Night Riding - Light Setup

I like night riding, but it is obviously inherently more dangerous.

While i feel i can see most obsticles that find their way in front of my wheels, I cant say that i would see them all.

Today I bought a Cateye LED front and a cheap-o LED red rear to stay within the spirit of the bicycle light law.

* How often do you ride at night?
* What light / reflector combination do you use?
* Sidewalks or streets or both?

Cheers! PB.


Below for your conveinience is a copy of the Bike Laws which pertain to lights taken from the Cal-Trans Website. While I may not get rolled by the piggies for no white wheel reflectors or orange pedal reflectors, i will get rolled for no front & rear.

Necessary Bicycle Equipment:

Brakes

No person shall operate a bicycle on a roadway unless it is equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make one wheel skid on dry level clean pavement (Ref Sec 21201(a)).

Handlebars

No person shall operate on the highway any bicycle equipped with handlebars so raised that the operator must elevate his hands above the level of his shoulders in order to grasp the normal steering grip area (Ref See 21201(b)).

Bicycle Size

No person shall operate upon any highway a bicycle which is of such a size as to prevent the operator from safely stopping the bicycle, supporting it in an upright position with at least one foot on the ground, and restarting it in a safe manner (Ref Sec 21201(c)).

Lights and Reflectors

Every bicycle operated upon any highway during darkness shall be equipped as follows: (1) with a lamp emitting a white light which, while the bicycle is in motion, illuminates the highway in front of the bicyclist and is visible from a distance of 300 feet in front and from the sides of the bicycle (or a lamp or lamp combination meeting the same requirements may be attached to the operator); (2) with a red reflector of a type approved by the Department of Motor Vehicles on the rear which shall be visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful upper beam of headlamp on a motor vehicle; (3) with a white or yellow reflector, of a type approved by the Department on each pedal visible from the front and rear of the bicycle, and with a white or red reflector on each side to the rear of the center of the bicycle, except those bicycles which are equipped with reflectorized tires on the front and rear need not be equipped with these side reflectors (Ref Sec 21201(d&e;)).

And there you have it all you to-cool-for-brakes types - you can get rolled for no brakes and i dont think telling the cops that you can skid will suffice... maybe...

punkbrad wrote:

I like night riding, but it is obviously inherently more dangerous.

While i feel i can see most obsticles that find their way in front of my wheels, I cant say that i would see them all.

Today I bought a Cateye LED front and a cheap-o LED red rear to stay within the spirit of the bicycle light law.

* How often do you ride at night?
* What light / reflector combination do you use?
* Sidewalks or streets or both?

Cheers! PB.


Below for your conveinience is a copy of the Bike Laws which pertain to lights taken from the Cal-Trans Website. While I may not get rolled by the piggies for no white wheel reflectors or orange pedal reflectors, i will get rolled for no front & rear.

Necessary Bicycle Equipment:

Brakes

No person shall operate a bicycle on a roadway unless it is equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make one wheel skid on dry level clean pavement (Ref Sec 21201(a)).

Handlebars

No person shall operate on the highway any bicycle equipped with handlebars so raised that the operator must elevate his hands above the level of his shoulders in order to grasp the normal steering grip area (Ref See 21201(b)).

Bicycle Size

No person shall operate upon any highway a bicycle which is of such a size as to prevent the operator from safely stopping the bicycle, supporting it in an upright position with at least one foot on the ground, and restarting it in a safe manner (Ref Sec 21201(c)).

Lights and Reflectors

Every bicycle operated upon any highway during darkness shall be equipped as follows: (1) with a lamp emitting a white light which, while the bicycle is in motion, illuminates the highway in front of the bicyclist and is visible from a distance of 300 feet in front and from the sides of the bicycle (or a lamp or lamp combination meeting the same requirements may be attached to the operator); (2) with a red reflector of a type approved by the Department of Motor Vehicles on the rear which shall be visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful upper beam of headlamp on a motor vehicle; (3) with a white or yellow reflector, of a type approved by the Department on each pedal visible from the front and rear of the bicycle, and with a white or red reflector on each side to the rear of the center of the bicycle, except those bicycles which are equipped with reflectorized tires on the front and rear need not be equipped with these side reflectors (Ref Sec 21201(d&e;)).

And there you have it all you to-cool-for-brakes types - you can get rolled for no brakes and i dont think telling the cops that you can skid will suffice... maybe...

VERY GOOD POST. Esp with the bicycle laws. and jealous you love in a fairly bike friendly area.

as for the lights, i just rock the regular knogs just to be in somewhat with the law. and i try not to ride unless its with a crowd, i just think its safer that way.

i've got a slick looking knog frog set...
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I pretty much ride at night 80% of the time. I just use a front Cateye light and some other brand rear light, no reflectors. A cop was talking to us through his car speaker thanking us for stopping at a stop sign and biking safely. Then he got on my friends ass nagging him about why he didn't have any lights, haha. It was pretty funny, the cop just kept on asking him why. He probably didn't ticket my friend because we were riding in a group with about 6+ people.

I usually ride the streets with a group, gets crowded if on the sidewalk. But sometimes its easier to ride on the sidewalk. I generally don't ride alone unless its less than a 15 minute ride at night.

oh yeah, reflectors... i've got a messenger bag that has two stripes on it but no reflectors on the bike.

i find SD cops cool with just a front & rear light. we do the tuesday nite rides and no one has reflectors, and no hassles by the man..

i'm rocking these. less then $5 shipped to your door.

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supermario6582 wrote:

i'm rocking these. less then $5 shipped to your door.

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nice! wish I'd seen these before I ordered a knog beetle twinpack off amazon... I'll probably order some of these later on and stick em on my hub.

dont be to upset. took me about a month and a half to get it when i ordered from that site. and the batteries lasted about an hour so i had to pick up a set from walmart which was like 5 bucks a cell.

thats weird i was the one to post the last post

"dont be to upset. took me about a month and a half to get it when i ordered from that site. and the batteries lasted about an hour so i had to pick up a set from walmart which was like 5 bucks a cell."

but it posted as if trem posted it

Hahaha whatda... Yeah i've noticed this forum is kinda glitchy. But the community makes up for it