Lights. How FN bright and why the F do they flash?

I mean really. I'm starting to get really irritated by a girl on the Dunsmuir Viaduct biking out of downtown at 8:30am every day (it's FN day light at this point) who has probably the brightest light I've ever seen on a commuter bike. At least as bright as the high beams on my pickup truck. And to boot she has it flashing. She is causing real distress to motorists. I don't know if she can't see the brake lights coming on from panicked motorists that can't suddenly see the car in front of them because of 3500 lumens being rapidly flashed into their face on the viaduct. Or maybe she doesn't care. Either way it's behaviour like hers that makes motorists hate cyclists. If she's concerned about visability well let me remind her that I can see her at the post office when I'm coming onto the Viaduct at Main. I can also see the guy ahead of her that has an 250 lumen light that's not flashing. I mean why the f*ck do these things even flash anymore. This is the kind of light that can be used to start an epileptic seizure during an EEG. Is that what she wants? Some Epileptic to drop and roll in front of her because she's to stupid to turn off her flashing strobe light at 8:30 AM when it's freaking Daylight. Did I say it was Daylight.

Enough with flashing high powered strobe lights for headlights.

(And I hope this chick is on NSMB and realizes she is the single most irritating biker on the entire Adanac bike route every morning.)

LOL! Tell us how you really feel.

well, in her defence the light has done it's job if you've noticed her. as well all know being on a bicycle offers far less protection than the inside of a motor vehicle. i ride with my flasher on during the day as well because it makes me more noticeable in traffic and i can think of more than a few occasions where it kept a motorist from driving out in front of me. but…

in defence to you, despite the increased awareness factor you are right that it also causes a distraction which is potentially unsafe. i now make a point of using my lower lumen light as the flasher and make sure that it is pointed down towards the pavement and not into the line of sight of other road users.

it might simply be that she is not aware of the annoyance, distraction and potential danger she is causing to others and herself. i'd probably guess this is the case and the thinking is that if i make myself as bright and as noticeable as possible it will be safer for me.

it might be worth going in to work a bit early one day so you could have a friendly chat and let her know of the issues with the light and politely offer some suggestions on how to deal with those issues.

somebody in my neighbourhood also has that freakishly powerful front flasher. it isn't safe IMO as it could cause a crash by blinding oncoming drivers..i think its brighter than my car lites..:(

.i think its brighter than my car lites..:(

headlight envy?

500 lumens in the front and 200 in the back,if you arent pissed off by my lights, they arent doing thier job.

500 lumens in the front and 200 in the back,if you arent pissed off by my lights, they arent doing thier job.

on the flipside if somebody is pissed-off that's simply creating driver rage for cyclists - not really a good thing.

there's a happy balance where you're still visible and not annoying the hell out of drivers.

500 lumens in the front and 200 in the back,if you arent pissed off by my lights, they arent doing thier job.

Just another reason for motorists to respect cyclists,eh?

Im working at Dunsm
uir and Homer I will take her out with a stick in the spokes Monday

on the flipside if somebody is pissed-off that's simply creating driver rage for cyclists - not really a good thing.

there's a happy balance where you're still visible and not annoying the hell out of drivers.

I hope u are right. I generally like your point of contrast…. But it is such an intangible measure that i would have to take the side of the cyclist at this point. If u examine the fact that a driver has to be annoyed for 1/4 of a second but is not in any jeopardy of being hurt and if they are not useless have little chance of being in an accident with another car… I have had thousands of other drivers blind me with hi beams 10,000X more powerful, by the fact that they are too arrogant, too stupid, or too lazy to dim the brights on their 80G$ SUV's while i drive. I bitch about it, but i am in no danger of being eradicated by a car on a bike. Fucke them way worse than a terrified, exposed, diligent, cyclist. OP must have a fuckin fantastically undisturbed existence if he had to make a point of a bothersome cyclist light.
By OP i mean the baby who started this thread.

I hope u are right. I generally like your point of contrast…. But it is such an intangible measure that i would have to take the side of the cyclist at this point. If u examine the fact that a driver has to be annoyed for 1/4 of a second but is not in any jeopardy of being hurt and if they are not useless have little chance of being in an accident with another car… I have had thousands of other drivers blind me with hi beams 10,000X more powerful, by the fact that they are too arrogant, too stupid, or too lazy to dim the brights on their 80G$ SUV's while i drive. I bitch about it, but i am in no danger of being eradicated by a car on a bike. Fucke them way worse than a terrified, exposed, diligent, cyclist. OP must have a fuckin fantastically undisturbed existence if he had to make a point of a bothersome cyclist light.
By OP i mean the baby who started this thread.

well let's just say i used to be that self righteous jackass with the torchlight rigth in driver's faces for a brief time and figured out in quick order that it wasn't really doing me any good if i was blinding oncoming drivers on narrow side streets.

setting the point of the flashing beam to hit the road about 2-3m (6-10ft) in front of your tire will accomplish the goal of making you visible and not annoy the hell out of drivers or possibly temporarily blind them. at the end of the day the guy in the car isn't getting crushed by someone on a bike.

moooooooar is not always better.

unless you're talking bacon of course.

^^^^some alignment might not hurt.
Dont drivers blast u more times a week than bikes? They do me. Good points though. Well taken.

^^^^some alignment might not hurt.
Dont drivers blast u more times a week than bikes? They do me. Good points though. Well taken.

i think that's probably where the misalignment aspect comes in. on a bicycle, you're sitting much higher up that in a car, so with a light on your bars even aimed level it's shining directly into the eyes of someone sitting in a car. as bad or potentially worse for helemt mounts.

and yes, i do see it worse from other drivers when i'm in my car as it's lowered. however, in the car with on coming vehicles their approach speed and ultimately the closing speed is much higher, so the time of exposure is typically a lot shorter.

The amount of times I have nearly been killed riding in bike lanes, with high vis gear in broad daylight is the reason I have high lumen strobes. It sucks that it will annoy some people, but if it gets the attention of the dimwits diddling their cell phones, I get to stay alive another day.