Driver shares video of 'blinding' cycle light

oldstrath wrote:

DaveE128 wrote:

Peowpeowpeowlasers wrote:

I think you'll find it has much more to do with the lamp design than the angle at which it is used.  A properly designed bicycle light will have a shaped beam that directs its output where it's needed, like the Philips Saferide 80, the Supernova Airstream 2, B+M Ixon Space, Ravemen PR1200, Lupine SL A, etc.  The vast majority of cycle lights sold in the UK and recommended on this very website are little more than fancy torches that dazzle everyone no matter where they're pointed.

Absolutely this. It is not mainly about brightness or adjustment, although both of those can be factors. It is about beam pattern which is about lamp design.

https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/chris-juden/bobby-dazzlers

I use a Specialized Flux Elite for this very reason.

The video really doesn't demonstrate at all well how many cyclists' front lights dazzle oncoming road users, including other cyclists. When I'm cycling on my commute, I'm most often dazzled by oncoming cyclists, and there are a lot more cars.

The German StVZO regulations are actually quite sensible, although I think the limit on upward shining light is slightly low.

There just aren't enough well designed lights on the market with a decent beam pattern. There are plenty saying that their lights have a road specific beam (looking at you, Exposure) which is nothing more than having a wider hot-spot, with no control of light going above the horizon. Specialized don't even make their Flux Elite/Flux Expert lights any more. I don't think the Philips is still available either. The Ravemen, while being better than many, doesn't look as good as the B&M Ixon series or the Specialized Flux Elite from the Road.cc review beam pattern image. The cut off isn't sharp enough or close enough to the brightest part of the beam.

It's annoying when you want to buy an effective road front light that isn't downright anti-social (not to mention dangerous) you have to go to such lengths to find something, and when you do it's often powered by AA batteries and/or has a poor clamp design (which is critical as the light must stay properly aligned)

I've considered starting my own company making decent bike lights, but besides the many barriers to entry, it seems too many cyclists don't care two hoots about dazzling other road users so the market is probably too small!

I find road.cc's total failure to address this issue in light reviews rather disappointing. At least they are including beam shots in reviews but most of the decent lights haven't been reviewed using this system.

 

And when you do design this superb light, please soareca thought for those of us who don't ride on city streets and perfect bike paths, but also have to ride properly windy, dark single track roads, or ride both on and seriously off road on the same trip; and build something easily switchable between cutoff beam and not? Because currently the German lights completely ignore this issue ( maybe the restrictive regulations compel this?)

The Specialized Flux Expert has this feature, and a bar mounted remote to operate it. An important feature is that the main and dipped beams are properly aligned. Unfortunately it was rather expensive (nothing about the design or construction really necessitated this!) and hardly anyone bought it.

More than half of my commute is on unlit country roads or unlit unsurfaced cycle routes. The Flux Elite and I don't find a full beam necessary for speeds up to 40km/h. Putting all the light on the road in the right pattern providing even illumination is far, far better than a torch beam for the same brightness.