This is a shameless attempt to save the the most advanced civilization in
history from imminent self destruction by eliminating carbon emission,
dependence on foreign sources of fuel,obesity, hypertension and diabetes.
Cycling accomplishes all those things at once and helps us develop a better
understanding of ourselves, each other and our relationship to the cosmos.

Oh, horse puckey!
I like to ride bikes, have been doing it all my life.
The rest of that crap is just a fringe benefit,
and the blogosphere gives me a chance to share my interior
monologue with virtual rather than imaginary friends.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

The light at the end of the bike lane.

I recently ran across a couple of lighting products.  Now bike lights, especially the brilliance of the new LED tech, has started to reach beyond the scale of practicality.  But along with that has come some interesting ideas.   The Lazer Shark is one of those.
It is  a large rear blinky light  with 3 modes, solid and two blinking modes.  It also has two bottom lights, one on each side controlled by the other red button you see.

These create a line on either side of the bike, a virtual barrier right near the 3 foot rule.
I had no better way to demonstrate.   Since it is 6AM  Sunday and we are receiving a blizzard, I had no photographer or model to help.  People have no sense of adventure.
You can see,  though the snow bank throws the right hand line out of wack, that even on a well lit city street the virtual bike lane shows up very well.  There will be no black asphalt for  a few days but I suspect it will be even more visible with the black contrast.
I wonder about this as I do the BM Brake Light, will motorists recognize it for what it is?
 Even directly under a street light, the "lane" is visible.  Unfortunately the lines are completely obscured by natural daylight.  Maybe the optics can be worked out to change that.  Hey I'm no physicist, but why not a death ray of some sort which can vaporize anything crossing the barrier?
They do it on TV.  I'd like to melt the front quarter panel of a few pickup trucks.
 I'll set my geek son to work on that.
I also  replaced my Serfas rechargeable headlight since it would barely hold a charge for 30 minutes (I also happened to lose it).  I went with a Princeton Tec  Corona Extreme.  It runs from a battery pack of 8 AA batteries.  I will replace the batteries with rechargeable s when necessary and be a happy person.   The advertised run time is over 100 hours so I think I will like it.
It has mounts for both handlebar and helmets.  I think the velcro strap for the helmet is a bit more convenient than screwing and unscrewing the handlebar attachment.  I was concerned about the battery pack, but it fits nicely in a pocket with no fuss.  The light has 8 LEDs with 4 combinations of brightness; 1,3,5, or 8 lit.  It reaches up to 70 lux.  There are also 3 mode choices, high power, low power and flashing.  So it is a pretty darn versatile and useful piece of equipment with up to 12 intensity choices..
Above is a snow covered, well lit city street without the light on.
The second above is the same street with the Princeton Tec on full power.  
I'm happy with this one,  If it can make that much impact on a fully lit street, it will be effective in any situation I come across.

No comments:

Post a Comment