFF.

It's sort of an annoying pet peeve I have with the lighting system I have now (B&M Lumotech w/ Standlight and Spanninga tail light -all running off of Sturmey-Archer 3w 6v Dyno hub with 90mm hub brake)  Other than that tiny flaw I really like it.  I'd like to upgrade someday to an LED from the Halogen but it does fine for me most of the time.  If I do upgrade eventually I'll try and get one that turns OFF when I hit the OFF switch -but still have a standlight that works when the light is ON but the dyno  is not turning. 

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on January 8, 2012 at 8:46am

'Tis simple: If you choose to ride at night, show respect. Be courteous. Ride safely by not shining a bright light into the eyes of your fellow riders, drivers, roller bladers, joggers, walkers, pets, men, women, boys, girls, the elderly, birds, squirrels and bunnies. Remember the golden rule.

Permalink Reply by Craig S. on January 8, 2012 at 8:51am

I've got a SUPER bright Niterider light that I purchased 11 years ago and it's still running strong.  Love it.

Personally, I can think of a hell of a lot more things to be irritated about than approaching bikes with what you deem are lights that are too bright, but that's just me.

Cheers.

Permalink Reply by Minh on January 8, 2012 at 9:13am

What a ridiculously snarky response. A cars headlights are usually in low beam mode and the light is spread out and not densely focused unless they have their high beams on.

What I've encountered on the LFP are riders with super bright light systems that one can see from hundreds of yards away. When they come up on you, you can't even glance in their direction because the focused beam is blindingly bright and usually pointed directly at your face.

Here's an example:



James BlackHeron said:

Like others have said it's not about the brightness as it is the aim.  Very few (if any) bicycle lights are brighter than modern car headlights.  But when those are aimed properly other cars and even us bikes don't have an issue with it all.  For the people who are having an issue with bright bike lights what do you do when you are riding on the road with all the car headlights? 

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