Al's Blog-o-Sphere

This is a followup to two earlier posts I made about bicycle taillights. Bike lighting is something I’ve been interested in because it’s become a fascinating area of the application of new technology to an old problem. That and I guess I’m obsessed with bright lights!

I received an email today from the developer of the LucidBrake Bike Tailight. They had found my post that mentioned their prototype and wanted to let me know that they have begun a Kickstarter project to get it up and running.

The light has evolved quite a bit since the video I showed in the post two years ago. It is now a octagonal PC board with the LEDs arranged in the corners. It is completely automatic, sensing motion and turning itself off when parked. It flashes while riding, but the big feature is that when it senses you coming to a stop, it flashes all the LEDS together brightly signalling a stop. It also has a different mode when it senses a sudden stop vs. a normal stop. Both should enhance a cyclists safety greatly. Continue Reading…

After a couple months, I finally broke down and bought the Dinotte 140R bicycle tail light. It is by far, the brightest LED tail light available and has been shown to be effective, even during daylight, in being seen by cars approaching you from the rear. The light is painfully bright, so much so that it gets attention other lights don’t get. Maybe it’s curiosity, maybe it’s annoyance, but drivers wake up and give you a wide berth when they see it. Video of the lights is at the end of this post.

Some other innovative bicycle lights have come across my computer screen. I haven’t tried any of them, but they are worth considering if you’re in the market for such a thing. Continue Reading…

While outfitting my new bike, I had to choose a taillight for nighttime use, or in case I get caught out at dusk. I’ve always used a blinking LED taillight in the past and they are pretty good at getting you seen in the dark. The flashing LEDs really stand out. But this time I wanted a little more because the recumbent is so low to the ground and might not be recognized as a moving object in the dark.

I had seen some lights that were really bright, so much so that they are actually of use in the daytime. I went in search of one online. It’s really hard to get real information about how bright these really are. You can see photos or watch YouTube videos, but because cameras adjust to the light available, they all look blindingly bright individually. Only side-by-side comparisons are useful. They’re hard to find, though.

Typical generic LED tailight You’re probably familiar with lights that look like this. I’ve had dozens of them in the past and recently threw away a bunch that had quit working and couldn’t be revived by new batteries. Some are good quality, others are cheap knock-offs, but they’re all about as bright as the other. I bought four of them a while ago for $1.25 each at a flea market. Continue Reading…