Abuse

[MikeF]

I shouted at a cyclist this evening on a country lane, he was coming towards me, reflective bits on jacket, really nice bright front light, slight flicker so possibly dynamo. After he passed I turned around to check out his rear lights and.. nothing. It was pitch black so I yelled at the top of my voice but he was already too far away so I just saw his front light lighting up the hedges in the distance.
60mph road with no street lighting and fast cars, I hope he got home ok. He probably wasn't aware of the rear being out.

The problem with your rear light is you cannot see it. If it's "dynamo" it should be fine, but a wire pulled out, poor connection etc may mean it's not. If it's battery, especially powered by a dry cell, it could be fine when it's switched on, but shortly afterwards be poor. I overtook (in a car) one cyclist recently whom I thought didn't have a rear light, but as I passed I could just discern a blinking light, and I mean just! A glow-worm would have produced more light! Front light was quite acceptable visibility wise.

I don't know what the solution is - light tube from the back to the front of the bike so the rider can tell?

[661-Pete]

The problem with your rear light is you cannot see it. If it's "dynamo" it should be fine, but a wire pulled out, poor connection etc may mean it's not. If it's battery, especially powered by a dry cell, it could be fine when it's switched on, but shortly afterwards be poor. I overtook (in a car) one cyclist recently whom I thought didn't have a rear light, but as I passed I could just discern a blinking light, and I mean just! A glow-worm would have produced more light! Front light was quite acceptable visibility wise.

I don't know what the solution is - light tube from the back to the front of the bike so the rider can tell?

I have exactly the same problem. I usually have my rear light at the end of a wedge bag: very convenient for putting on and off, but very difficult to tell if it's still on when on the move.

It used to be an even worse problem back in the bad old days of the Ever-Ready 'Rearguard' (who else remembers that monstrosity?). I had mine mounted on the seat stays, it was forever going out due to vibration setting up corrosion on the battery contacts. Thankfully, the last of those went in the bin many winters ago...

This idea is from a motorbike forum, but it's the same principle: could be the perfect answer. Has anyone tried this? I might.

[tatanab]

This idea is from a motorbike forum, but it's the same principle: could be the perfect answer. Has anyone tried this? I might.

Nothing is new. 35 years ago you could by a simple fibre optic link to monitor your pedal cycle rear light. That was in the days when most people thought fibre optics were only used to make funny table lights. So it has been done before, but I suppose there was not enough of a market to sustain it other than as a DIY.

I like to know that my light is lit, probably from using the same Ever Ready lights although a piece of cardboard between the batteries made them much more reliable. My modern rear lights, battery or dynamo, are bright enough and light over a large enough arc that I can see the light on the road behind me, and even in the hedgerows on dark lanes.

[MikeF]

This idea is from a motorbike forum, but it's the same principle: could be the perfect answer. Has anyone tried this? I might.

That was the sort of thing I had in mind. Lights on the end of the carrier are not easy to see from a rider's view and if there are street lights you may not see much light on the road. It's all very well trying to look behind you, but you can't be continually doing that, and you may need to be focussing much more on what's ahead when riding at night.

[Flinders]

I remember the Ever-Ready ones.
In my case, it was the front one that was unreliable and needed tweaking all the time on the contacts. I think they didn't seal very well, so the contacts corroded easily.
Also, one night some grubby little thief stole the batteries out of my back light.

[AlaninWales]

Ahhh! Happy days of Ever Ready!

1. Always remove top section and batteries, leaving only the battery case to catch water (cover with a plastic bag).
2. Regularly clean contacts with glass-paper
3. Electric tape or similar around the batteries to stop them bouncing around and disconnecting
4. New batteries every two days in Winter (that was expensive!)
5. Regularly clean inside the reflector (had to be done through the bulb-hole!)
6. Carry a spare bulb @(or two)
7. They were too dim for all the above!

Still have a couple out in the barn

[[XAP]Bob]

Mouthful of abuse from a young "lady" today...
"don't you ${expletive}ing well tell me when it's safe to overtake".

I'd merely signalled a safe pass after cresting a hill at the end of a stream of oncoming traffic...

[AlaninWales]

Mouthful of abuse from a young "lady" today...
"don't you ${expletive}ing well tell me when it's safe to overtake".

I'd merely signalled a safe pass after cresting a hill at the end of a stream of oncoming traffic...

TBH I feel some sympathy towards her (apart from the expletive, which some just can't help adding whatever they are saying). It is really quite irritating to be frantically waved past as some cyclists (and horse riders) do, when they are in the position to see around the hazard - and I (driving) am not. My driving safely is my responsibility, not theirs and I'll wait until I can see it is clear (as for when they actually stop right in the place where they can see through the hazard and then start to direct my movements ).

[Flinders]

Can't say I have any sympathy for her aggression. The cyclist was just being polite in signing her round. If she didn't want to go round (sometimes I don't) for any reason, nobody was forcing her. In her place if I'd said anything later it would have been 'thanks for the wave, but I didn't feel I could get round because.....'

[661-Pete]

I do that now and again: stay in primary in a narrow lane until I've found a safe spot to draw in and let the following motorist overtake. I try to avoid arm-waving (something that the Highway Code discourages anyway) but the brief nod that I give is usually understood. Can't say I've ever had any aggro about this: on the contrary, I'm usually thanked.

[[XAP]Bob]

I gently wave onwards, often thanked for idt.

I'l not t=stop as a eesult of this...

[Grandad]

My driving safely is my responsibility, not theirs and I'll wait until I can see it is clear (as for when they actually stop right in the place where they can see through the hazard and then start to direct my movements ).

I only wave a motorist past if I'm about to pull in at a wider spot in the lane.

As a club we have a rule that clubruns must not signal vehicles to pass. This is because the time a driver takes to get past everyone is an unknown quantity - some will accelerate and pass quickly but some do not and sometimes take a long time to complete the overtake. We also break into several smaller groups to enable motorists to pass in 2 or more stages.