Night Riders! What are you running for lights?

Cree 15000 lumen with rechargable battery pack 31 bucks on ebay. 4 settings blinding, not as blinding, acceptable, and flash.
 
I use the Topeak Aura head & tail lights for the front & back of my friction drive bike. They are pretty bright at night & double as reflectors during the day. Plus they mount on like reflectors so unlike those clip on lights you can leave them on your bike when you lock up somewhere. They can mount to virtually any bicycle. I had to drill a hole & get a little creative to mount the tail light since the friction drive mount doesn't have a place for a light bracket. They also use lithium watch style batteries & LEDs so they last a long time.
 
I live in the city and it's quite bright here at night. I can see well in the dark so I have enjoyed alot of driving at night with no lights at all. I have put on some lighting systems I made myself, but nothing holds up to the hard shocks and vibration. Batteries go bad pretty fast from the shock and shaking of a bicycle at high speeds on rough roads. Factory made systems arent much better and are very expensive. I like having lights because then I can drive like a motorcyle and be assertive at intersections at night. With no lights, the only given is that they do not see you and dont know you are they until you creep up behind them from the right side and they hear the engine.
For my next build I want to put a pretty strong laser and widen the beam to about 5 to 7 inches wide and have it aiming at the road about 20 - 30 feet in front of me. This way, when I am on the right side of and behind a car, they will understand I am passing them on the right near the curb. I saw a picture of a laser that projects a grid onto the road in front of the bicycle so that any uneven surfaces show up immediately. The product was never completed, but I would like to try to modify a laser to project such a grid.
As far as riding in the dark goes with no lights, the only time I had a problem was when a motorcyclist going really fast with no headlights almost ran me over. I could hear something coming from behind me, and only thanks to his tail light reflecting off of the ground, I saw him coming and quickly moved across the double line into the oncoming lane which was empty. Still yet he brushed my overloaded backpack with tools and a huge grinder as he passed. I didnt even lose control and went up on the sidewalk and was going another way when he circled back to see who he had hit. He didn't find anything, let him have bad dreams about it at night. ;-)
 
I live in the city and it's quite bright here at night. I can see well in the dark so I have enjoyed alot of driving at night with no lights at all. I have put on some lighting systems I made myself, but nothing holds up to the hard shocks and vibration. Batteries go bad pretty fast from the shock and shaking of a bicycle at high speeds on rough roads. Factory made systems arent much better and are very expensive. I like having lights because then I can drive like a motorcyle and be assertive at intersections at night. With no lights, the only given is that they do not see you and dont know you are they until you creep up behind them from the right side and they hear the engine.
For my next build I want to put a pretty strong laser and widen the beam to about 5 to 7 inches wide and have it aiming at the road about 20 - 30 feet in front of me. This way, when I am on the right side of and behind a car, they will understand I am passing them on the right near the curb. I saw a picture of a laser that projects a grid onto the road in front of the bicycle so that any uneven surfaces show up immediately. The product was never completed, but I would like to try to modify a laser to project such a grid.
As far as riding in the dark goes with no lights, the only time I had a problem was when a motorcyclist going really fast with no headlights almost ran me over. I could hear something coming from behind me, and only thanks to his tail light reflecting off of the ground, I saw him coming and quickly moved across the double line into the oncoming lane which was empty. Still yet he brushed my overloaded backpack with tools and a huge grinder as he passed. I didnt even lose control and went up on the sidewalk and was going another way when he circled back to see who he had hit. He didn't find anything, let him have bad dreams about it at night. ;-)

A motorcyclist with no headlight driving at night?! thats just asking for trouble & a bad accident. Its practically suicide if you ask me. I would never get on a motorcycle with a broken or lack of a headlight even durring the day. Motorcycles are actually required by law in pretty much all US states to have a headlight & taillight on night or day so they are more visible to other traffic. With motorized bikes lights are required at night but aren't entirely required during the day but front & back reflectors are a good idea if your lights arent bright enough for daytime use.

I've been getting by with my Topeak Aura light set for nigt time & since they double as reflectors I don't feel guilty about leaving them off during the day. Oh & there are laser lights you can get that project two lines of red on the ground of both sides of the bike about the width of a bike lane to show where cars behind you should pass. I thought about getting those since I ride to the side of the road to let faster traffic pass me.
 
A motorcyclist with no headlight driving at night?! thats just asking for trouble & a bad accident. Its practically suicide if you ask me. I would never get on a motorcycle with a broken or lack of a headlight even durring the day. Motorcycles are actually required by law in pretty much all US states to have a headlight & taillight on night or day so they are more visible to other traffic. With motorized bikes lights are required at night but aren't entirely required during the day but front & back reflectors are a good idea if your lights arent bright enough for daytime use.

