Riding at night?

[Gary]

I guess only an argumentative Scot reared in Nanny Nichola‘s state and looking to be controversial by making outlandish, almost puerile and adolescent taunts would think other than that.

Oh. Here we go. How you think this has any relevance to Scottish government really is quite astounding. And especially ironic as you seem intent on claiming I have no experience of the subject we're discussing. ?
Along with common sense I'm guessing Scottish politics is not a strong point of yours either?
There's nothing adolescent about calling out selfish idiots if their actions are likely to put lives in danger.
As explained. My advice to be courteous and switch off a helmet spot light when riding on the road not aimed just at you.

 

[Waynemarlow]

Along with common sense I'm guessing Scottish politics is not a strong point of yours either?

I don't live in Scotland, so other than the nagging we see on BBC every day from wee Nanny Nichola over this Covid period ( why the English have to view that I have no idea ), I guess thats the only glimpse we see of the Scots political viewpoint, mind you Alex certainly livened up the show, naughty boy Alex.

Lived in Scotland for 3 years, interesting country and always fascinated me how any conversation between Scots would always end in them hating each other, almost a right of passage of the Scots to disagree with everything anyone said, I guess that sums up Gary to a T.

 

[Gary]

(why the English have to view that I have no idea )

You could always choose not to watch the peado channel.
I'm not particularly a fan of little Nicola Krankie either but Boris even less so.

Lived in Scotland for 3 years, interesting country and always fascinated me how any conversation between Scots would always end in them hating each other, almost a right of passage of the Scots to disagree with everything anyone said, I guess that sums up Gary to a T.

Where? It's a fairly big expanse of land and culture differs every few miles.
That's also a pretty ridiculous summary. But if it makes you feel better *shrug*

 

[Waynemarlow]

You could always choose not to watch the peado channel.

Where? It's a fairly big expanse of land and culture differs every few miles.

Highlands, great place and had some happy times there, but I got fed up with the reliance on the English taxpayers teat in everything the locals did and then in the pub that night, hated the English with all the gusto of 10 drams of the local whisky could muster, before falling out with each and every mate they had. One of the funniest sights I have ever seen was some guy who had been chucked out by a bouncer stood there arguing to himself using two different arguments, over why he was turfed out.

Gary have you ever heard of IAD syndrome, you may need to look it up, you definately are up there with your 6800 posts in just over two years, how you can find time to ride beggers belief such is the amount of time you dedicate to this forum.

 

[Gary]

Highlands, great place and had some happy times there, but I got fed up with the reliance on the English taxpayers teat in everything the locals did and then in the pub that night, hated the English with all the gusto of 10 drams of the local whisky could muster, before falling out with each and every mate they had. One of the funniest sights I have ever seen was some guy who had been chucked out by a bouncer stood there arguing to himself using two different arguments, over why he was turfed out.

haha.
"Highlands" still doesn't exactly pin you down. but fair enough. and yeah a lot of the more remote parts of the country can be rather insular.

Gary have you ever heard of IAD syndrome, you may need to look it up, you definately are up there with your 6800 posts in just over two years, how you can find time to ride beggers belief such is the amount of time you dedicate to this forum.

it's closer to 3 years but I apreciate your concern.
Does 7 internet forum posts a day really indicate cause for concern in this day and age?
Do you use Facebook? Youtube? other forums? or any other social media platforms? I don't. How many posts do you make per day across them (versus my zero)? and do you post while working? or when in company? again I don't. I don't watch TV alone either. This place is just a lighthearted distraction. My total screen time is way less than my time spent socialising, Family time or bike riding time. So don't worry. I ride bikes a lot more than most. and not just Ebikes.

Ps. The irony of being told to "look up" IAD Syndrome" online is not lost on me.

 

[deksawyer]

Wayne, please take your political and racist views elsewhere mate, they're not welcome. Mods please take note!

 

[Waynemarlow]

Wayne, please take your political and racist views elsewhere mate, they're not welcome. Mods please take note!

For ferk sake, the racist card gets thrown into the ring, what world do you live in, oh sorry Fife, this is just Gary baiting, you know the one who likes to call the BBC the peado channel

 

[deksawyer]

I know what to expect from Gary, but you really do come across to me as a total know it all wanker, with some kind of a superiority complex. In not one of your posts in this thread have you conceded you may be wrong.

I think it's time for you to step away and stop trolling everyone else on here. It's getting tiresome.

