Blinky or solid? That's the big question
The time changed this week because of daylight savings and so it's a lot
darker on the evening commute, which brings me back to that eternal cycling
question: do you like your lights blinking or solid? That guy's a solid.
That guy's blinky. On one hand you think blinky makes you more
visible because you stand out to motorists, right? And that could be true.
Blinky. Solid. But on the other hand when you're passing by other cyclists like if
the two cyclists are passing on a pathway a blinking light is totally
blinding. It drives the other cyclists crazy. It drives me crazy.
Solid. Solid on the front, solid on the back. The other question too is
should it be different on the front and the back? Should you have blinky on the front,
solid in the back, or solid on the back blinking the front? I don't know?
None at all, not a great option. There's lots of debates about how bright your
lights should be - and my take on that is like it doesn't really matter how
bright your light is as long as it's bright enough to be seen. As long as you
point it downwards. I mean there's no standards for these kinds of things like
in a car, you know there's rules about how your lights should be arranged. But
there's nothing like that for bikes and so, what I would say to people is
make your bright as light as you feel comfortable and make sure you
direct it at the pavement in front of you not directly into the eyes of people
passing by. So what's the answer? What are you supposed to do? Beats me.
Here's what I do in the meantime. OK this time between blinking and solid? Well
maybe the answer is one of each. There we go.
One blinking, and on one solid on the front.
And on the back one solid and one blinking. It's like the UN of bike
lighting -- satisfy everybody! Yeah if you think bike lighting begins and ends at
blinking or solid you haven't been on Kickstarter recently. You know on that
crowdfunding site that like half of the products out there are bike lights?
Because it seems like everybody has a way of improving bike lights which is
cool it makes it fun. There are lots of cool products out there including this
one I wanted to show you. So this is a light by a company called Beryl, and on
one level it's just pretty good pretty -- it's bright, right? -- t's a pretty
good bike light. It's got blinking and solid modes, but it does have this other
cool thing which you can't see that it's green but it's not just a green light.
Watch this -- if you pointed at the ground
it's like a DIY bike lane. Yeah so this thing goes on your handlebars it's
actually got a pretty good little clasp here and you turn on the light and then
when you're riding on the street you also turn on the green light. Let me show
you , let me go for a ride with you and I'll show you what happens.
What do you think? I don't know. Is this like a a bike light that everybody
should have or is it kind of a gimmick? I mean I'm not sure how many motorists
actually see this thing? This light, this bike symbol being broadcast in front of
me? Mostly what I've noticed is that
pedestrians walking by me kind of give it a funny look. So does it keep me safer?
Yeah, I don't know, but I kind of like driving with it. I mean I like the idea
of a bike lane rolling out in front of me wherever I am so I'm gonna keep using it. like it.
I just want to show you one more example of sort of a fun easy
ways you can make yourself more visible at night using lights. So here it is.
I hope you can see this. It's a it's a little blinking light that's supposed
to go onto your the valves of your of your tire. They are motion-activated
so as soon as they move they light up. Now I had these on the valves
in my tire but they kept letting air out. That's weird so I ended up just duct
taping it onto the wheel of my tire and what's cool about them is how they light
up. I don't know if you can see that or not. These things cost like two bucks
from the dollar store and they actually work pretty well, I mean they've been
on there for like a for a long time and they're still lighting up. They are LEDs
so they last forever. And as you roll it lights up your whole wheel
So it's almost like an easy easy way to keep your bike
visible from the side.
So it's really easy to outfit your bike and keep yourself well lit.
Lights are super cheap, you can go cheap ones you go with more expensive ones.
You've got all kinds of new ideas to try and got these spoke lights you
get all kinds of cool lights even ones that have cool designs make little
pictures in your wheels as you roll. So there's really no reason to not stay lit
up at night. As for the old debate about blinking or solid, I'm going
with one of each just make sure you're well lit. That's the message:
make sure you are well lit. Anyway, hope that helped. Thanks for watching and I'll see
you next time.