Summer is pretty much over, with the darker mornings and evenings of Autumn upon us.
Last Saturday I went for an evening trip to my local supermarket for a few groceries, finishing at about 8 p.m.
It was, of course, dark outside (the "official" sunset time here was about half-past seven).
So time to switch the lights on for the cycle home.
One of the many things I like about my little bike is that it has a dynamo and fixed lights.
They were already fitted to the bike when I bought it 20-odd years ago.
The back light is decent enough, but the front light is a bit feeble.
As I tend to mostly cycle on dual-use sidewalks/cycleways in areas with street lighting, the purpose of the front light is really to indicate my position to other users of the pathway.
I usually wear a bright yellow jacket as well. It may or may not be "cool" and/or "fashionable", but as I am already well past 40 years of age (I actually remember Nixon resigning !!!), I am much more practical than I was when I was eighteen!
Update: 7th February 2012
I had a bit of trouble with my lights this winter - both bulbs have blown :-(
So I've been running temporary battery lights.
The front light is just a small torch (designed to clip to a jacket) that I clip to the front basket.
For the rear light, I have taped a battery light on (the mount was broken) - I used thick, reinforced black tape.
You can see the rear light to the right:
I had to break the tape away a bit at the edges so our hard shell panniers will fit!
It works surprisingly well - I just have to untape it all if I want to change the batteries in the light.
I have some new lighting equipment coming from Holland, so hopefully I'll be able to show you that soon.
Last Saturday I went for an evening trip to my local supermarket for a few groceries, finishing at about 8 p.m.
It was, of course, dark outside (the "official" sunset time here was about half-past seven).
So time to switch the lights on for the cycle home.
One of the many things I like about my little bike is that it has a dynamo and fixed lights.
They were already fitted to the bike when I bought it 20-odd years ago.
The back light is decent enough, but the front light is a bit feeble.
As I tend to mostly cycle on dual-use sidewalks/cycleways in areas with street lighting, the purpose of the front light is really to indicate my position to other users of the pathway.
Update: 7th February 2012
I had a bit of trouble with my lights this winter - both bulbs have blown :-(
So I've been running temporary battery lights.
The front light is just a small torch (designed to clip to a jacket) that I clip to the front basket.
For the rear light, I have taped a battery light on (the mount was broken) - I used thick, reinforced black tape.
You can see the rear light to the right:
I had to break the tape away a bit at the edges so our hard shell panniers will fit!
It works surprisingly well - I just have to untape it all if I want to change the batteries in the light.
I have some new lighting equipment coming from Holland, so hopefully I'll be able to show you that soon.
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