Rear Lights for Commuting

A few posts ago I wrote here about some of the things I did or used for commuting in the dark. I wrote about the rear lights that I used which were 2 Smart Lights and a Fibre Flare Shorty

Last week I was fitting a piece of Meccano as a bracket between my pannier rack and one of the Smart LED lights in the garage in the evening

I took a few photos to see how effective they were and these are below. Admittedly this is not particularly scientific as I was quite close and the camera was not very good at capturing the real light levels. The first photo is with flash which I then disabled:

With the flash on the reflection from some reflective Scotch tape on the mudguard overrides everything else

The 2 Smart Lights and the Fibre Flare in "on" mode

Just the Smart LEDS

I also made a small Video:

What the video shows is that with 3 flashing lights at least one is always on and the it really draws attention to the bike

More Bike Cleaning - Muduards don't keep a bike clean!

I do look after my bikes but cleaning in the Winter is pain - after just one short ride the bike can be filthy again. I normally keep the chain as clean as worthwhile (a wipe after a dirty or wet ride and application of oil) but I tend not to clean the whole bike too often. I do a once a year thorough clean (strip down to the frame) in the Spring and then they make do with a wash and rinse for the next 12 months.

I cleaned the Giant mid December but this weekend, after just over 450 miles, I decided I really needed to give it another wash.

Despite running with mudguards they don't keep the bike clean - but just stop me getting a badger stripe up my back. And the bike was probably the dirtiest its been for a long time

I fitted Crud Road Racer (Mk1) back in 2010 to try keep me and the bike a bit drier and cleaner. Here's a picture of the Mk2 version

The Mk2 differ in that the rear mudguard (the rear in the picture) now extends right down to the bottom bracket to try protect the front dérailleur.

I used to take the guards off in the summer as they are easy to remove but have just left them on for the past 2 years.

The guards are made of plastic, very light and fitted with a combination of zip straps (to the brakes) and O rings (to the frame). They tend to rub a bit and can move about but are easy to reset. I think they work fine on my Giant as there is quite good frame clearance.

The other good thing is that they do spares. I have replaced the main length (from the rear) twice now for around £6 a time. Once something went between the tyre and guard and pulled the guard off (and broke it) and the second time due to wear the slot for the zip strap failed. Both times they lasted about 18-24 months. No problems with the front at all. 

When fitted they do look reasonably discrete. I think when I need some more spares I may well fit some more "permanent" mudguards, and there should be plenty of choice as the frame clearance is generous and the Giant also has the fixings on the forks and rear stays.

Here are the before and after pictures:

Bottom Bracket Area

Forks, Front Brake and Mudguard

Chain Stays, Crank and rear wheel

Seat Stays and seat tube - mudguards finish above the front Dérailleur. Good view of my Fibre Flare Shorty light as well

Rear Dérailleur & Chain

Crank Set and chain stay

Detail showing the Cruds stopping above the front
Dérailleur

The rear brake - its covered in muck because the Crud has been rubbing and has worn away a slit for mud to be thrown through

Rear Dérailleur and jockey wheels - messy!

And after - massive improvement all over

Lovely clean cranks, chain and chain stays

Almost fully clean rear Dérailleur - the brown hue on the cassette is muddy rusty water, not rust on the cassette rings

With the chain often in the state seen above accelerated wear is an issue. The chain on the Giant was new about April 2014 and, according to my Cycle Chain wear indicator:

not even 0.75% worn in October of 2014 after over 2500 miles. However another 750 miles or so in the winter and by today (25 Jan 2015) the tool shows that its over 0.75% and quite close to 1%. That's what riding in mud and water does! It'll last until March/April this year when I'll replace it with another KMC chain. This winter I did replace the cassette with a cheaper Tiagra (vs 105) version given the damage the roads do in the winter. The jockey wheels may also need replacing as the bearings are quite soft.

This damage is why I put the Scott away for the worst of the Winter weather.

Proviz Gilet - Extending the Commute Window and Cycling in the Dark

I commute quite a lot but I have some personal "guidelines". These are mainly

• don't commute when its icy
• don't commute when it will be dark on the way home (I'm less bothered about being dark in the morning as there is a lot less traffic)
• look at the weather forecast and try not to commute in the rain

These are not hard and fast rules and apart from the icy one there is some scope for flexibility.

The main one is that I feel less comfortable is commuting home in the dark. Because of this its rare that I cycle to and from work after the end of October and before late February and this is despite having enough "be seen" lights.

