Is there anything I should know before I embark on my first night ride? Will animals try to eat me or evil truckers try to run me over?
Pic related is the type of road I'm going on.
r you stupid? you'll be hit by a car, idiot. You want to die?
You are invisible.
>>893910
Having a good front light really helps, though make sure you point it to the ground, making sure you don't blind other people if it's something like an mtb light.
You'll be fine, have fun, post pic of bike at night with lights on
Good lights. Cygolite Metro and Cygolite Hotshot. Spare lights. High-visibility clothing. Avoid busy roads. Avoid roads without a shoulder. Stay attentive. Don't ride as close to the curb/ditch as possible because then you have no maneuvering room; instead, ride a few feet inward of that so if a car comes too close you can move over (this applies to day riding too)
Use at least two rear lights, for the purposes of redundancy.
Everything is more invisible. Mostly road conditions. Charge your lights out gave back ups. Double check your tires.
Depending on how late it is, there are less cars but the drivers are more likely to be less attentive.
The times I'm least worried about riding is 4 to 5 since visibility is increasing and the drunks have generally already gone home, though I'm usually residential or well illuminated on the main streets.
>>893910
Have some good marker lights, a good headlight (having two would allow you to have a 'high beam' and a 'low beam' so that might be worth considering) and possibly a high-vis jacket and you'll be fine.
an animal attacked me on a midnight commute back home in the middle of a thunderstorm, scariest shit of my life
>riding in storm
>suddenly hear huge steady splashes next to the trail getting closer and closer
>makes some crazy growling noise
>jumps or runs into my bike
>hits my leg and flops into the back wheel
some hopped up coon or coyote or something
White front light, red rear light. If you have the money, two of each can be helpful. It helps drivers gauge distance. Ride the way you do during the day, but be aware that drivers are shittier at night than during the day.
I used a Serfas TL-80 taillight for both night and day commuting, then I have a Serfas TSL-750 headlight. It's one of those things that I feel like it's worth not buying the cheapest thing possible.
Animals probably won't attack you, since you're a big complex looking animal, with bright blinking lights, moving rather quickly.
sometimes nocturnal animals including snakes will lay on the road to soak up the heat
watch out for tha real nocturnal animals. I'm being funny but yea, really do know what kind of neighbourhoods you'll be riding through.
Have redundant rear lights, in case one falls off or the battery dies.
If you're planning on riding in traffic, get a secondary front light with a blink mode and/or spoke or valve lights. A single front light of a bike going straight is easy to mistake for a static streetlight further away.
Reflective clothing gives drivers behind you a better idea of your speed and position than a single red light blinking in the darkness.
>>894036
Also stray dogs are going to chase you, have some pepper spray on you.
>>894017
That's actually a good point. Never heard of that but it seems totally reasonable. Good call.
I kill a few animals a month. Always at night. I've never hit an animal except at night. The lights confuse them. Usually rats, sometimes squirrels or bunnies.
In the morning, on the way to work, the bike path is a nightmarish trail of mutilated rats.
>>894086
Get a fat bike, you'll kill even more with those tires
>>893910
1. Ensure you have redundancy when it comes to lights - two batteries ( fully charged, before you go ) for the front. Two lights for the back with spare batteries. Get a small signal light for the front, if , god forbid, your main front dies.
2. Get some reflective bands - I use three - one on the wrist, one for the ankle and one wrapped around a downtube. If you are in left-driving country - wrap right wrist and right ankle. Otherwise left wrist and left ankle.
3. Get a proper head light. 1000lm is minimum. Ensure that batteries for that light lasts at least twice the expected ride duration.
4. Double check that everything is in order with your bike before you go. Make sure you can do minor repairs in-situ. Take a pump, patch kit, some tools, spare tube, cell-phone.
5. It is colder in the night then it is during the day. Dress for it.
6. Depending on road conditions in your area, it might be a good reason to get thicker tyres if you ride a road bike. A pothole is virutally invisible in the night and hitting one at 20mph will make you miserable.
Coincidentally. Yesterday I did a metric century from about midnight to about dawn at 4 C*, in a milky fog for about half of the time. It was awesome :)
Wear a high-vis vest, like construction workers do. I have one from my job, and even with my lights, it really helps.
>>894123
>A pothole is virutally invisible in the night
For all the autism in this post you seem to have missed a major rule: two headlights, in different positions, provides much-needed contrast.
I get by pretty well with a fork crown mount and a handlebar mount, but you could take it even further and do a low mount on the fork itself, or even on the axle.
>>894003
Did the rear wheel fuck it's shit up?
>>894104
Naw the low ground pressure will just roll over them
>>894003
Loud noise can be an effective deterrent. Letting out your own primal scream might just scare it off.
Guns make loud noises too.
>>894123
>1000 lumens
am i reading that right? The biggest one my bike shop sells is like 700. i have a decent one already but theres no way you need something THAT bright
>>895295
He's probably got one of those dodgy "brightest lights on amazon" that cost $30 and provide inflated specs and spam light where it's not needed, such as the sky and other cyclists' eyes.
I've got an 850 lumen as one of my lights and I rarely have it on max output.
>>895295
>theres no way you need something THAT bright
>need
SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED
Rabbits try to commit suicide by throwing themselves at my wheels riding at night. I found my speed is faster too during night rides. I think it's a combination of speeding thru the "ambush zones" and not being able to see my speedometer.
>>895337
>my bike lights are a weapon
Literally SUV-tier cagerism
>>895328
Guy who wrote that here - I got 2xLed "3000 lm zomg lazor" light - it works out to about 1000lm when I checked the current and/or LED bin.
At one point I had 6diode lights. That was excessive. Cool, but excessive.
>>895362
If you don't like it then git out
how is this guys?
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VHOG3Y0?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
>>895295
>he doesn't run dual super china CREE LEDs with a lens mod
>>897313
>>897317
only dual LED that thas yesterday now you need at last nine CREE LEDs and an huge akku
>>897364
please tell me why? can i get better for the price? whats wrong?
You guys are pussies with all of your lights. Half the fun of night rides is being invisible. I love zipping through town at night with no lights/reflectives. Just nut up and use your situational awareness at intersections
fuck batteries ; )
>>897482
>gr8 hub
>those tires
Why
>>897479
It's not the intersections that scare me
It's the drunks on the straightaways
>>897479
>casuals trying to sound hard: the post
You'd be singing a different tune if you rode in the dark as a matter of routine
