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Whether you're dodging impatient cars after a hard day at the coalface, spinning
the pedals on a mid-winter training ride, or caning your favourite singletrack...
nocturnal missions on the treadly without making the ultimate sacrifice are
a constant challenge.
With only modest application of brain and wallet though,
you can significantly increase your visual presence on the road and reduce
your chances of becoming a statistic. NZ law requires you to have a red
or yellow rear reflector of at least 35cm2 in area and either yellow
reflectors on the front and rear of the pedals (clearly SPD pedals are
not standard issue at bureaucracy central) or reflective straps on your
lower legs - at any time of the day or night. At night you also need
a white or yellow 'steady-Eddie' front light and a steady or flashing
red tail light. Both must be visible from at least 100 metres. You can
supplement your steady front light with a white or orange flashing number.
Slightly draconian to us free spirited velo-warriors but a sensible minimum
requirement, although it does over simplify the variables.
Twinkle, twinkle
On the reflector front ... firstly, bigger is not necessarily better. The smaller
the pyramid size in the reflector substrate, the better the reflector. So
a little reflector with small reflective pyramids can outperform a big sucker
with larger pyramids. Secondly, reflectors and reflective clothing (stripes,
etc) only bounce light back in the direction of its source. So in urban areas,
where vehicles have their lights dipped, reflectors on the bottom half of
your body work better than those on the top. And thirdly, movement catches
the eye. Your legs move – hence the reflective logos on each calf on
the Daddy
Long Legs and Jungle
Jims.
You'll want a grunty LED flashing tail light. The latest
incarnations of these are awesome. In fact, trash your existing light
if it's more than a couple of years' old. We're yet to see anything
on the road that outdazzles Cateye's offerings. Check out the benchmark
LD600 (NZ$49) or the multi-directional LD1000 (NZ$59) at www.cateye.com.
A set of penlight batteries last forever (around 30 and 100 hours
respectively). Mount the light high on your seat post. Avoid clipping
it to your body
or backpack – when you bend forward it's nine tenths useless.
New to the reflective market is the Exelite 'safety belt'… a
self-illuminating band worn like a beauty contestant's sash across your
shoulders, and at a stretch over your backpack too. Powered by four AAA
NI/MH rechargeable batteries (smart charger included in the NZ$ ?? price
tag), illumination is generated by radio frequency rather than conventional
incandescent light. Very sci-fi. The resultant Homer Simpson radioactive
green (or alternatively 'boy racer' blue neon) glow is highly visible
at night and through pea-soup fog. Unlike standard reflective material,
you're visible from all angles. What's more, all this Star Trek wizardry
is home grown down at Otago University. Learn more at www.exelite.co.nz
 Full
moon
Up front, the erstwhile undisputed heavyweight champion of the night riding
scene has been the venerable halogen. Alas its glory days appear numbered,
with the advent of super bright LEDs and HID (High Intensity Discharge) lights
that no longer sport a NASA price tag.
For off-road riding more really is better. HID lights are
about four times more efficient than halogens – a 12 watt HID throwing
out the equivalent light of a 50 watt halogen. That'll make you feel
about as well endowed as Sebastian Loeb's Citroën and will suitably
stun errant marsupials in your path. All this machismo comes with a weighty
price tag though. Expect to pay NZ$500-600 for a light, charger and 'top
shelf' lithium ion battery.
www.mtbr.com/spotlight/lightshootout/ succinctly
summarises the options from the major brands. A mate of Ernie's recently
pointed him to an outfit selling a motorcycle version for US$210 plus
freight and tax. Quite a bargain – the compromise is the excessive
cabling, ie. added weight and bulk. Check out... www.batteryspace.com
The latest LED technology is very impressive and gets better
by the moment. They are compact, produce a lot of very white light, and
run on the smell of an oily rag. The brightest models throw out roughly
the equivalent amount of light to a 12 watt HID… and will run almost
all night at lower outputs. As you'd expect with cutting edge technology,
prepare to mortgage your bike to get the good stuff – about the
same as a top quality HID (NZ$500-600). Cateeye.com and Nightlightning.co.nz have 'double meat and bacon' models that are worth a gander. However
most manufacturers are touting new models to be released over the next
year.
If all these acronyms are too intimidating for your wallet,
then you should be able to source a 20 watt halogen and Ni-MH battery
for NZ$200-400. Alternatively, build your own. You can bolt together
a basic system with standard auto-electrical parts and lead acid battery
for around a hundred bucks. www.jeremyb.net/projects.html has
step-by-step instructions or ask around at your local club.
Power to the people
Choose either a nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) or lithium ion (Li-Ion) battery
to fuel your headlight. Ni-MH batteries are used in most new lighting systems.
They're lighter and boast longer burn times than 'legacy' Ni-Cad batteries.
State-of-art Li-Ion batteries (like those used in laptops) weigh a third
less than Ni-MH, but cost twice as much and are a tad more temperamental.
The old workhorse lead acid 'gel cells' are very cheap but are about twice
the weight of a Ni-MH equivalent. Whatever power source you choose, it's
important to follow the prescribed charging regime to avoid shagging your
expensive battery. Modern batteries no longer need to be fully discharged
(this was only the case for the old Ni-Cads), and in the case of lead acid
batteries it's important not to run them completely flat.
… like a dog's bollocks
Back on the tarmac, headlight choice is about being seen rather than seeing.
A 5-10 watt halogen with a separate rechargeable Ni-Cad or Ni-MH battery
is ample, and reasonably priced at around NZ$100-200. You get a couple of
hours burn time and loads of presence amongst the traffic. But when the battery
runs out of puff the light fades fast and without warning. You need a back
up - a small LED is the go. There's any number to choose from but once again
Cateye has a snappy solution with the ultra-compact HL-EL400 (NZ$59). Three
AAA batteries provide 80 hours of glow (160 hours in flash mode). It is extraordinarily
bright, especially front on, but is still dwarfed by the halogen. The two
lights in tandem are cheap insurance to ensure you don't end up decorating
some car's front bumper.
Right height
For travelling in traffic, mount your lights on the handlebars so they're at
the height motorists expect to see them. With helmet mounted jobs you may
be mistaken for a coal miner rather than a cyclist travelling at speed. And
while it's tempting to shine them directly into cars so the driver knows
you're there, with a high output light you risk the blindingly obvious consequences.
Off-road, helmet mounted lights let you shine them in the
direction you're looking, rather than where the bike is pointing. Great
for twisty single track. However they produce less shadowing than the
handle bar versions so it can be more difficult to spot terrain changes
and obstacles. If you're limited to a single light then go for the helmet
mount. A combination of both is a fabulous money-no-object solution.
May the force be with you.
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