Author Topic: Night Rides??? (Read 4290 times)

jimbo · « **on:** March 04, 2003, 07:10:48 am »

Does anybody here do night rides? I'm thinking of scheduling some night rides with my riding buddies.

Probably pick an easy trail first and see how it goes. Most of us have 15 watt light systems already so lighting is not a issue. I'm thinking of telling everyone to bring a regular flashlight and one of those cheaper front lights to use on the non technical sections. Are rear blinkies a good idea? Any thing else we should consider?

zulu · « **Reply #1 on:** March 04, 2003, 07:37:41 am »

Night rides are alot of fun and open up a new type of riding & skills for you and your friends. You will love it. Try a trail that you have all ridden in the day light so you have some idea of what to expect. Rear blinking light are not a bad idea so all those who are following you know were you are and can see where you have been. Also try those glow sticks on the back of your helmet it is a really neat thing to see abunch of guys ridding in the dark it adds to the cool factor. Have fun!

jimbo · « **Reply #2 on:** March 04, 2003, 07:52:59 am »

Kool!!!, didn't think of glow sticks.

Matno · « **Reply #3 on:** March 04, 2003, 09:09:51 am »

Night rides are AWESOME! I just wish I had someone to ride with at night.

Probably not a good idea to do that alone here in the Bronx!

It sure seems to open up a lot of possible riding times - especially in the winter.

Rear blinkies are nice if you get spread out. If you're following closely, they can be annoying. But they're cheap and easy to turn off, so give it a try!

I wouldn't recommend regular flashlights unless the non-technical sections are REALLY non-technical. I lost a lot of skin off of my left arm a few years back doing just that! The "shadow" behind a clump of grass turned out to be the side of the mountain dropping off, and I had ZERO warning before my bike went out from under me. Kind of embarrassing as I was on a date at the time, but you live and learn!

jimbo · « **Reply #4 on:** March 04, 2003, 10:52:35 am »

Quote

I wouldn't recommend regular flashlights unless the non-technical sections are REALLY non-technical. I lost a lot of skin off of my left arm a few years back doing just that! The "shadow" behind a clump of grass turned out to be the side of the mountain dropping off, and I had ZERO warning before my bike went out from under me. Kind of embarrassing as I was on a date at the time, but you live and learn!

Sorry, I mean bringing a flashlight just in case the lighting systems fails and a cheapo bike light for REAL nontechnical section to conserve battery power. Most of us have real powerfull lighting systems for our winter late dusk road bike rides.

Hey, I still remember an embarrassing moment on a first date. We going to get a bite to eat after a movie or something and I ran into another friend and his date. I promptly forgot the name of my date so I couldn't introduce her to my friend. Ah, memories!!!!

GrimJack · « **Reply #5 on:** March 04, 2003, 12:09:59 pm »

Pick a trail you know... and one that is REALLY easy. Night riding will take the whole thing to a new level. One of the fellows from my riding group tried this out a couple years back, and trails that he can ride literally one handed (he had to hold a GPS up in the air with the other hand) were tough to accomplish in the dark.

Helmet lights are the best, that way the light is where you are looking, not where your bars are pointing.

jimbo · « **Reply #6 on:** March 04, 2003, 02:12:58 pm »

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Helmet lights are the best, that way the light is where you are looking, not where your bars are pointing.

I've got a 15W flood for my helmet and 2 spot lights for my handlebars. The spots are 15w and 10w. This was my setup for late dusk road rides. I also used a strobe light as my blinky. My pals didn't like being behind me because it was like having a camera flash going off in your face. I was more interested in being seen by cars rather than seeing where I was going on the road rides. I'll definitely leave that strobe at home for the mtb night rides. I like the idea of using the night glow stick instead of the blinkies.

Matno · « **Reply #7 on:** March 05, 2003, 12:50:19 am »

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I've got a 15W flood for my helmet and 2 spot lights for my handlebars.

And Grimjack wrote:

Quote

Helmet lights are the best, that way the light is where you are looking, not where your bars are pointing.

That's interesting. I've got them the other way around. Since I can't point the handlebars as much as I can the helmet, I prefer to have floods on the bars. Also, for those who only ride with one light, a helmet light is good in some situations (like really tight switchbacks), but for rough technical stuff, bar mounted lights are a lot less scary. With just a helmet mounted light, you lose depth perception, whereas a bar mounted light lets you see the terrain quite well. A good bar mounted wide flood is plenty of light for anything I've ever ridden in the dark (including some pretty rough stuff), but I've seen guys go over the bars using a helmet light. ("I don't know why I couldn't see that huge rock in the middle of the trail!")

Just my two cents.

