Bike BrightZ: Win Yourself One

I have said before on the blog (you will have to believe me for now while we continue to make the transfer from WordPress to TypePad - yes we plan on having our archives back) that I am a huge fan of bike safety lights.  Living in New York City, I ride around a lot of motor vehicles that weigh considerably more than I do.  I want to do everything I can to make sure it is basically impossible not to see me at night.

Thanks to the generosity of the folks at Bike BrightZ I am now one step closer to my dream of appearing to motorists as a spaceship similar to those in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  I am definitely dating myself here as I am sure many readers have not seen the 1977 flick, but if you haven't, I highly recommend it.  If there was an Oscar for best artistic use of food, Richard Dreyfus would have taken it home for sure. 

I have two rear blinkie lights, a Monkey light in my front spokes, a headlight and now a Bike Brightz light.   Take a look at the product in the package.

The recommended placement of the light noted on their home page is on the bottom of the down tube or the chain stay.  Take a look at this video from their web site:

The Bike BrightZ light can perform much like another product, the Down Low Glow. However you can purchase about 6 Bike BrightZ for what it would cost you to buy one Down Low Glow.  My down tube is not well suited for the light because my rear brake and gear cables are routed down the underside of the tube.

I chose to mount the light on my rear rack so that light splashes on the ground behind me.

So with everything going at the same time this is what my Globe looks like - like a rolling Disco actually.  I set the Bike BrightZ to one of the flash modes and you can see the reflection is pretty strong off of the tile floor . .

The folks at Bike BrightZ have provided a light for me to give away so a contest is in order. 

Just like Richard Dreyfus got artistic with mashed potatoes, I am inviting readers to get artistic with the Bike Hacks logo.  You will find the logo in a couple of different styles below.  You can right click (PC) or command click (Mac) on the images to save them and the rest is up to you. 

You could print the logo out on paper and take a photo, use a photo editing software (kinda like me placing the logo over the TV in the Close Encounters picture), take a picture of the logo in a unique place, even incorporate it into a video . . . the sky is the limit but the more personal the better.  Just make sure your final product is work safe. 

Once you have your final product, send us an email via our contact page and we will respond with instructions on how to get your entry to us.  Contest deadline is February 16th.

 

Comments

[Raiyn]

Some might not be old enough to have seen it in the theater, but Close Encounters of the Third Kind has been a cable mainstay for decades.

[Ted]

In Germany it is illegal for bicycles to have flashing lights as it has been shown that intoxicated drivers are drawn to flashing lights.

As a professional driver and a cyclist I can tell you that I have heard this from safety meetings as a driver to even limit the use of hazard lights on commercial vehicles - unless absolutely necessary.

Please keep this in mind in regards to your bicycle - you may actually be drawing drivers TOWARDS YOU with all the flashing lights!

[Matt]

Interesting note Ted, thanks. However it did get me to thinking, should we only be worried about drunk drivers, of whom we hope there are few? Or should we be worried about the majority?

I don't claim to know anything about safety light studies, but let's just say that 5% of drivers on a given night are driving under the influence. If we use a sample of 100,000 drivers that means there are 95,000 people sober and 5,000 drunk.

What about the 95,000 sober people? Wouldn't it make sense to make them aware of your presence on the road with flashing lights? There are more sober drivers and just because they are sober does not mean they are going to drive safely.

Again, I don't know the studies, but when I see a flashing light, I know it grabs my attention.

Matt

[Ron Ablang]

That is a neat product.

What size (and how many) batteries does it use? How long is the battery life rated for?

[Raiyn]

@ "Ted"
Just because something is illegal in Germany based on questionable information doesn't make it a bad product for use in the rest of the world.

@This last guy
There's 2 AAA batteries next to the package in the 2nd picture - do you think that MIGHT be a clue? Also if you'd gone to the bikebrightz.com (following the link given) it says how long the batteries tend to last. Gaah you people!

[Nike Vandal]

It is authentic that we do not know what we’ve acquired until eventually we shed it, but it is also actual that we really don't know what we’ve been missing till it arrives. Do you imagine so?