Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

I have a Nite rider cherry bomb. It works well...I haven't been hit in the rear
My Dad works on the roads and he grabs and few red rear lights that are just the same as any rear bike light. Both Cerry bomb and free lights are 1W each

Mulger bill wrote:Let us know how they go when they get here please Andrew, I'd especially like to know the flash pattern on these knock offs.

Picked them up today from the Post Office. Pretty hard to pick the difference between the Superflash I have here and the XC-744L Bicycle Safety Light in terms of construction. The XC-744L only has two options, on or flash. The flash is a fairly fast flash pattern. Need to try them out on the bike.

Andrew

So is that flash pattern the alternate toptop-bottombottom or the 3on-3off UK standard Andrew?

Shaun

Mulger bill wrote:So is that flash pattern the alternate toptop-bottombottom or the 3on-3off UK standard Andrew?

From what I can see it appears that the flash pattern is zzZ. It repeats this very quickly.

Andrew

Aushiker wrote:

Mulger bill wrote:Let us know how they go when they get here please Andrew, I'd especially like to know the flash pattern on these knock offs.

Picked them up today from the Post Office. Pretty hard to pick the difference between the Superflash I have here and the XC-744L Bicycle Safety Light in terms of construction. The XC-744L only has two options, on or flash. The flash is a fairly fast flash pattern. Need to try them out on the bike.

A quick update on these XC-744L Bicycle Safety Light. They worked okay on the dogs but not so well on the bike. One has gone to light heaven; it jumped off one time to many and I was not able to find all the parts. The other one is still here but given my experience it has been assigned to dog duties only. Even then it can come off the collar fairly easily. I will not bother with them again.

I see that DealExtreme is also selling a similar one but with batteries for $5.00 each. They also have the XC-744L with batteriesat $5.30.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew, another one to cross off the list.

Shaun

Aushiker wrote:They also have the XC-744L with batteriesat $5.30.

that's the one I have on the back of my saddle bag. doing well so far.

Aushiker wrote:A quick update on these XC-744L Bicycle Safety Light. They worked okay on the dogs but not so well on the bike. One has gone to light heaven; it jumped off one time to many and I was not able to find all the parts. The other one is still here but given my experience it has been assigned to dog duties only. Even then it can come off the collar fairly easily. I will not bother with them again.

I see that DealExtreme is also selling a similar one but with batteries for $5.00 each. They also have the XC-744L with batteriesat $5.30.

Andrew

I have the XC-744L from DX that Andrew linked to & I use it as a secondary light on my helmet. It is good for that purpose, being lightweight and thus far waterproof unlike it's predecessor. I didn't think much of the clamp that came with it & as Andrew mentions the clip is too flexible. It hasn't been a problem for me as I use a piece of old inner tube to tie it through vents at the back of my helmet & the clip does not slide easily on the rubber.

Nice cheap backup, but you would need to make sure it was well secured & I wouldn't use it as my primary rear light

I haven't come across the Niteflux Red Zone 8 but going by this video out of NZ it looks impressive.



Andrew

The brightest tail light in the world is not of the comprehensive benefit it should be if it is a coloured headlight. By that I mean if it has minimal spread. You should aspire to be seen by more than those narrowly behind you.

Niteflux's Redzone 4 and 8 both have exceptional conspicuity, more than 180 degrees of spread.

il padrone wrote:Niteflux's Redzone 4 and 8 both have exceptional conspicuity, more than 180 degrees of spread.

Conspicuity? First opportunity I am gonna be using it.

Not sure what the joke is?? Conspicuity - clear, bright, easy to see. That is what the Redzone is, I just wish I could mount it easier on my bike.

il padrone wrote:Not sure what the joke is?? Conspicuity - clear, bright, easy to see. That is what the Redzone is, I just wish I could mount it easier on my bike.

I don't think it is a joke. I think he just likes your usage of the word.

Ah! Well it is the correct word to use in the case of tail-lights. Most people talk about visibility but that is your ability to see, most relevant for head-lights. With a tail-light you want others to be able to see you ie. you want to be conspicuous.

Note - also why the term high-visibility jacket is an oxymoron. The jacket doesn't give you better vision
[end pedant]

il padrone wrote:Not sure what the joke is?? Conspicuity - clear, bright, easy to see. That is what the Redzone is, I just wish I could mount it easier on my bike.

This is how I'm doing it until I think of something better. It's ugly but seems secure.

il padrone wrote:Not sure what the joke is?? Conspicuity - clear, bright, easy to see. That is what the Redzone is, I just wish I could mount it easier on my bike.

Sorry Padre - I did not look it up but it just looked to me like a made-up term (we all do it from time to time) that was so ugly as to require a gentle poke. I still haven't looked it up but I assume from your post that IS indeed a legit word.

