Now that winter is well and truly upon us then any cyclist should be considering his options when it comes to bike lighting.

LED or Tungsten?

In the olden days the it was all hot metal in a vacuum – but not any more, we are now almost fully linked to LED lighting, you would now struggle to buy an old-fashioned light bulb – and if you are using them then seriously consider throwing them away and upgrading. The beauty of LED is their low energy consumption, they use less energy per Lumen of light generated.  They are also more directional – a tungsten light bulb. The traditional glass globe bulb by its very nature could not control in which direction it sent out the light waves. Whereas with the new generation of bike lights eg. CREE LED lights then the light is sent out in the direction that is is need – either straight out the front, or straight out the back. The older lighting systems used reflectors to try to focus the direction of the light – but that was nowhere near as efficient as directing it the right way straight from the source.

Lights or Reflectors?

When you are cycling on city streets then it is fair to say that you are going to generate far less lights than the cars that you are trying to warn of your impending motion. And don’t forget that you don’t really need lights to see where you are going when you ride a bicycle along well-lit city roads – you are only using them to warn the other vehicles. So, in this case it is better to use the maximum reflectability of the surfaces available to you.

You can get stickers (3M) that can easily be put onto frames, wheel rims and helmets. Think about shining reflectors in every direction – most cyclists are hit  from the side at night by cars entering from side streets – so don’t forget to put reflectors onto the side of the bike. Think about getting specialist cycling clothes they will have built in reflective strips.

Cycling at dusk:

This is one of the most  dangerous times to be on the road and because many cars do not even have their lights on at this time, so reflectors will not work. The key here is using clothing in bright colours – ideally with properties that help turn the UV light that is at it’s peak when the sun nears the horizon and then convert it to visible light – giving a glowing effect. But remember that clothes such as this fade quickly in bright daylight and will loose their UV light conversion properties – so don’t wear them for summer rides, save for low-light and winter situations.