head torch instead of front light?

[aclivity]

What would be the legality of ditching my front light and just using the head torch?

I only do 2x2.5 miles a day to the station, over half of that is along the canal towpath where there are no street lights. My head torch is a 7 led thing, bright enough to see at the low speeds I go at. are there any problems just having that instead of a bike mounted front light? Rear light would stay.

Andy

[CoolC]

I presume this is to remove all the faffing of removing the light whe you get to the station?

The only issue I can see is that you only have light where your looking, so looking at other path/road users would mean shining a light in their face/eyes.

[Burrow01]

I use a head torch quite a lot on quiet country lanes - works well and saves the faff of removing the lights when you get to your destination

[ewenm]

I'd have both - bike mounted for being seen, head torch for seeing.

[anonymous-user]

Always better to do both, you don't necessarily look where your bike is pointed. Just get something like this that is easy to clip on or off.

http://www.cateye.com/uk/products/detail/HL-EL520/

And is bright enough for slow speed poorly lit paths without spend mega bucks.

[Kermit power]

Officially, unless you're a midget, you'll not be legally lit, as your front light needs to be no more than 1.5m from the ground. Rules here

In reality, it would be a pretty harsh copper who would pull you up on it!

More of an issue, I've found, is that riding with a helmet light only flattens out potholes and the like, as the beam coming down at a greater angle than your line of sight means that the front lip of the pothole casts no visible shadow. If, on the other hand, the light is on the bars, potholes appear like cavernous drops in the surface.

I'd always have both off road (with no ambient light at all, I want to be able to see where I'm looking as well as where my bars are pointing), but on the road I'd go for the bar light first, and then the helmet light as a secondary.

[DrMekon]

General gripe - if you are a headtorch user, please don't say hello or gawp at my bike. You are pointing your light right in my eyes and ruining my night vision.

[XitUp]

Just wait until the EU says all cyclists have to have super bright DRLs on their heads.

[Theoldfm]

Kermit power said:

I'd always have both off road (with no ambient light at all, I want to be able to see where I'm looking as well as where my bars are pointing), but on the road I'd go for the bar light first, and then the helmet light as a secondary.

I use both too - the bike light to light up the road ahead and the head torch so that I can see where all those scary rustling noises are coming from in the woods / verge..

[Kermit power]

Theoldfm said:

I use both too - the bike light to light up the road ahead and the head torch so that I can see where all those scary rustling noises are coming from in the woods / verge..

I've always hoped to see badgers and things caught in my lights, but nothing more exciting than the odd fox or deer so far.

[aka_kerrly]

Burrow01 said:

I use a head torch quite a lot on quiet country lanes - works well and saves the faff of removing the lights when you get to your destination

+1
Plus I find vision around corners better with a head torch

[Kermit power]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

If you're going to be heading out after about 7pm, give me a shout and I'll come along too!

[yellowjack]

Kermit power said:

I've always hoped to see badgers and things caught in my lights, but nothing more exciting than the odd fox or deer so far.

To quote the guys manning the front gate at the barracks, I am "lit up like a Christmas tree" when I leave for a night ride. Three lights fitted to the bars, an LED headtorch, two LED lamps on the rear of the bike, and one on the back of my lid. I have seen plenty of nocturnal beasties, and of them all, badgers are the most scary! The noise they make as they scrabble around on the road with those claws of theirs is quite disturbing until you can see where/what it is coming from. Funniest animal yet was a hare that I caught in the pool of light from my headtorch. I followed it, keeping the beam on it, and it wouldn't leave the pool of light, just kept diagonally running left and right to either verge then back again. When I realised why, I released it from it's torment by looking skywards so as to allow it to leave the road. Oddest moment came recently, when I came across a barn owl just standing in the road ahead of me - it stayed exactly where it was, again 'trapped' in the pool of light I was casting on the road. It didn't fly off until I was virtually on top of it, possibly explaining why so many of them end up as road-kill. I mainly ride in rural North Essex, by the way, and it's great for wildlife spotting/windmill spotting/former WWII airfield spotting, and Essex County Council seem to be busy resurfacing many of my favourite routes right now, so riding at night is getting better/safer/quicker than before, due to better surfaces/less potholes.