Aushiker wrote:I haven't come across the Niteflux Red Zone 8 but going by this video out of NZ it looks impressive.



Andrew

kb wrote:

il padrone wrote:Not sure what the joke is?? Conspicuity - clear, bright, easy to see. That is what the Redzone is, I just wish I could mount it easier on my bike.

This is how I'm doing it until I think of something better. It's ugly but seems secure.

Nice one MacGyver

What is the "correct" method (as in: the RTFM installation)? Still can't find anything about the RZ8 on the Nightflux site
I didn't like the supplied RZ4 mount so I MacGyvered some sheet metal so it fits onto a standard PBSF/Radbot type of mount. Kinda ugly but functional.
Between us we should be able to sort Pete out.

Mulger bill wrote:Between us we should be able to sort Pete out.

Go right ahead.

Rear view of the bike in touring mode. Tail-lights mounted on seat-post or seat-stay simply don't cut it. I have a Supernova E3 on the rear rack and a PDW flasher mounted on the mudguard. The PDW is not very bright so I'd happily replace it. There are not too many options .

I may be doing a total light system revision, when the B&M iQ Luxos U arrives and put a Toplight Flat on the back, again mounted on the rack.




Timboon Railway Shed whiskey in that brown paper bag *hic*

Cheers Pete.

I take it the Radbot is the mudguard specific model?
Is that a standard reflector mounted below the Radbot? Would you miss it and how is it mounted?
The Supernova E3, is that the small area of grey between and just below the orange bungees?
What material is the guard made from?

Mulger bill wrote:I take it the Radbot is the mudguard specific model?

It is a mudguard specific model, but not the Radbot, a lot less bright.

This one, the Fenderbot, just one led:



I would happily remove it to fit the Redzone8, however I had a brighter light here before (Mars 4.0) mounted with an aluminium bracket, but the bracket and light got smashed off when the rack-bag fell on it and it tore a chunk out of the mudguard, so I don't want gangly brackets mounted to the mudguard.

Mulger bill wrote:Is that a standard reflector mounted below the Radbot? Would you miss it and how is it mounted?
The Supernova E3, is that the small area of grey between and just below the orange bungees?
What material is the guard made from?

The PDW one is at the top, with its own reflector, mudguard reflector below it. Bolted through a hole in the guard. They are SKS Chromoplastic mudguards - light alloy sandwiched in plastic. The reflector could happily go, but comments as above. Brackets........ hmmm

The Supernova E3 is the three small led dots with two bolts either side on the rack below/between the bungees, yes.

Thanks Pete. I've got a few ideas to mull over.
Until I saw kbs install I hadn't twigged as to just how damn small the RZ8 was. Wonder what diameter the shaft is? 10-12mm? Hmmm...

EDIT Maybe something like this with some heatshrink applied?

Bought a PDW Radbot 1000 ($21 at Cellbikes, also cheap at Wiggle Au). Has a 1W LED and a reflector (keeping Mr Plod happy). I don't think the 1W LED is driven at full input current, but I haven't attached a lab power supply to check (that's not a criticism of the design -- you get more output running a 1W LED at 50% then running a 0.5W LED at 100% -- and I note the marketing is very careful not to claim the LED is driven at 1W).

Came with seatpost, back stay, and pannier rack mounts. The pannier mount works for both Euro horizontal and US vertical patterns. That makes the the light is a good choice for kids' bikes where only the reflector has good visibility to the rear -- you can remove the existing reflector and install the Radbot onto the reflector mounting via the Radbot's pannier rack adapter.

You can use a cable tie to lock the light to the mount, as you can with the PlanetBike mounting. In fact the mounts are interchangable.

Downside is that it takes AAA batteries. AA would have been a better choice, as then maximum light output would last for longer than four or so hours. there's almost enough room in the shell for AAs, so it's a bit of a shame. Changing batteries requires a #1 Phillips screwdriver, and the screw is at the rear so the light must be removed from the mounting.

I run the Radbot on the seatpost with a PlanetBike SuperFlash on the seat stay. The SuperFlash has a longer running time and so this seems a better combination than running two Radbots.

There's lots of space in the Radbot cover. So this is a good light if you want to experiment (eg, it would take a DC connector if you wanted to drive it from an exterior battery for extended night riding like Audax).

I haven't used it in a decent rainstorm, so I can't comment about its resistance to water.

Currently using the Moon Shield 60 Lumens and *everyone that has been behind me has commented how 'brilliant' it is.

I had the saddle clip snap off whilst installed to the saddle bag (bump in road = break (apparently)). Small issue with LBS and warranty questioning > tracked down AU distributors and they (grudgingly) acknowledged it as a warranty claim. (Failure to do what it is designed to do).

Have since mounted to rubber post clamp / band that comes with it and so far no issues - but an excellent, excellent tail light.