Dennis · « **Reply #8 on:** March 05, 2003, 01:59:06 am »

I've done lots of night rides myself. I have a helmet mounted light and two handlebar mounted lights. the thing is, the helmet mount was a strap that went around the helmet and I could never get it on right, so never used it. I also use a constant on rear light, less distracting to those behind. the blinkie light I have has blinkie, constant on, and back and forth mode, I think most of them are like that these days.

anyway, riding at night is awesome. it makes trails that you are bored with by day seem completely new. also, try dawn rides, start the ride in darkness and watch the sun come up as you ride, you see and hear the woods come alive with the new day, it is amazing!!

ride hard, and have phun!!
[smiley=groucho.gif]

jimbo · « **Reply #9 on:** March 05, 2003, 04:58:48 am »

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: That's interesting. I've got them the other way around. Since I can't point the handlebars as much as I can the helmet, I prefer to have floods on the bars.

Thanks for the tip. I'll experiment. You have to remember my light setup was something I did for the road rides. I like the high beam on the bars pointed at a certain distance on straight roads. The floodlight on the helmet was setup more to catch the attention of the drivers I would look at coming out of side streets ahead of me. When I used the high beam on the helmet, I would have to raise my head higher to make sure the light was pointed at the turning cars. Dusk can play tricks on the drivers eyes so I want to make sure they see me.

I don't really like doing road rides at night, but if you need to train during early dusk days after work, you have no choice. I've never taken my mtb off road at night yet so I'll play with the setup. Fortunately, it just a matter of switching bulbs.

Carbon_Kiwi · « **Reply #10 on:** March 05, 2003, 05:56:54 am »

ok - seeing as we're talking about lights and stuff - anyone have any recommendations? i intend to get into night riding this winter [it's now creeping into autumn...]
i like the idea of two bar mounted lights and a helmet light.
any advice much appreciated

jimbo · « **Reply #11 on:** March 05, 2003, 06:15:24 am »

This is the set I've got. Mine came with a 5W, 10W & 15W bulb. I've since bought a Niterider 15W flood bulb to replace 5W light. It's no fancy digital system, but it works for me. Matno posted some cool do it yourself plans if you're mechanically inclined.

http://pricepoint.com/product1969.html

Flex · « **Reply #12 on:** March 05, 2003, 04:30:22 pm »

I got into night riding over the summer here in Melbourne as the day is just tooooooo hot!

I couldn't dish out for expensive lighting systems but rigged up my own with a 10 & 15w halogens on my bars and a 15w flood on my helmet. I run the whole lot off the battery from my rechargable drill, total cost was around $25 for the bulbs, switches & epoxy putty. In my humble opinion they match my buddies commercial systems in brightness but the battery lets the me down. I can only get about 40 mins from it on the one battery This is easily solved with an upgrade to a $50-60 gelcel, I'm just being a cheapskate using my drill battery. email me if anyone would like some more info on doing this

I sorta like the idea that it's only going to cost me a few bucks if I can off and trash the lot too!

As for glo sticks - try strapping em to your spokes with zip ties- very, very cheezy but sorta cool.

-make sure you strap em tight though!

Am also experimenting with dinky old dynamos to charge up batteries on down hill stretches- it's a work in progress

.

Cheers, [smiley=beer.gif]

luke

jimbo · « **Reply #13 on:** March 06, 2003, 04:38:21 am »

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Am also experimenting with dinky old dynamos to charge up batteries on down hill stretches- it's a work in progress .

Why bother charging!!! The faster you go downhill, the brighter your light gets

fevans · « **Reply #14 on:** March 06, 2003, 06:32:31 pm »

I originally made my own light set using a specialized proview light head and a home-made lead-acid battery pack. I got the battery for about $10 mail-order and used a wall wart from wal-mart as the charger. It worked great and only cost about $45 dollars. The battery alone was about 2 lbs. I had 2 of these, one for the bar and one for the helmet. They would usually last a little over an hour.

My next set of lights was a Performance Viewpoint Pro set with a 20/12W combination. This one had a NiMh batter and was much lighter than the previous set. However, the run time was still about 1.5 hr.

My newest light setup is a Light & Motion Arc HID. These things are incredible. I love it. It's so bright and has a run time of about 3 hrs. It's almost like having a flood and a spot in one. The only negative thing is the price, but I got a really good deal at $300 at my LBS. If you have the means, I highly recommend you pick one up!

http://www.bikelights.com/

Night riding is a lot of fun, no matter what kind of light system you use. It definitely puts a different perspective to the trail you thought you knew. I've even hit the woods at night by myself. That's definitely an interesting experience. The trees seem to create moving shadows as you go by. Freaky! It's definitely more enjoyable with a group though, especially when you stop, turn the lights off and start shooting the bull with your buddies that you can't see.

Forrest

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Author Topic: Night Rides??? (Read 4290 times)

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