Lights…

I just replaced my helmet and now…yep…I’ve got to replace at least my taillight. Unfortunately it turned up broken this morning. Actually the light itself is fine, the place clip on the back broke which means that about all it can do is light up the inside of my rack trunk. I guess I could drop it into an open grocey pannier and ride around at night with a blinking red glow coming from the bag. I suspect that would attract motorists though, not warn them off.
I’ve got a Blackburn Mars 3.0 which has worked great…

…I know it works great because none, absolutely zero, of my bike mishaps have been related to being tailended by a car that didn’t see me. Nope, I can fall off my bike all by myself thank you – and damn it, I want to keep it that way!
As you can see in the image, the back of the light clips into the holder. It’s those clips that have broken off. I’ve actually rigged up a fix that’ll hold for a day or two, but it may be time to get something a little better. I’m thinking an actual spotlight, like they use for car lot sales. The idea is that it would be so bright, so overpowering, that it would simply drive cars off the road behind me. The drawback is those things weight hundreds of pounds and require generators putting out more than a dynamic hub can do on a bike.
I just hate shopping for lights though as they always seem so expensive during the day while I’m in the bike shop. If I could shop for them out on the road, at night, they’d probably seem a lot cheaper – even at the same price – or more.
The systems I would actually like cost more than my bike and while I’m convinced they are decent, I’m just not quite at that point yet. That’s silly, of course, because while they may cost more than my bike, they don’t cost more than any hospital or funeral bills I could generate, but there you are.
I guess we’ll see. [Or more importantly, I hope the guys behind me can see.]
Aloha!