Anyone out there ride in the dark? I mean dark enough to need lights to see with, not just to be seen with.
If so, what’s the best approach to lighting? A head torch would give good directional illumination but perhaps wouldn’t be bright enough. Lights on the seat tube or seat post would be partly obscured by your legs and would be vulnerable in UPDs. I guess you’d need illumination from a couple of angles to reduce shadows on rough ground. Any suggestions?
Hey you big baby, Just put a lamp on your head, and guess at the stuff you cant see. It makes it more interesting.
We should have a new muni event. Night Muni. The rider is given one of those small mag-lights and has to ride offroad with just that as a means to see. I’d love to see some night-vision video of that.
-David Kaplan
Head Lamps = Motion Sickness
Head lamps are the way to go. However, I can?t use one because I get motion sickness when I use one! If you are similar to me in this way I suggest that you try one out before you put down the cash.
Hey, i use a Nightrider Headtrip, and I love it. Light weight and ten watts of power. Over two hour run time. I commute at night too, so I use it at least five nights a week. Joe in Iowa
Sounds cool. Do they have a web site? Do you have a link to their site? Do you have a photo of this device? How much does it cost?
I use a Headtrip, too. Big bonus: you can shine it right in the eyes of the blind car drivers that don’t see you. It’s saved me from being T-boned several times.
Your best bet is to go to a hiking and camping store and seeing what they recomend.
-David Kaplan
I bought mine from some online bike place. I think I paid around $140. They also have lights with variable wattage settings and some new HID lights that are super bright and super expensive. Mine has a helmet mount, but I could use it with a bar mount too, and they even have some headband mounts for hiking and skiing and such. I’ve had mine for over a year with no problems, so I can recomend them. Joe in Iowa
I use a Nite Rider Digital HeadTrip. Works great. For a unicycle the helmet mounted lights are the (only) way to go. I have used the light for both Coker riding and muni riding.
Get a wide angle bulb for whatever light you get. Most will come with a spot bulb. For a unicycle we want a wide angle bulb because we are looking right in front of the wheel and not at what is 30 yards ahead.
With a helmet mounted light the light will be shining directly along your line of sight. There will not be any off-angle shadows to highlight bumps. The bumps will look washed out. It makes muni a lot more interesting. The flood bulb helps keep things from getting too washed out. If you use a spot bulb then whatever you look at will be almost completely washed out.
The Nite Rider lights are OK. They are the most popular brand and are easy to find. When you need spare parts for it many bike shops will have what you need in stock.
The head unit on the Nite Riders is a little on the heavy side. On some helmets the extra weight on the front of the helmet can cause the helmet to slide down your forehead. There are other brands that have lighter head units than the Nite Riders. Find a store that will let you try mounting a light on your helmet so you can get a feel for it. Some helmets do better than others. My MTB style helmet doesn’t do well with the Nite Rider light so I use a Giro Semi helmet with the light.
The Nite Rider web site is <http://www.niterider.com/>
The Digital Nite Rider lights are nice because you can dim the light if you don’t need the full light. Dimming the light will extend the burn time. The non-digital lights cannot be dimmed. The digital lights are also smarter about shutting down when the battery is almost dead. If you over-drain a NiMH battery you can permanently damage the battery. The digital lights will help prevent that type of battery damage.
Nite Rider has changed their product lineup for 2002. I don’t see the Digital HeadTrip listed in their current products. I don’t know what’s up. Looks like the Digital Evolution has replaced the HeadTrip. Here is a link to the Digital Evolution <http://www.niterider.com/products/bike_de.html>
john_childs
Pricey
I’m all for safety, but at $400+ for a niterider, I’ll duct-tape a MagLite to my head… which is something I used to do before I started riding anyways… y’know, for fun.
Re: Pricey
The HID lights are around $400 but the regular lights are in the $200 range. The lower end (non-digital) lights are in the $100 range.
The HID lights are very bright. Probably too bright for unicycling with. And the HID lights cannot be dimmed. And I’m not sure if the HID lights offer a flood bulb.
john_childs
Re: Under cover of the night
Mikefule wrote:
>
> Anyone out there ride in the dark? I mean dark enough to need lights to
> see with, not just to be seen with.
I ride at night, though mostly on roads to date. I bought
Lumicycle lights after not being able to see a thing in the
forest at BMW last year. These are exceedingly bright: I have
a 12W spot plus 20W flood, but you can choose different lamps.
Decidedly not cheap, though given the number of unis you’ve
bought recently, they might be a drop in the ocean. 
They also provide a simple helmet mounting kit for the lamps.
While I find this the best place to put them, there are a few
downsides:
On the upside, looking like a miner/spelunker or an astronaut
from ‘Alien’ can help to deflect simpler minds from comments
about missing wheels.
The Lumis are top quality, look good and get rave reviews
everywhere.
