Which are the best lights to stay well-lit during this winter season?
As the days get darker, it’s important to be well lit on your bike commute. So I’m testing three lights to see which ones stack up the best.
The new Biolight PowerLight Mini.
The Beryl Laserlight, my favourite light from last season.
And a $15 wraparound handlebar light. Which one is best? Thanks to both Biolite and Beryl for sending me the lights to try.
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Tom Babin is the author of Frostbike: The Joy, Pain and Numbness of Winter Cycling.
Eric Armstrong
Hey, Tom. Great stuff you do. Just posted this on your video regarding painting bike lanes. Copying it here, to make sure you see it. :__)
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Dude! I love your channel, and most everything you do. Well, pretty much EVERYTHING. Except this. On this one, you totally missed the boat, by failing to question the validity of those studies you mentioned. I’m a cyclist & a driver, so I have a vested interest here. But two things to realize about the times when cars pass closer:
A. When there are PARKED CARS.
Think about it: You’re on a residential road. It’s wide enough for 2 cars and maybe a bit more.
If there is no parked car, there are 2 clear car lines, minus the space taken by your bike.
In short, plenty of room to pass with a large margin of safety.
Now put a parked car there. Wham! The amount of space just dropped by almost half.
Where does the car go? If you and it are passing the parked car at the same time, it HAS
to come closer.
B. When there is a PAINTED BIKE LANE.
Take a look at the video you made. There is a painted lane when there are TWO lanes going in
your direction, or when there is FAST MOVING traffic. (In general, anyway.)
Now then: If a car is passing you, it has to worry about traffic in the NEXT LANE over, either
going in the same direction, or coming in the opposite direction. Take the guy in the truck,
he might have been taking a bite of his sandwich or something. He stopped doing it when
going between you and traffic on his left, then took a bite when he was clear of you, ERRING
ON THE SIDE OF THE BIKE LANE, because there was no danger of hitting anything there.
In short, he may well have used the extra space intelligently, and being somewhat distracted
for a moment, he crossed over into the empty space.
Now, I’m a big fan of divided lanes. Have been, ever since I began finding out about Dutch
infrastructure. And I sure wish I could find anything of the sort anywhere near me!
But taken as a whole, those studies are highly questionable. (Finally, also consider that bike
lanes are, in the main, put in where the RISKS and SEVERITY of an accident are SEVERE. Not
the case on residential streets. Definitely the case on larger thoroughfares.
You see my point, I’m sure. The statistics cannot HELP coming out the way they did, for lack of ANY kind of apples & apples controls.