Rear Cycle Lights

Rear lights on your bicycle essentially serve a single purpose. They make you more visible in low light conditions, whether that be at day or at night and help to reduce the chance you will be involved in an accident with another road user.

Most rear cycle lights mount on the seat pillar but there are also some that mount on the bicycle frame. You need to ensure though that wherever you mount your cycle light that is conforms to local legislation as there are, in most countries, minimum height from the ground requirements as well as other requirements. For example it may be illegal to use flashing strobe type lights although they now seem to be more and more widely accepted.

The old filament bulb type of cycle lamp seems to have had its day now with more and more LED style lights coming onto the market with comparable power and usually more favourable battery life.

As mentioned above there may be some limitations as to the type of light you can use on your bicycle and one of the most common restrictions is that the light must be ’steady’ as opposed to flashing. You will find that most modern LED lights have a steady mode as well as a flashing mode but you may find it beneficial to have two lights mounted. One steady to meet the legislation and one flashing to make you more visible. Some rear lights come with multiple banks of LEDs that allow you to have some showing steady and some flashing.

One word of caution is that although a flashing light tends to be more visible to motorists and other road users it is sometime difficult to judge the distance to them and there is a suggestion that if the driver behind you is drunk they could actually be attracted to the flashing light. These caution notes though only really serve to backup the fact that you should have both steady and flashing lights on the rear of your bike.

Another reason to have two lights mounted on the rear of your bicycle rather than relying on a single unit is battery life. You tend to find that LED lights will simply fail much quicker once battery power falls below a certain level. So, it is useful to have a second light installed that you can switch to in the case of failure.

So if you are in the habit of riding your bicycle at night, make sure you are safe by fitting adequate lighting to the rear (and front) of your bike, and remember that whatever solution you go for when lighting up your bike it needs to conform to local legislation.

Bright Lights – All the Better to See Where you are Going

If you are one of those people that likes to stick to the routine of riding your bike to work no matter what the weather or the time of year then you need to make sure that you are well equipped for when the light mornings and long light nights of Summer turn into the dark mornings and early evenings / late afternoons of Autumn and Winter.

Maybe work doesn’t enter into it and you just enjoy going out for a ride a few times per week. No matter what your reason if you intend to ride in the dark then you need to ensure you are equipped with appropriate lights. This is not just a sensible health and safety concern but it’s also the law.

There are two reasons for having sufficient light on the front of your bike. The first is that you need to be seen by pedestrians and other traffic using the road. The second is that you need to be able to see where you are going.

Up until recently, to have a light of sufficient power on the front of your bike that would satisfy the second reason would mean having a normal bulb lamp that due to the power consumption would house large enough batteries to keep it lit for more than a few minutes at a time, or one that was connected to a dynamo driven by your wheels which make it feel like you are riding through treacle.

There is an alternative to both these solutions now though. Advancements in technology have meant that previously dim and pretty much useless for seeing where you are going LED lights have been replaced with bright and powerful LED units capable of not only making sure you are seen but also that you can see where you are going.

Some manufacturers such as Cateye and Exposure are now offering single LED lights rated in excess of 1500 candle power.

No Lights? – Don’t Ride Your Bike at Night Then – It’s the Law

In the Summer months you probably don’t give much thought to lighting up at night (that’s making yourself visible while riding your bike, not stopping for a cigarette) because you probably have enough light to be seen by until fairly late. However, as Summer closes and the Autumn and Winter months arrive then it is something that you need to pay close attention to if you’re not intending to change your schedule around or reduce the amount of outdoor riding you do. You need to have lights on your bike not just because its the right thing to do from a health and safety point of view but also because its the law. So if you are intent on riding at night then you have to have lights – its that simple.

But what does the law actually say? Right off the bat I can tell you that the popular flashing LED rear lights that are almost three times more visible than steady lights are illegal in the UK. At least they are at the time of writing this article – although this is under review and could change.

If you are fitting lights to your bike ready for the darker nights part of the year then there are some rules you need to stick to You must have:

• One steady, fixed white light that conforms to BS6102/3 mounted centrally or offside (closer to the middle of the road) and no higher than 1500mm from the ground. It should be visible from the front and aligned in that direction.
• One steady, fixed red light that conforms to BS6102/3 or BS3648. This should be mounted centrally or offside at the rear of your bike and should be between 350mm and 1500mm from the ground. It should be visible from the rear and aligned in that direction. 
• One reflector, coloured red that conforms to BS6102/2. This should be mounted centrally or offside at the rear of your bike and should be between 350mm and 900mm from the ground. It should be visible from the rear and aligned in that direction.
• Four reflectors, coloured amber that conform to BS6102/2. These should be fitted to each pedal so that one is clearly visible from the front and one is clearly visisble from the rear.

Note that for the pedal reflectors bit, even though step in type pedals are very popular for mountain bikers and track riders, racers etc, there is no exemption. If you don’t have pedal reflectors fitted, it is illegal to ride on the road at night.

There are a couple of exemptions from the above though if you have an older bike. If your bike is pre 1990 then the amount of light output by your front light needed to meet the required standard is much lower. Also, if your bike is pre 1985 then there is no requirement to have pedal reflectors fitted.