Best location for rear lights - thoughts, suggestions, discussion

I did a search and couldn't find anything in regards to talking about where folks have found the best place to run a rear tail light.  I have usually run them on either a saddle bag or the seat post, but recently I have it mounted to the left side upper seat stay.  But I realize that approaching cars behind other cars may not see the light.  I do ride with a yellow back pack, bright yellow windbreaker, and I ride predictably so I am not darting to a fro, or running lights/stops.  

I am by no means against another light, but I don't want to look like a nightclub DJ from the back!  I have been thinking about getting another light, I currently run a PDW Radbot 1000 (REALLY like the light) on the back but couldn't hurt to get another.  

Where have other been running theirs?  Or perhaps where have you seen other cyclists mount theirs and made it more visible?  Perhaps something helmet mounted?  What is making you the most noticeable to our fellow (distracted at times) road users?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

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Permalink Reply by Tricolor on February 14, 2014 at 7:03am

I got a big B&M rear light but it attaches to the rear rack.  It doesn't flash, but has a large bright area.  Plus there's a reflective mark on my bags and some reflective tape on the rack, too.

Permalink Reply by Chitown_Mike on February 14, 2014 at 7:05am

I also have a big reflective strap that goes around my bag, should have mentioned that.

Tricolor is that a dynamo powered light?

Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on February 14, 2014 at 7:12am

I mounted a Pixeo on my rear fender. It's hard mounted so your don't have worry about theft. I also have a PB Turbo on my seatpost set to steady that I use during my commute. 

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on February 14, 2014 at 7:13am

When commuting these days, I have three lights, all blinkers of one sort or another. There is one on top of my helmet, one attached to my backpack, and one that clamps onto my shoe (this one *). The top two are USB rechargeable. The shoe light takes a couple lithium watch batteries, and presumably has a very long run time.

I would rather look like a nightclub DJ than be invisible. Also, for commuting in the dawn/dusk/dark, I think two lights are the bare minimum. I don't always remember to recharge my lights, and cheap blinkies have no indication that they are running low. I will sometimes get where I'm going and find that one or the other of the rechargeable lights has run out. Redundancy is quite valuable in this case.

As for where to place the light, too low makes it less visible and more subject to road crap. If you don't have fenders a seatpost mount would have the same problem. I used to wear a blinkie on the back of my helmet (clipped to the helmet sizer thing) until a friend I was riding with one day pointed out that my backpack obscured it. If you ride with a rack and have occasion to use it, a seatpost mounted light might be obscured by your groceries, garden mulch, or whatever else you're hauling that day.

(*) I don't recommend the shoe light. A friend gave it to me for Christmas. It's a nice concept, blinking and moving. I'm happy to use it, but the switch seems suspect. Here we are in mid-February, and it's already giving me trouble on a fairly regular basis. I doubt the switch will outlast the first set of batteries.

Permalink Reply by Chitown_Mike on February 14, 2014 at 8:13am

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Skip, I do have a rear fender but don't have a rack and have not thoughts of putting one back on (I had one but not the right brackets and it kept coming loose).  What helmet mounted light do you have?  And is it on the top of your helmet or the back?

Permalink Reply by Ryan Stahlman on February 14, 2014 at 8:22am

My vote is for a combo of permanent fender mounted rear light and a helmet mounted rear light. 

Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on February 14, 2014 at 8:29am

Here's a pic of how I hard-mounted a Radbot 1000 light to my fender: 

More pics here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/39056489@N08/sets/72157625775993554/

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on February 14, 2014 at 8:32am

Helmet light is an old version of this Serfas light, mounted on top: https://www.serfas.com/products/view/147/referer:products%7Cindex%7...

The light that's on my backpack now and used to clip onto the sizer of my helmet is an older version of the Blackburn Flea: http://www.swimoutlet.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=27066

(I have no idea why Swim Outlet would sell it, but they do.) I like it clipped to my backpack, because just about anywhere I go other than a weekend road ride, I have my backpack, so I always have some light, no matter what bike I grab, even if I'm just bopping over to Walgreen's or the Metra station.

Permalink Reply by Haddon on February 14, 2014 at 8:47am

The best place for your rear light is on the front of the bike.

Most bike accidents occur when the driver it turning left and crossing the lane and also the path of a biker -or- when the car is making a right and a biker is passing on the right. These account for ~60-75% of BVC (biker vs car) events. Also given the physics of a T-Bone collision these are also the most damaging to the body of the cyclist.

The idea of the driver side swiping is a bit of a myth, most accidents occur when a driver is turning and in the examples below a rear light won't make a difference and a front light would. Given the statistics the best place to put ONE light if that's all you had is pointing forward.  But lights are dirt cheap so don't be stingy about it all. I've been loading up on reflective tape and lights in the aim of making my ride glow like a light saber.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on February 14, 2014 at 9:01am

Since the question was specifically about rear lights, that's how I responded. I have two front lights as well, a Philips SafeRide and a Cygolite something-or-other. The Saferide is on constant (it doesn't have a blink setting), the Cygolite is set to blink.

My only complaint about my Bar Mitts is that they obscure the view of my front lights from the side. I will try and remedy that when I return from vacation, mounting them lower than the handlebars.

Permalink Reply by Chitown_Mike on February 14, 2014 at 9:24am

On the front I am set IMO.  I have a tactical flashlight strapped to the bar that has a "blind" mode on it (did a few tours overseas with my bud before he gave it to me) and a Magicshine 808E that I set to blink.  I have run the Magicshine during the day since it is pretty obnoxious by itself and only run the flashlight at night.

And Skip, I appreciate the diagrams and the info.  I guess I was thinking more about trying to reduce a hit from a direction I cannot control since I have a false sense of control of what is coming at me.  I realize that sounds silly typing it, but never really thought about it from a numbers direction.  Thanks for a bit of a wake up!

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on February 14, 2014 at 9:27am



Chitown_Mike said:

And Skip, I appreciate the diagrams and the info.

Truth in advertising: Those are Haddon's diagrams... :-)

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