 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I do without fail, but yet to have the favour returned. So tonight somewhere there are four MTB'ers posting about a miserable roadie.
Guys saying 'Hi' didn't help me see the road after beaming 4000 lumens into my eyeballs.
how do you go about dipping your lights?
Point them down, or swivel them to one side or even just switch them to low.
I tend to put my hand over the top of my lights to cut out the light and try to turn my head away so they don't get the light off my helmet in their eyes
^^^^ there's that as well.
Same as Steveid here do this for cars too where practical.
yep as above, hand to partially cover head turned away, even do it for cars.
If courtesy not returned by riders i just uncover the bar light and try not to look at the oncoming rider so they don't get a faceful of helmet light.
on the road lights are set to illuminate the road not the other users, the bar ones point a bit more down, the helmet ones too, golden rule don't look at people with helmet lights one. If needed You can move your head to shine wherever you want really. If your blinding other riders your also blinding drivers.
What Stevied does. As much about everyone's safety (cars and yourself included) as curtousy
I put my hand over mine too, I have also decided that I don't actually need as much light as I used to think I did. 1 cheapo moonshine copy on medium is more than enough for cross country, I turn it up to high on the fast downhill bits.
Guys saying 'Hi' didn't help me see the road after beaming 4000 lumens into my eyeballs.
Spot on. That has happened to me on many a night ride...annoys the hell out of me particularly as I've 'dipped' my lights
[quote=hooli pointlessly vacillated]I put my hand over mine too, I have also decided that I don't actually need as much light as I used to think I did. 1 cheapo moonshine copy on medium is more than enough for cross country, I turn it up to high on the fast downhill bits.
this. I don't ride road, I ride MTB so my lights are set for XC - but inevitably I'll spend some of the time on the road, just linking sections. If it's long enough I'll turn *off* the helmet light for this bit and actively dip my bar light.
I rode into a telegraph pole on a pavement once when I did this "for" an oncoming carI tend to put my hand over the top of my lights to cut out the light and try to turn my head away so they don't get the light off my helmet in their eyes
😯pointlessly vacillated
(mind I did waver from a straight course when I hit the pole - maybe you're right)
I went mad and bought a road light that actually has a cut-off because I got sick and tired of either directing the beam onto a patch of road six foot in front of my wheel or trying to ride downhill one-handed at 40mph or just dazzling the hell out of people.
Philips Saferide or a Supernova Airstream, add a Joystick or similar for 'main beam' use and bingo, just go riding at night without fretting. You wouldn't drive a car with the main beam permanently switched on, so why do it on a bike? Not an issue when lights were piddly little pools of yellow light, but with the latest mega-lumen LEDs, it's a different thing altogether, especially on narrow back lanes.
Exposure Strada's decent too if you angle it slightly down and to the left and the remote switch works really well for dimming (as opposed to dipping) for oncoming cars.
And yes, you do end up spending more money on lights, but if you're riding regularly at night, it's an investment in your cycling.
The industry should be giving us more options to buy reasonably priced lights that mean we don't have to point them downwards to an extent where forward visibility is compromised or resort to swivelling the light or riding with a hand cupped over it. Imho/ime etc...
ps: I'm talking about regular road riding btw, not occasional short linking road stretches on a mtb ride, though the beauty of the Airstream is that it's pretty much Joystick sized, so you can always stick it on the bars of your mtb and use it for longer road sections anyway.
Yep, always put my hand over the top (and switch off my helmet mounted one) for other cyclists and walkers (seriously, we come across loads of people walking late at night..always they've had a few beers and the smell of dope is in the air, but everyone says hello and is happy....which is nice).
Yep I just put a hand over the top so the ground stays lit but it doesn't dazzle oncoming riders/cars and if they don't I switch mine on to its mental strobe mode.
You meet others on a night ride? That would be a new experience.....