With the spring rolling in its warm enough to get out and ride. With daylight saving (though I still hate it) its light enough if I rush home from work for a quick ride. But as my rides are getting longer and I don't always get out of work that fast its dusk before I know it.with such a low trike, in dark blue with no flags or lights I'm not going on any pavement that is shared with teenage drivers. Or cars in general. Doesn't matter how safe I am, or how careful the drivers are. I would be hard to see and an accident is one of those things that often only happens once. Car vs. nearly prone man? Lets just move on from that though to what to do about it. I bought some lights. Amazon had a sale on Planet Bike Blaze 2Watt LED Headlight so I bought a pair.
I looked at a lot of lights that are out there first. Many of the choices are just "see me" lights. This is what was available in most of the local shops. I wanted something to see with. For a while I though I would get the CygoLite Trion 600: Triple LED Bike Light with Internal Li-Ion Battery It really looks like a the best light for the money but seemed a little pricey for my first uninformed light purchase. What if I chose wrong? I was also concerned that on a trike it wouldn't illuminate the ground very far ahead. Would I have to mount it on a pole because its too large to use as a helmet light? Find a lighter and smaller light like the NiteRider MiNewt LED Li-Ion Bicycle Head Light? I revisited Halogens with battery packs, Dynamo powered lights, DIY LEDs, even a few that rival the brightest car head lights...and are prices like a car. DIY sounded really temping, but its not always affordable and requires skills, supplies, tools, and effort that didn't seem worth it. I was struggling with how to get the Lumens, beam size and range that was best and on a reasonable budget. Arrgg! Overwhelming choices, options and performance!
Then I realized what I needed was a light for the type of riding I intend to do. I'm not going to be riding through a forest at midnight, downhill at 30 mph. I'm going to be ridding bike paths, and low traffic residential streets. I just need two reasonably bright light to focus one on the road ahead of me and one pointed farther out or maybe strapped to my helmet pointing to where I'm looking. Hopefully where I'm looking is where I'm going. So when the high end of the "commercial" headlights came up with a discount on Amazon, the Planet Bike Blaze 2Watt LED Headlight I bought a pair. With Amazon Prime I got free shipping too. They are great. Very bright, have a low and high beam option and attention getting flashing mode. I'm ordering a mount to put one on the front of my trike and I'm using one on my helmet. If I weren't riding a recumbent it might be a little heavy to wear on my too heavy helmet (more on that later) but my seat angle puts it right on top so I don't feel it on bumps or anything. If I were riding a two-wheeler and staring at the ground most of the time I would choose a NiteRider like I mentioned above for helmet use. At the same time I've been looking in to taillights and flag to increase my visibility. I've ordered some things and when I get them I'll post my thoughts on that. If you ride anywhere after dark get an appropriate light or two. You won't regret it.
With the spring rolling in its warm enough to get out and ride. With daylight saving (though I still hate it) its light enough if I rush home from work for a quick ride. But as my rides are getting longer and I don't always get out of work that fast its dusk before I know it.with such a low trike, in dark blue with no flags or lights I'm not going on any pavement that is shared with teenage drivers. Or cars in general. Doesn't matter how safe I am, or how careful the drivers are. I would be hard to see and an accident is one of those things that often only happens once. Car vs. nearly prone man? Lets just move on from that though to what to do about it. I bought some lights. Amazon had a sale on Planet Bike Blaze 2Watt LED Headlight so I bought a pair.
I looked at a lot of lights that are out there first. Many of the choices are just "see me" lights. This is what was available in most of the local shops. I wanted something to see with. For a while I though I would get the CygoLite Trion 600: Triple LED Bike Light with Internal Li-Ion Battery
It really looks like a the best light for the money but seemed a little pricey for my first uninformed light purchase. What if I chose wrong? I was also concerned that on a trike it wouldn't illuminate the ground very fa
r ahead. Would I have to mount it on a pole because its too large to use as a helmet light? Find a lighter and smaller light like the NiteRider MiNewt LED Li-Ion Bicycle Head Light?
I revisited Halogens with battery packs, Dynamo powered lights, DIY LEDs, even a few that rival the brightest car head lights...and are prices like a car. DIY sounded really temping, but its not always affordable and requires skills, supplies, tools, and effort that didn't seem worth it. I was struggling with how to get the Lumens, beam size and range that was best and on a reasonable budget. Arrgg! Overwhelming choices, options and performance!
Then I realized what I needed was a light for the type of riding I intend to do. I'm not going to be riding through a forest at midnight, downhill at 30 mph. I'm going to be ridding bike paths, and low traffic residential streets. I just need two reasonably bright light to focus one on the road ahead of me and one pointed farther out or maybe strapped to my helmet pointing to where I'm looking. Hopefully where I'm looking is where I'm going. So when the high end of the "commercial" headlights came up with a discount on Amazon, the Planet Bike Blaze 2Watt LED Headlight I bought a pair. With Amazon Prime I got free shipping too. They are great. Very bright, have a low and high beam option and attention getting flashing mode. I'm ordering a mount to put one on the front of my trike and I'm using one on my helmet. If I weren't riding a recumbent it might be a little heavy to wear on my too heavy helmet (more on that later) but my seat angle puts it right on top so I don't feel it on bumps or anything. If I were riding a two-wheeler and staring at the ground most of the time I would choose a NiteRider like I mentioned above for helmet use. At the same time I've been looking in to taillights and flag to increase my visibility. I've ordered some things and when I get them I'll post my thoughts on that. If you ride anywhere after dark get an appropriate light or two. You won't regret it.
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