 

[Waynemarlow]

I know what to expect from Gary, but you really do come across to me as a total know it all wanker, with some kind of a superiority complex. In not one of your posts in this thread have you conceded you may be wrong.

I think it's time for you to step away and stop trolling everyone else on here. It's getting tiresome.

Not trolling ( oh the trolling card is now also in the ring ) anybody, just raising the issue that in the practical world of night riding off road, you actually don't need to be switching your head lights every time you come to a road, which Gary considers to be necessary.

I would suspect I've only rattled your cage because I've taken the piss out of Gary's heritage that of being Scottish as you are from Fife ( incidentally nice part of the world and where the locals constantly tell you, has the highest number of sunshine hours in the UK per year ), are you going to wave you Sgian Dubh in the air and get all hot and flustered about that enough to flap your Sporan, I guess so.

OK back to night lights and batteries, something that I do know quite a bit about and not just read off the internet like Gary.

 

[Gary]

You haven't rattled my cage in the slightest mate. Folk talk pish e everywhere. Some English man on the Internet doing so isn't going to matter either way.
Ie.

where the locals constantly tell you, has the highest number of sunshine hours in the UK per year

Dunno what Fifers you know but Dunbar East Lothian has held that accolade as far back as I can remember. hence its nickname "Sunny Dunny" either way its a bit late to be trying to Tongue your way into a Sotsmans arse by mentioning you think some of our country is pretty. .

 

[Zimmerframe]

On both of the last two rides I have spooked dear in the woods that have leapt across in front of me with little warning.

You'd think with Covid all the old dears would be sitting at home knitting, not running around the woods looking for young men.

 

[steve_sordy]

Thankyou Zimmer for changing the subject.

 

[Jamze]

Final point (sorry Steve!). From memory, it's illegal to be on the road with a front light higher than 1500mm off the ground (Road Vehicles Lighting Regs) for the reasons folks have discussed above. Saying that, there's other stuff in the regs most of us ignore (reflectors), but I turn mine off.

 

[Waynemarlow]

either way its a bit late to be trying to Tongue your way into a Sotsmans arse by mentioning you think some of our country is pretty. .

Hero to zero in a day, deal with it princess

 

[Gary]

You did actually read Jamze's post above before continuing to make a complete tool of yourself Wayne?

just checkin'

 

[Jamze]

And found myself rolling down a scaffolding plank! The steps had been removed and in their place was the plank.

My regular night ride years ago was some boardwalks in a water nature reserve that was ace to ride with no people about. Until one night it turned out they had removed a whole section of boardwalk for repairs and I ended up in the lake. Only found the bike 'cos the lights were still on ??‍

 

[Nicho]

On both of the last two rides I have spooked dear in the woods that have leapt across in front of me with little warning.

You had probably dazzled them with your helmet light!!!

 

[Andrie]

Why do people feel the need to insult others heritage or origins? I tend to find other people cultures fascinating. This place is filled with people from all cultures, thus makes this a lively and vibrant community

 

[kendo]

My one and only night ride nearly ended in disaster. My mate (well, he was then) invited me out on a night ride of about 7 miles. He leant me one of his bar lights and off we went. He had bar and a helmet light. With bar lights only, the first thing I learned was how your vision narrows down to the floodlit section in front of you. Look sideways and you see NOTHING! That makes sharp turns through the hedge a bit of a lottery. What's on the other side of the hedge gap? It could be a ditch, flat, mud, steps...... I soon learned to take wide turns to give the bar light chance to see where I was going. I then learned that the big black shadow on the ground could be shallow, deep or anything in between! A helmet light would have solved all those problems.

Anyway, we slowly made our way into the grounds of a stately home. Cruising down a gravel path we came across a pair of matching stone pillars. Having been to stately homes before and seen those types of pillar, I guessed that there was a flight of steps coming up. Seeing my mate's light dropping away confirmed it. I don't know why, but I followed exactly in my mate's tracks. And found myself rolling down a scaffolding plank! The steps had been removed and in their place was the plank. If I had gone slightly off track, or at an angle, I would have disappeared into a big hole, probably hitting my face on the edge of the other side before falling backwards onto the broken masonry at the bottom. It would not have been at all pretty. My mate had given me no warning whatsoever, showed no concern and I was more than a bit pissed off with him.

We actually did just over 14 miles that evening, which was when I discovered that he was no judge of distance either.

