# bike lights on bike paths



## tim-h (Jun 26, 2009)

Now that it's dark so early there are more people out on the paths with their lights shining. 

Why does almost every person on the path have to be such a whiny baby when it comes to passing someone with your light on? I can see the courtesy of covering your light if you remember or if you see the person, but it really shouldn't be offensive if you don't.

Yesterday I was riding and it was late dusk. There was a guy coming toward me with his lights off and no reflective clothing. I didn't even see him until he was about 10 feet away and as I pass he starts yelling at me about covering my light and how he was blinded. 

Are you kidding me? If you can't handle the light from an oncoming bike maybe you shouldn't be riding at night. On top of that, it's extremely annoying and inconvenient to take your hand off the bar and cover a light every 30 seconds because someone else is coming down the path. What do these people do when they are driving at night?! Just look past the damn thing and pull your panties out of your butt.

I passed some people that had way brighter lights than I'm using that didn't cover theres. Guess what I did? I kept riding because it didn't bother me and I didn't care at all. Thank you /end of rant


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## HIMEHEEM (Sep 25, 2009)

I find the roads more comfortable than the bike paths, and more predictable.


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## Ride-Fly (Mar 27, 2002)

Whiny *****es. My headlamp is very bright and I used it for the first time today. Btw, light and motion 360 rocks huge lightness!!! Never occured to me that people would ***** about it but ya know there are just a bunch of whiny *****es everywhere. I hear ya bud.


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## masfish1967 (Mar 3, 2010)

I say get yourself a 1400 lumen light and blast it -


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## PomPilot (May 17, 2006)

tim-h said:


> ...Yesterday I was riding and it was late dusk. There was a guy coming toward me with his lights off and no reflective clothing. I didn't even see him until he was about 10 feet away and as I pass he starts yelling at me about covering my light and how he was blinded.


If you were blinding him at 10 feet, your headlight is obviously aimed incorrectly. If it was mounted on your handlebar, you should have picked him up at least 30 feet out. What type of headlight are you using, and where is it mounted? Also, where is it aimed?

FWIW, my headlight is a Planet Bike Blaze, 2 watt mounted on the left fork just above the rack braze on. On the right side I use a Blackburn Voyager 3.3, set to blink mode. The right side one focuses on the ground 25 feet ahead, and is visible to oncoming traffic without shining in someone's eyes. The left one is focused about 30 feet ahead, with a cone of light that extends farther forward, and it still doesn't shine in oncoming eyes.


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## martinrjensen (Sep 23, 2007)

It's because the bike lights now are so bright it's hard to tell if it's a bike or a motorcycle coming at you when it's mis-aimed, and half the time it's mis-aimed because the person with the light doesn't realize how important it is to lower the beam for oncoming traffic. It's way past the old school bike light of just giving minimal illumination. today's lights are as bright as car headlights and literally can (temporarily) blind you when they are oncoming. I have been quite understanding up to this point but I am loosing my patience with these bright mis-aimed lights. Saying this, I have a 32 watt NiteRider dual headlamp that is no slouch it's self and I am very conscious of putting my hand over it to oncoming bikers. I also stay off the bikes paths whenever possible, and only ride on roads where it's not really as much of an issue.


tim-h said:


> Now that it's dark so early there are more people out on the paths with their lights shining.
> 
> Why does almost every person on the path have to be such a whiny baby when it comes to passing someone with your light on? I can see the courtesy of covering your light if you remember or if you see the person, but it really shouldn't be offensive if you don't.
> 
> ...


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## tim-h (Jun 26, 2009)

Nah, it's not mis aimed, in fact it's aimed a bit to the right and the hotspot is about 15-20 feet out as to no blind anyone oncoming.

In reply to PomPilot, that's why I made a point of saying late dusk. It was the point where the lights do almost nothing but you still have a hard time seeing anyone else. Especially if they don't have their lights on, have nothing reflective on themselves or their bikes, and are dressed in gray while it's raining.

Of course 10 feet was an exaggeration. It was a bit farther than that, and by the time I saw him he was already pissed off and yelling, meaning he could have been 100 feet out by the time he thought he was blinded.

My light is just a trinewt. I realize it's more of a flood beam, but it's only 486 lumens in hi mode, probably 1/2 to 3/4 that in low and the dispersed light outside the hot spot definitely isn't near blinding. By the way, I got people flashing their lights at me in an angry manner if I didn't cover it when it was in low mode too.

edit: It's on my bar, right side. I love the idea of mounting it lower, like on the fork, but then I'd definitely not be able to cover it.

There aren't motorcycles on the rails to trails or paved bike paths(not talking bike lanes on the road) so that's not the problem. I love that you said some bike lights are almost as bright as car headlights though, that's an excellent point. If you're riding on the road do you expect the cars to turn their headlights off every time you ride toward them? When you're driving your car do you see someones headlights are you blinded? If that were the case you shouldn't be driving or riding at night.

edit: I think for now I'll fabricate a visor so it doesn't light the peripheral as much. I still don't think it should be an issue and if people still have a problem they can just deal with it.


