Night - Lights or Not?

[kenais]

The lakes I ride are pretty much rural and I want to do some night riding. Should I drill a hole in my helmet to mount a bike light or not?

I use to mtn bike a lot at night and have a L&M just sitting in a box wanting to be used. Kind of concerned with the reflection off of blowing snow, dust was an issue with a helmet mounted light and dry trails. Like driving in a blizzard with the brights on. Doubt I could see much on cloudy or moonless nights though since there isn't any streetlights nearby.

So what is the common opinion, drill a hole in my helmet and try it out or is that a waste of time? Any other advice for night riding?

[JERRY]

Safety first. Remove helmet from head before drilling. Rick & I found that out the hard way...........twice

Riding at night could be dangerous if visibility & light is poor. As the season goes on there are ice fractures, debris and irregular drifts that can prove to be hazardous. Even open water cannot be seen in time to avoid. Use common sense. Have fun & ride safe.

Jerry

[enderbeanz]

I would say that you should use a light to set up for sure but ride without one. The reason I say this is if you use a light you will be limiting your field of vision to the lights beam giving you severe night blindness. You would be amazed at how well your eyes adjust to the darkness and you will be able to see everything around you. As far as lights go you might want to consider putting a few LEDs on the kite to let you know where it is in the sky, people seem to claim this works well.

[torisspacedog]

I spend alot of time out at night. I picked up a Petzel light that straps around anything. It works great for setting up then when I'm cruising if others are around I just put it on the Red blinky mode otherwise turn it off. Midwest has them and they come in handy for all sorts of things you cant go wrong. Have fun . Mark L

[Dave Z]

The Petzl headlamps work great..... I also tend to put cool blink lights on my kite - I use blinking dog collar lights that clip onto the bridle's of my kite.

[kiteboymn]

If you can get several cars/atv's/snow machines into the area, park them up wind and shine the lights in all directions. It'll light up the place like a stadium and you'll get great definition on the surface from the shadows.
We did this in Padre over Thanksgiving, and Jenn B got some sweet shots of Dennis and Bryce kiting in the surf.

[kenais]

Thanks for the tips. Where can I find some colored LED lights to clip onto the kite? It would be cool to have a couple of different colors for sure. I have one red blinking light I could use for now if I can get it to stay on.

I'm going to go ahead and drill a hole in my helmet to mount the bike light and give it a try. I have a few different Petzl headlamps but they pale in comparison to the light & motion bike light, its like high beam bright. This cold weather and wind drought is making me sad.

[monkey1031]

http://tinyurl.com/yjqnaqt
lmgtfy.

-smd7

[Elkman]

The Ax-Man store in St. Louis Park has little LED clip-on lights, for about a buck each, if I remember right. They come in four different colors: red, green, blue, and white. They're just single LED lights, but you can arrange them in whatever pattern you want.

You could put red lights on the kite when warmer weather is just ahead, white lights when colder weather is in sight, or green lights when no weather changes are foreseen. Make sure the colors blink when precipitation's on the way.