A few years before I knew him he'd had a serious crash on his motorbike and had been pronounced dead at the scene and then two more times after that! Six months in hospital, long, long, catalogue of injuries, told that he'd never walk again, etc. I believe that the head injuries altered his judgement of risk, in that he just did not see danger. It led to me parting company with him because he wanted me to ride what I saw as insanely dangerous stuff and took the piss when I refused. I bumped into him years later and sadly he was in a wheelchair - for life! He told me that he'd done it mountain biking; one DH course too many. Very sad indeed.

I've not been out at night on my mtb ever since. But then I'm retired and can ride in daylight. If I was a wage slave with a young family, then evenings may be the best time to ride. In which a descent set of lights would be a Godsend.

Buy some Cree lights on ebay....get the most most powerful ones for £30 a pop, insanely bright and a fraction of the cost of higher end brand names...I run two... on helmet and bars and they are like car headlights.... I hit a lot of fast tech DH stuff no problem.

 

[Tubby G]

Now then …

This subject has been talked to death on here, and I can’t be a**ed to search for every single thread and read all the comments, so I’m just after a quick summary of some decent ‘helmet’ mounted lights for night trail riding

Looking at the Exposure Joystick, but if there is an alternative for a more economical price then I’m all ears!

Google searches & reviews seem to focus on the handlebar mounted lights and not so much on the helmet mounted lights

Thanks

 

[yorkshire89]

Most of our riding group use Exposure Diablo's. Currently £155 on Wiggle, usually £215.
Good lights but pricey and battery life isn't great with full power, we drop the power down between trails.

The cheap ebay lights (solarstorm) are really good for the money but you do need a separate battery which can be quite annoying.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Google searches seem to focus on the handlebar mounted lights and not so much on the helmet mounted lights

One conclusion is that the ideal is to have both. One on the bars lighting in front of the bike and a second on your helmet, lighting where you look.

Alternatively, I find I ride with my eyes closed a lot, so there's little difference between day and night - you could try this.

 

[Tubby G]

Most of our riding group use Exposure Diablo's. Currently £155 on Wiggle, usually £215.
Good lights but pricey and battery life isn't great with full power, we drop the power down between trails.

The cheap ebay lights (solarstorm) are really good for the money but you do need a separate battery which can be quite annoying.

Yeah don’t want a separate battery, just a single unit mounted on the head. I’ll be buying two (one for her) so have to budget really

 

[Tubby G]

One conclusion is that the ideal is to have both. One on the bars lighting in front of the bike and a second on your helmet, lighting where you look.

Alternatively, I find I ride with my eyes closed a lot, so there's little difference between day and night - you could try this.

We have decent bar mounted lights, just after the helmet one now

I’ll keep my eyes open on the trails though

 

[spicker]

Now that I have my MS906S running on my Levo, I'm also interested in some helmet lighting. You realize how much you look around when riding with only a bar light.

 

[Bndit]

I have Exposure Sirius on my helmet and together with handlebar light it's really good. Best things are that it's very light and battery life is really good if you don't use full 900 lumens...and you don't need to. Not so easy to use with gloves on and it would be nice to have different helmet attachment because I cannot put to the center of the helmet, but those are minor things, highly recommend this!

 

[Tubby G]

I have Exposure Sirius on my helmet and together with handlebar light it's really good. Best things are that it's very light and battery life is really good if you don't use full 900 lumens...and you don't need to. Not so easy to use with gloves on and it would be nice to have different helmet attachment because I cannot put to the center of the helmet, but those are minor things, highly recommend this!

Are you riding dark forest trails with the Sirius ? The Exposure website states it is a commuter light

 

[spicker]

What about something like the Petzl Swift RL: SWIFT® RL - Headlamps | Petzl Canada

 

[Bndit]

Are you riding dark forest trails with the Sirius ? The Exposure website states it is a commuter light

Yeah, and I can tell that forest trails are really dark here in Finland at this time of the year I have this on my helmet https://www.exposure-use.com/Brands...10-DayBright-Gun-Metal-Black-EXPSIRIUS10DBGMB and paired with Lupine SL F Lupine Lighting Systems - E-Bike lights • SL F great combo but of course not the cheapest...

 

[RustyMTB]

Ride nights with a bunch of lads. We all ride with Exposures & Parvo lifeline lights on the bars, I have a Moon helmet light & consequently, I'm a hate figure for blinding them when I look in their direction. Would say that something like an Exposure with ten zillion lumens is all you need but we're all different.