kenseth03

As the evenings get shorter I am faced with the fact that if I want to do any riding I may have to do a majority of it after dark. I really don't dig this since I live in the country and it is creepy (yeah as a man I can admit this) when riding in the dark out here. I have plenty of lighting for my bike so I guess that will help. Anyone else doing any night riding?

flip18436572

I do dark riding, but it is not usually at night, it is usually early in the morning. Make sure you have a good lighting and reflector system. I use a flashing red on the back of the bike and I have a nashbar headlight. I will wear a flourescent green vest, with reflective material in it also to be easily seen.

Not my favorite thing to do, but when you don't have much choice you do what you have to do.

socalrider

Ride at night at least 2-3x per week.. Just get good lighting front and rear and you will be fine.. Check out the electronics forum for lots of good info on new lights..

Scummer

Yep yep. Last night ride was from 10pm to 11pm

Mr Danw

I ride quite a bit at night. I just avoid recreational riding around closing time. Have some good blinkies front and back.

Ryan McEachern

I also enjoy riding at night, the biggest problem for me is getting blinded by the traffic coming the other way. I have good lights but I do get washed right out for a few seconds at the worst time when some obnoxious drivers don't dim their high beams. I had a few close calls and a spill into a ditch, it is better on less traveled roads, and I try do most of my night riding on those now.

-Ryan

StephenH

I rode through the winter last year. I may stay closer to home than I would otherwise. And I tend to pick roads that are less creepy, rather than roads that are better in the daylight.

Kneez

I don't ride at night but I do have a question. How do you see obstacles in the road, like holes, cracks, debris?

Scummer

I strong enough headlight will enable you to see that far in advance so you can still dodge it.

hairnet

It's best not to do it alone because if anything happens there may be no one else around to help you. I learned the hard way.

gitarzan

Just got home from tonight's ride after dark. Lots of high quality lighting nowadays...

Get lights that blink as well. They work much better at getting drivers attention.

socalrider

here is a link to a light that has a lot of good buzz right now and is only 90.00 shipped..

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=576697

NUTNDUN

I ride in the dark on my commutes and we also ride at night sometimes for our leisure rides of about 7 mile. Right now we have the cateye 3 led lights and we keep the rear light on blink and the front solid. I really want to get one of the magicshines like the above post links to.

Smallguy

I ride of road on my MTB at night not the roads though

I always carry a few blinkies with me this time of year in case I'm out longer tan I expect because of an issue

but I try to keep my road rides in daylight

CliftonGK1

With randonneuring, it's almost certain you'll end up riding in the dark for quite a few hours sooner or later. During the spring 300k I spent from 20:30 to 00:03 on the road in the dark. On the summer 400k my ride partner and I were out from shortly after sunrise on Saturday to sunrise on Sunday. We rode through the entire night.

He uses a Schmidt Edelux light and I have a Supernova E3. We each have 2 rear blinkies, I also have an E3 wired tail light. He uses a reflective vest, I wear an Amphipod harness. We both have reflective tape on our bikes and we both use additional LED lamps on our helmets.

Riverside_Guy

The problem there is that to get the kind of light on the road that I was used to from a single 50 buck motorcycle headlight, one has to go north of 400 bucks. Do some googling, there are sites out there that have actual pictures of what can and can't be seen from several "bike" lights. Of course, there are a lot of other factors, like what kind of average speed does one do... riding along in the dark at 10 is way different from 18. Terrain is another big factor, not that hard to get to 20-25 on a longish downhill.

Not to mention there could be situations where helmet mounted light(s) may be preferable.

JOHN J

I love riding in the dark, very soothing vs all the visual distractions you have during day light.

often the dark hours are the only time I get to do any riding, in the late fall its dark in the morning /evening on days I ride the bike into work

I dont get to commute much if at all during summer as I live at the camp most of the week and its a bit far 62 mile.

good lights are a must , I have a gens on both my bikes, my gear bike a Dyno hub with a home made 4 led front light and I use a cateye L1100 battery powered Led attached to my rack for rear.

on my townie fixed/ss I have a side wall generator with a older LED light up front and a dyno compatible hardwired tail light.

I also carry a spare cheap blinkie and a AA front light in case of failure or to use as flashlight if I have problems.

"John"

socalrider

For me personally I think it is much safer riding at night than during the daytime here in So Cal.. Last night I rode around 10pm.. I was passed by 15 cars total in a 23 mile ride.. I have specific routes that are fairly well lit but I ride with 2 -p7 lights which put out a combined 1000+ lumens of light. I normally only need 1 of them on, but on some dark sections or if I ride through a park I like, I will put both lights on just in case rabbits or other critters are out in the road..

I have been riding at night for 20+ years, it takes some getting used to but once you get the right equipment, it is a very pleasurable experience..

cyccommute 

Not true. Geoman is selling a bright LED for $85. I have a flashlight that uses the same head and it is very bright for a very small package. It easily approaches the brightness of HID.

For about $90 a lamp unit, you can also build a light that is about 3 times brighter. Look here. Here's what 3 of those lamps look like



$300 will buy a whole lot of light if you DIY

I agree completely.

Riverside_Guy

Interesting... wonder what just one would look like. I have seen "P7" mentioned by some. Sounds like it comes ready to go, they imply a clip is included, but don't list it in accessories... do you know the length of the wire from the head to the power unit?

Thanks

cyccommute 

For the handlebars, they use an o-ring that wraps around the bar. For a helmet mount, you can use a Lupine that Geoman sells for $10.

The power cord looks to be about 2 feet long. (I don't have one and am just going by the picture).

I'll work on getting some P7 pictures a bit later this fall.

Riverside_Guy

Long as it stays dry, I'll probably do a group night ride this Friday where we will go on some actually unlit narrow paths, probably quite slowly. I'm going to strap 2 cheap LED flashlights to my helmet to check out using a helmet mount "system." There IS a nice 6 mile loop where I live that is pretty deserted after 9 PM, but it is well enough lit that one can go without lights on the bike.

Tex_Arcana

Since I commute to work and get off around 2:00 a.m. some nights and midnight on others, yeah I ride at night a lot.

Good thing I have some lights and found a very light traffic route.

nkfrench 

+1 on helmet lights. I also have a very bright 115 lumens small flashlight velcro'ed to helmet vents for pitch dark very short stretches. Pick quiet smooth roads and enjoy the peace and quiet. My commutes are over an hour each way with about half in the dark.

I also wear safety glasses - amber lenses help with headlight glare either from cars or from oncoming bikes on the bike trail.

gapwedge

https://www.dinottelighting.com/ I am going to be using the DiNotte 800L for the headlight and the 400L for the flashing taillight. Not cheap, but I like the reviews.