Arnold the Aardvark
Am I the only one here scared of the woods at night? I hate being in the forrest even with a light, in the pitch black. I’m too scared to enjoy my ride. (Perhaps this is why my last day in the Army is July 31?)
Re: Under cover of the night
Mikefule <Mikefule.5dh1y@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
> Anyone out there ride in the dark? I mean dark enough to need lights to
> see with, not just to be seen with.
Yep - 2 Red Bull laps to start with.
> If so, what’s the best approach to lighting? A head torch would give
> good directional illumination but perhaps wouldn’t be bright enough.
> Lights on the seat tube or seat post would be partly obscured by your
> legs and would be vulnerable in UPDs. I guess you’d need illumination
> from a couple of angles to reduce shadows on rough ground. Any
> suggestions?
In the past I’ve used a seat post mounted light but it has some big
disadvantages.
You blind yourself every time you try to mount. If you turn
the light off to avoid this you end up starting to ride in
total darkness but without much night-vision.
If you are on a tight-twisty trail (think singletrack here)
your light is fixed ahead of you when you really want it
to be pointing just around the corner that is coming up
rather quickly. This really doesn’t help line choice.
Your knees will cast strange shadows which can be a bit
offputting.
Because of this, I’m planning on using a head mounted light this
year.
Paul Selwood
paul@vimes.u-net.com http://www.vimes.u-net.com
Hi Mike,
I have a scuba headlight which I’d use for night riding (haven’t done any yet) and has the added advantage of being completely submergible for a UPD into water
It has an adjustable rubber strap and is quite comfortable, I use it all the time to keep my hands free.
It’s also rugged but the best part is the price, about £8 from……Wilkinsons 
Cheers, Gary
Re: Under cover of the night
unicus wrote:
> I have a scuba headlight … the best part is the price, about £8
> from……Wilkinsons
I’m intrigued, tell us more. How powerful is it (in Watts, preferably,
although that’s not the most meaningful measurement)? What sort of
batteries does it take? How many? I know you haven’t used it for night
riding yet, but any idea how long they’ll last? I’m just wondering if it’s
worth my while wandering up to Wilkinsons at the weekend.
I wouldn’t want to use anything less than 6W in an unlit area. I had to
give up commuting by Coker last winter because my Petzl head torch wasn’t
bright enough and I could find no practical way to mount my bike lights to
the Coker.
After seeing Leo’s 12W helmet mounted light at BUC this year, I’ve bought
one the same ( http://tinyurl.com/87l ). I went for the option of getting
batteries and a charger for an extra 20 quid, which frankly I wouldn’t
recommend. You get a water-bottle style battery case, with a belt to strap
it to your waist, which is great. Unfortunately, it takes 5 D Cells (a
stupid number). It comes with 5 NiMH D cells, and a charger which will
charge up to 4 of them over about 10 hours.
–
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( http://www.juggler.net/danny )
Recumbent cycle page: http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/
“I don’t think proofreading is adequate. All posts should be waxed and
buffed. Then they should wear little tuxedos.” - Greg Harper on usenet
Re: Under cover of the night
Mikefule.5dh1y@timelimit.unicyclist.com (Mikefule) wrote in
<Mikefule.5dh1y@timelimit.unicyclist.com>:
>
>Anyone out there ride in the dark? I mean dark enough to need lights to
>see with, not just to be seen with.
>
Hi Mike
My brother and I are starting out our night Muni adventures. We’re using
helmet mounted nightlamps (Dave has a single 5W and I’m more cautious and
use a 5W 15W pair).
One thing to note is that what is an easy day ride (1 or 2 difficulty
level) becomes far more demanding at night time (turns into a 4 or 5
level).
I like the night muni idea for competetions, how about night orienteering.
Regards
Phil in Melbourne, Australia
After my post about being scared of the dark, I was invited to an upcoming 24 hour race. As I don’t have any ‘official’ bike lights, I’m going to suffice with Maglights (everyone’s familiar with those) An idea I had, as well as putting 3 or 4 on my helmet (mini-maglights) at various degress, I’m going to secure one to the topside of each wrist guard.
That’ll help out alot I think. I’ll be able to direct a bright beam forward, and actually scan ahead with ease
Downsides: many batteries, but I don’t plan on doing this often…I won’t be afraid of the dark with all those other people out
PS, if anyone tries this wristguard idea, let me know if it works good…I won’t be testing it out until the race
Make sure you try your lighting system before the race. Riding in the dark with a light is sufficiently different that you will need to practice before doing it for real. You will also need to test your lighting system to make sure that it works well for you and so you know the burn time you will get. It would be a bummer to run out of light before the end of your lap.
Maybe you can borrow or rent a Nite Rider or similar lighting system from someone for the race?
If you’re lucky the race will be on a night with a full moon and the sky will be clear.
john_childs
John Childs…werewolf unicyclist. Oww Oww OOOoooooo…