Clocks go Fwd end march-Do you stop using commuting lights?

[Redvee]

Lights are used year round on my commute. Doing 1400-2200 shifts mean a light ride and dark ride regardless of the time of year. Think I've had 10 minutes on the way home one night one summer where I didn't have my lights on, as soon as I got to the main road I stopped and turned them on.

[eileithyia]

Stop using commuting lights? It will be a long while before its light for my commute, but since I run Dynamo lights, I just leave 'em on at all times...

+1 Especially as in the past my late finish has been 21:45, and my early starts have been 07:15.... (currently 07:30-20:30 if not on nights) previously the shifts were only 7.5 hours so for a few very short weeks I have just about got away with not having lights on for my commute in..... they certainly stay on the 'winter' bike but are easily detachable with spare clips on the 'summer' and time trial bike.


After the cafe stop today in the Peaks, we all had lights on as the sky was darkening with the threat of rain at 11:00.
Time trialling i always run front and rear lights, a really good flashing front light gives motorists likely to pull out in front of you, time for a second thought / double take.

[eileithyia]

....and I don't know what hours you actually work, but cycling home between 4-4.30pm I definitely wanted my lights on, the light had a sort of luminosity and while the sky was light the streets were in shadow ....

[iviehoff]

Even in midsummer I can be late and require lights.

I cannot tolerate having lights unavailable, so I have back-up systems. Bicycle lights are unreliable. Batteries go flat; bulbs blow; mysterious faults occur; spare batteries are faulty; removable lights jump off and get driven over by passing traffic; dynamo lights suffer contact problems taking long periods of time to locate and clean: all of these have happened to me over the years.

My fall-back is day running lights, as dark country lanes are very dangerous without working lights. As my back-up, I have chosen Reelights contactless battery-free LED lights, which are always on, they don't even have an off-switch. So those are there all year providing some light as a fall-back. Not ideal on a dark country lane, but at least they keep me reasonably safe if the main light isn't working. Sometimes they have also failed to work. I had one die on me permanently even once. I now have sufficient redundancy I can rely on having some kind of a light at all occasions. I think there was only one recent occasion where my main rear light went flat during the journey and the Reelight had randomly decided not to work for a bit, but fortunately that was in well-lit London streets, and I also have very good reflectors.

[andrew_s]

since I run Dynamo lights, I just leave 'em on at all times...

Mine are senso (i.e. automatic), and I just leave them to it, except for turning them on manually maybe once every couple of years when it's sunny on top of the hill, but shallow fog at river level. I ride after dark at least twice a week all year, and lights can be handy even on a sunny day if you ride into a tunnel of trees (or even a real tunnel).

My experience is that backup battery lights kept in the saddlebag are less reliable than the dynamo lights, even if I've put a bit of plastic under the battery contacts. The only dynamo lighting problems I've had since 2008 or thereabouts when I got an early-ish Edelux were knocking the lens off a B+M Seculite (still worked), and helpful people trying to turn the standlight off when the bike's parked and leaving the lights turned off. Almost all of that time has been with the lights turned on in senso mode.

[Elizabethsdad]

My dynamo lights stay on all year, mainly because I forget about them. Before I had those I always had my lights with me just in case- poor weather, low sun, working late, pub stop after work, pf working overtime to delay you etc. They would often go the summer unused but would much rather have them than not

Same for me - I just leave my dynamo lights in the 'on' position. The only very minor downside is they are standlights, so I have people telling me I have left my lights on when I park up.

[[XAP]Bob]

I thank them, but tell them that they'll turn themselves off.

No switches on most of mine (at least not that others can find), so no issues with those..

[Vorpal]

My experience is that backup battery lights kept in the saddlebag are less reliable than the dynamo lights, even if I've put a bit of plastic under the battery contacts.

I store my backup lights and batteries separately. I keep the batteries in a plastic bag & wrapped up together in a rubber band.

[Elizabethsdad]

I thank them, but tell them that they'll turn themselves off.

No switches on most of mine (at least not that others can find), so no issues with those..

It is quite nice to know that there are still people prepared to be helpful like that. A while back at work a colleague was in the office and said he had seen my rear light was on and was looking for the off button when it went off by itself - he was worried he might have broken it. I reassured him it was fine. The slightly funny thing is he cycles too and is an engineer and yet isn't aware of dynamo standlights.