Riding this AM for the first time since being sideswiped by a minivan rearview mirror going about 45 mph, I decided I needed something more to attract the attention of the fast food-guzzling, latte -swilling, cell -phone-glued-to-their-ear, mordidly obese ,majority of the population that I share th eroad with. Can anyone give me any advice on rear taillights. The Brightest, most durable, lightest, etc etc. Thanks in advance.
Hey, at least you’re not bitter!
This is what I have. It’s one bright little mother. Brighter then the Cateyes I’ve seen. Since this uses LED’s they get dimmer as the batteries die. So you’ll want to replace the batteries long before the light “stops working.” You might want to attach one of these to your bike and one to you, like on a bag or jacket or something.
Good luck. I hope you don’t have any more “encounters”.
We are selling a tail light that will blow your mind. I found it when a customer brought it in on his bike and I ordered some for stock. I has, I believe, 40 led’s. It is 39.99, but cheap price for safety. Email me at twowheelerdealer@juno.com if you are interested. If you get it and do not like it, send it back and I will refund all of your money. It was designed to replace flairs when your car is broken down. It has a mount for the seat post and it will also stick to any flat steel surface,ie car or auto, via two magnets attached to rear of light.
Shawn Spencer
The best tail light that I have seen/used is the niterider tail light. Let me reccommend them highly. Because the tail light is driven by 6 or 12 v high amperage battery the brightness is impecable. I’ve used them for three years of commuting 30 miles over two small mountains each way to work without fail.
You can see examples on my website…
http://www.angelfire.com/retro/355_rider/collect.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/retro/355_rider/pics/appy1b.jpg
I highly recommend strong tail lights if you are dealing with passing traffic in the dark. I did some bike accident research and, for what its worth… rear end “hits” comprise a very small percentage of bike accidents (most are cross hits, being “t-boned”). However, of those rear end hits a high percentage of them are fatal! In those instances the motorist has claimed they never saw the cyclist.
I highly recommend strong tail lights if you are dealing with passing traffic in the dark. I did some bike accident research and, for what its worth… rear end “hits” comprise a very small percentage of bike accidents (most are cross hits, being “t-boned”). However, of those rear end hits a high percentage of them are fatal! In those instances the motorist has claimed they never saw the cyclist.
Nice pictures.
These crash statistics are interesting. I occasionally ride with a small flashing Cateye during the day. I’ll start out doing it because I think that it is going to be foggy, or whatever, and then it will clear. I notice that when I have the flasher, I get much more leeway from passing motorists. It does away with the all too frequent sensation that the driver didn’t bother to swerve at all to miss hitting me, or didn’t think that I really had the right to be occupying the lane. The flashing light is either enough to draw the drivers’ attention, or to make them think differently about the information that there is a cyclist present, even in broad daylight.
I am normally a pretty aggressive cyclist about safety in traffic; I take the lane and believe that I have the right to be on the roads and that motorists should only pass me when they can do it legally. I seem to get more respect for that opinion when I have the flasher.
Ray
I have a older LED flasher on the back that seems to get there attention while it’s dark. I just got a Cateye EL200 LED head light and can’t believe how much light it puts out! I’m going to look into their tail lights so that I stand out better during daylight hours. I also wear a flasher on my back pack so that if I have to get off of the bike, (like changing a flat the other morning), hopefully they will see me before impact!
I’ll double the recommendation for the NiteRider tail light, it’s by far one of the best I’ve used. A little steeper in cost since you also have to get a headlight, but then again, you should have a headlight so as to help you avoid the t-bone. NiteLight headlights are really bright as well, although it also depends on which light you get. I have the Classic Plus, usually don’t use dual beam unless I’m ridin’ in the rain.