[Gazzab]

I used to cycle south of Guildford up on the downs with a mate. Lots of night rides. We came across Badgers quite often. When you suddely come across them its quite daunting but normally they would run away. On one evening I recall being chased by one, thankfully I managed to not fall off and soon escaped! But I can still here the scratching feet and grunting breathing (badger not me).
A local group of bikers were out one evening, one guy ran over a dead rotting badger and the guy behind unfortunately had his mouth open! Apparently!

[Kermit power]

Gazzab said:

I used to cycle south of Guildford up on the downs with a mate. Lots of night rides. We came across Badgers quite often.

Sounds like I need to go further South! I've been riding around Leith Hill area.

[Gazzab]

Kermit power said:

Gazzab said:

I used to cycle south of Guildford up on the downs with a mate. Lots of night rides. We came across Badgers quite often.

Sounds like I need to go further South! I've been riding around Leith Hill area.

Its near Chiddingfold. It is a great ride and only known by a handful of people as well :-). The badgers are just off upper vann lane (which was just off the road I used to live on unitl a couple of years ago).

[Theoldfm]

yellowjack said:

Kermit power said:

I've always hoped to see badgers and things caught in my lights, but nothing more exciting than the odd fox or deer so far.

To quote the guys manning the front gate at the barracks, I am "lit up like a Christmas tree" when I leave for a night ride. Three lights fitted to the bars, an LED headtorch, two LED lamps on the rear of the bike, and one on the back of my lid. I have seen plenty of nocturnal beasties, and of them all, badgers are the most scary! The noise they make as they scrabble around on the road with those claws of theirs is quite disturbing until you can see where/what it is coming from. Funniest animal yet was a hare that I caught in the pool of light from my headtorch. I followed it, keeping the beam on it, and it wouldn't leave the pool of light, just kept diagonally running left and right to either verge then back again. When I realised why, I released it from it's torment by looking skywards so as to allow it to leave the road. Oddest moment came recently, when I came across a barn owl just standing in the road ahead of me - it stayed exactly where it was, again 'trapped' in the pool of light I was casting on the road. It didn't fly off until I was virtually on top of it, possibly explaining why so many of them end up as road-kill. I mainly ride in rural North Essex, by the way, and it's great for wildlife spotting/windmill spotting/former WWII airfield spotting, and Essex County Council seem to be busy resurfacing many of my favourite routes right now, so riding at night is getting better/safer/quicker than before, due to better surfaces/less potholes.

I had never seen a barn owl in the flesh until I started going out night riding last year - since then I have seen two or three, they tend to fly along overhead, illuminated by your head torch beam, sometimes landing on gates or styles and then sit there looking at you. Lovely.

[aclivity]

may have spotted a problem with a headlamp on the ride home tonight ... it wasn't full dark, just dusk, and I got a face full of bugs! May need to wear some glasses.

[PF62]

aclivity said:

What would be the legality of ditching my front light and just using the head torch?

No idea about the legality, but it is bloody stupid if you want to be seen.

I came across a cyclist doing this last winter whilst turing right at a crossroads. The cyclist coming the oposite direction was turning left, so was looking left, which meant he was invisible to me..

[aclivity]

PF62 said:

No idea about the legality, but it is bloody stupid if you want to be seen.

I'm nowhere near cars for most of my commute - unless they are on the towpath, and the cars that do end up there probably wouldn't care if I was lit up anyway! For the parts where I will be on the road - those few hundred yards - I will have a rear light, and my hi vis green vest. Based on the advice in this thread, I won't ditch the front light anyway.