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## traffic002 (Sep 14, 2009)

The trinewt and my minewt and my flashlights all have flood beam patterns. They are no where near as bright as automotive headlights, but they do not have cut-off optics either. So more of the light goes "up."

I try to look down when I'm about to pass a rider. And I try to look away from an oncoming rider with bright lights.

I think we'll just all have to grow thicker skin and also find practical techniques to be courteous to each other.

I know on the trails that it is courtesy to look down when passing oncoming riders. If you are stopped, then cover your lights. If you are riding, not much you can do since you don't want to take your hands off your bar. That's just the way it goes.


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## B2 (Mar 12, 2002)

tim-h said:


> Nah, it's not mis aimed, in fact it's aimed a bit to the right and the hotspot is about 15-20 feet out as to no blind anyone oncoming.


Sounds about right, but occasionally I run into guys that have their lights pointed waaay too high. It can be pretty scary when you're zipping along a narrow trail at good clip and become blinded for 5 seconds or so. It doesn't sound like a long time, but it only takes a second or two to shift your line of travel over a foot or two without knowing you did. Whether or not your light is pointed in someone's eyes is something that should be seriously considered when mounting a light.


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## martinrjensen (Sep 23, 2007)

the point I was trying to make was that yes, some of these bike lights are as bright as car lights and I think some riders don't really realize that aiming is now of critical importance. It never used to be that way, used to be you stuck on a headlamp any old way and it was OK mainly because it didn't really do anything. 
When riding on the street, I stay off to the side and rarely do the headlamps of an oncoming car come into play regarding my vision. That's not the case when I'm driving but we are not talking about that, just on a bike. I'm fine on the roads. If you are getting a lot of people who are coming at you complaining about your lights being too bright I would have a hard time believing that your lamps are not mis-aimed regardless of what you think. You will always get an occasional person complaining, but you shouldn't get a lot of them.


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## tim-h (Jun 26, 2009)

Yeah reading over your post again I saw what you meant about aiming. I'm confident on mine being aimed right. If you don't aim a trinewt properly you really don't benefit from having it at all. I'll take a picture if I remember.


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## bahueh (May 11, 2004)

People will ***** and whine about nearly everything. turn it on high, aim it right, be safe, and screw em. i've found a brighter light to command much more respect on the road from drivers than a 10$ front blinkey. Drivers no longer cut me off, pull out of in front of me at night, etc. My 900 lumens aren't going anywhere.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

The only commute I ever had that used MUTs was in Hawaii and my morning commute found them pretty empty. I mount my headlight on my handlebars so I don't have to worry about blinding someone by looking at them. I used to pass a guy every morning who had a helmet mounted HID. As I approached him I would remind him to keep looking forward. One morning he turned and looked at me as I rode by and I had to stop because his headlight had pretty much blinded me. I continued my ride a minute later and saw blue dots for the remainder of my commute. 

I have a NR HID headlight with a universal mount so I would rotate it down a little on the MUT. I focused the beam about 50 feet in front of my bike. Even rotated down, I would still see the reflective strip on running shoes 200+ feet ahead of me.


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## RJP Diver (Jul 2, 2010)

bigbill said:


> bike lights on bike paths


For some reason I couldn't help but read the subject line of this thread in Julie Andrew's voice...

Bike lights on bike paths and whiskers on kittens
Toe clips and frame pumps and warm woolen mittens
Packages from Nasbar all tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things!


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## Argentius (Aug 26, 2004)

Well played!

In seriousness I try to cover my HID, now that I have it, on the trail, for oncoming riders. It's just polite.

It's one thing when I am on the street, with streetlights and tons of cars... on the trail, it is dark and the bike lights are the only lights around, all of a sudden 900 lumens is pretty bright, no matter how well adjusted. Whammo!

I am learning that is the thing with it. I can put it on "dim" mode but that is still pretty darn bright.

And, that Trinewt -- despite being "only" 450 lumens, it is brighter than many "750 lumen" lights I've seen, and the flood pattern is pretty wide. It's a good light...





RJP Diver said:


> For some reason I couldn't help but read the subject line of this thread in Julie Andrew's voice...
> 
> Bike lights on bike paths and whiskers on kittens
> Toe clips and frame pumps and warm woolen mittens
> ...


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## c_rex (Jun 3, 2010)

I spent a very harrowing week visiting a friend in an ICU unit after she was hit by a bicycle (-ist). She lost teeth, had her skull drilled and spent 3 months recovering her memory in hospital. I think path people can deal with a little bit of light in their eyes. The world is full of complainers.

Nice little dity RJP Diver!


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