On the rear I have 2 Smart Lights and a Fibre Flare Shorty Side Light (in red) and use all 3 in flashing mode. The Fibre Flare is a really effective light and throws a good bright light all-round. Powered by 2 AA batteries this lasts at least 30-40hours in flashing mode.

On the front I have a Lifeline 1W Led and more recently I have bought a Knog Blinder Skull.

The Knog is a small USB charged bright white LED front light with a constant mode and 3-4 flashing modes. Its most definitely a "be seen" light rather than a see light but its really effective. I tend to use it in the normal flash mode (50% on/50% off) and it gives about 2.5-3 hours run time, which for me is enough either to commute both ways or for a medium length morning ride where I use it for the first few hours when the visibility may be lower at the start of a ride.

I don't think the Skull adds anything to the performance and is just a design feature!

Some of these lights are discussed here: link

Despite quite a few lights on my bike I still feel vulnerable about being seen - both from the front or rear. I saw on the Internet before Christmas some reviews of the Proviz ultra reflective clothing range and was pretty impressed with what it seemed to offer.

Proviz Gilet in "Reflective Mode"

Basically it looks like a full top made of the silver reflective material strips that are normally a small part of normal HiViz clothing.

The prices ranged from around £50 for the Gilet to around £75 for the jacket and this was a lot of money - and a search n the internet showed that the prices were consistent across a range of outlets. Fortunately Halfords stocked the jackets so I was able to have a thorough look at what they were and get a better feel for value and quality.


The jacket was well made but the material is quite heavy and appeared to have no breatheability at all. Its difficult to tell in normal light and just looks like a matt grey nylon material. Others had commented on this and this meant that perhaps the Gilet was a better bet since the lack of arms might stop too much sweaty heat build up.

I hesitated for a few more weeks before deciding that the significant increase in visibility I would get would make me feel happier cycling in the dark. I repeated the earlier trawl for the best price but the prices were very consistent. In then end I ordered it from Proviz direct (http://www.provizsports.com/en_gb/) - the price was within a pound or so of the lowest, there was free postage and a "free gift":

The Ankle or Arm band - a strap of the Proviz material with LEDs built in

(although what I received looks nothing like this).

In terms of size I would normally say that I was a medium for most things. Proviz did not have any Medium in stock but the size chart suggested that a Small would be OK - although I was not totally sure. I am certainly not heavily built but getting a small was a risk.

The gilet arrived after a few days - well packed and no damage to the packaging. It was quite a small package but surprisingly weighty. Compared to my other more "traditional" gilets (in nylon) it is a lot heavier.

Opening the packaging and getting the gilet out confirmed the good quality of manufacture (good seams, no spare threads etc). What I had not expected was that there are 2 zipped side pockets and the back of the gilet is made of a slightly different material with perforations in an attempt I assume to improve breathability. The weight of the material at the front was the same as the jacket and is quite heavy. There is a small logo on the left breast.

The Small size was absolutely fine for me - the Medium I think would have been far too big, so it might suggest that sizing is generous - however the chest size for a Small was my chest size s perhaps Proviz just have a medium that's bigger than other companies. The neck is quite high and will be irritating but does seem to fold down to a more sensible level. In normal domestic lighting the colour is the same matt grey but if the lights are turned off you can see even with light spilling from another room how the light is reflected back and the material starts turning white and reflecting back.

I first used the gilet about a week later. It was a cold morning (1-2DegC at most) and I wore the gilet over a base layer, long sleeve jersey and a long sleeve jacket (in this case one of Aldi's finest). Despite being a Small this was the right size for me. Temperature wise it certainly kept the chill off and I did not get excessively warm by any means. Its difficult so see how reflective it really is when you are wearing it, but on my commute (a mix of lit urban and unlit rural roads) what I noticed was how much more room most drivers appeared to be giving me (some on the other side of the road completely). I got the same room on the way home as well. I don't know if this was some sort of psychological perception or if I really was that much more visible and as a result was being given room. A sample size of 1 commute (2 rides) is totally inadequate to draw any conclusions.

So what can I summarise so far?

• The gilet is well made
• It has pockets that were useful
• The material is quite heavy and might be too hot in warmer months
• It does appear to be very reflective
• The sizing may be on the larger size than you expect - make sure you select by Proviz size rather than assume that your normal size will be OK
• Its quite expensive compared to other reflective clothing
• I did feel more visible in it that normal but am still a lot more cautious in full dark conditions