I've been getting by with my Topeak Aura light set for nigt time & since they double as reflectors I don't feel guilty about leaving them off during the day. Oh & there are laser lights you can get that project two lines of red on the ground of both sides of the bike about the width of a bike lane to show where cars behind you should pass. I thought about getting those since I ride to the side of the road to let faster traffic pass me.
Those lasers are just very underpowered for the use they are meant for, a former friend bought one, and I thought hey cool, but looking at it in real life had me second guessing it, on pavement it was relatively bright, but on black top it's just very dark, and while I haven't seen it from a cars point of view, but I'd assume it will be even less noticeable. And really... Nobody looks at the ground around the object for strange bike Lane markings, they are glancing at the bike animal person and steering either away or towards the bike animal and completes the task as intended.

I just don't see such an object being an investment anymore, unless it's pitch black outside, and the ground is white concrete, and the driver doesn't use headlights that overcome what light is actually being put on the ground by the laser.

Don't get me wrong, could have been a super cheap China house special, oh wait that's all of them...
 
Those lasers are just very underpowered for the use they are meant for, a former friend bought one, and I thought hey cool, but looking at it in real life had me second guessing it, on pavement it was relatively bright, but on black top it's just very dark, and while I haven't seen it from a cars point of view, but I'd assume it will be even less noticeable. And really... Nobody looks at the ground around the object for strange bike Lane markings, they are glancing at the bike animal person and steering either away or towards the bike animal and completes the task as intended.

I just don't see such an object being an investment anymore, unless it's pitch black outside, and the ground is white concrete, and the driver doesn't use headlights that overcome what light is actually being put on the ground by the laser.

Don't get me wrong, could have been a super cheap China house special, oh wait that's all of them...

Very powerful lasers are quite cheap now. The one I want to get would be dangerous in a concentrated beam, that's why I want to make it into a wide diameter beam of about 5 inches, or at least 3 inches. Such a beam will be quite noticeable even at twilight-dusk times. Even though it will be aimed at the ground about 20 feet in front of the bike, it will be quite noticeable while approaching the bike from behind, or above by helicopter =-)
 
A motorcyclist with no headlight driving at night?! thats just asking for trouble & a bad accident. Its practically suicide if you ask me. I would never get on a motorcycle with a broken or lack of a headlight even durring the day. Motorcycles are actually required by law in pretty much all US states to have a headlight & taillight on night or day so they are more visible to other traffic. With motorized bikes lights are required at night but aren't entirely required during the day but front & back reflectors are a good idea if your lights arent bright enough for daytime use.

I've been getting by with my Topeak Aura light set for nigt time & since they double as reflectors I don't feel guilty about leaving them off during the day. Oh & there are laser lights you can get that project two lines of red on the ground of both sides of the bike about the width of a bike lane to show where cars behind you should pass. I thought about getting those since I ride to the side of the road to let faster traffic pass me.

I actually passed that motorcyclist while he was parked and fiddling with his bike about two miles before that. I remember that the headlight wasn't working while the rest of his lights were on. I guess he just decided to head on home or something. Like I said, I heard something coming, though I had already looked and didnt see anyone behind me as I changed into the left side of the lane to cross over and up onto the sidewalk on the left side. But with the approaching sound I turned my head to see while I was already changing positions and saw the reflection on the ground behind the motorcyccle aproaching fast. So I gave it gas and swerved on into the oncoming lane. He was wearing bikers armour and I had about 50 pounds of tools in my backpack that he brushed. It seemed like it was an effective blow and a good whack sound, but it didnt even push me since my backpack was kind of hanging freely with all that weight in it. Despite the situation, he made a big circle back the way the road would allow him to and I doubt he could notice me still truckin along down the sidewalk in the trees. I bet he was sheeting breeks))) The police have video cameras every 100 feet or so looking in all directions here and if something happens they can track any vehicle from its starting point to destination and all that video stay in the databases for years. I think that's pretty much the way it is everywhere or will be everywhere soon.
 
My small town has cameras like that for the top half with all the businesses on the street, spaced out every 100 feet or so on either side. It's the beginning of skynet lol.
 
Cree 15000 lumen with rechargable battery pack 31 bucks on ebay. 4 settings blinding, not as blinding, acceptable, and flash.
Hey Gary,
15,000 lumens? I'm a flashlight junkie, but 15k lumen sounds like a "re-donkulous" light. And for $31? Can you get me a link for the one you purchased? Thanks.
 
If you go to ebay and type in 15000lm9xcree securitystore. Its the second one down. they have them up to 20000 lu, but believe me 15000 is crazy bright
 
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