Cycling during Night

I live in a country generally considered not friendly toward cyclist traffic, coupled with subpar street lighting.

My advice to you would be to invest in very good lights. All-out brightness is nice for a front light, but not the last word; instead look at how adaptable the light and its battery are in terms of power and burn time. That said, I'd recommend something with at least 600 lumens for riding at speed along poorly lit or unlit roads.

My own front light is a Cat Eye Volt 1200. Tilted 10 degrees down, I use it at half power most of the time when riding at night, switching on to the full 1200 lumens on pitch-black roads to great effect. The thing excels at balancing endurance and brightness; at half power it's rated for five hours' burn time per full charge.

For rear lights, I run four blinkers (saddlebag, rear rack, and one per seatstay), plus an LED arm band on my left arm (traffic in my country drives on the right). Yes, overkill maybe, but a more visible cyclist tends to have better odds of actually surviving, I'd like to think.

I've just navigated 15 miles on unlit roads completely unknown to me until tonight. Mix of b-roads, quiet A-roads and a few miles of fast A-road that was nearly dual carriageway.

First time in 20 years I've been on several miles of unlit road and I loved every minute of it.

Found myself naturally riding in my usual daytime position about 3ft out from the kerb or verge and as others have said noticed I was being passed much wider than I'm used to on the streets of Glasgow during daylight hours.

Lights? 2x Hope Vision One on mid power was plenty to see with at 18-20mph. Approximately 300 lumens in total.

At the back a Smart lunar 2 on flash and a Planet X Lunar 1 copy on solid kept everyone at a safe distance.

Apart from one overtake at a pinch point on the illuminated urban section of my ride, I had no issues whatsoever.

Subject to no ice, I'd also thoroughly recommend early morning rides, getting on the road for about 5.45/6.00am means significantly less traffic and then back home by 7.30 in time for the sun rise, ace !

I do a fair bit of night riding. Most often with "the Fridays", the Friday night ride to the Coast group. Theuir rides for this year are over, but look out for them on Facebook or here: http://fridaynightridetothecoast.blogspot.co.uk/p/welcome.html

They're a CTC group that ride from (usually) London, to the coast (usually) leaving at midnight and arriving in the early morning, just in time for breakfast. The pace is slow, so this is not a group for the racers, but it is well-organised, with a mid-way rest and refreshment stop, and very sociable.

If you've always fancied the Dunwich Dynamo, but been put off by the distance, this is a good group to try.

But yes, night riding is generally a lot less stressful and I have been doing a lot of late night riding since I was a teenager (some 30 years ago) using what were even then, terrible battery powered lights.

I've moved on to good, high quality dynamo lights and they are now so good I can't really see the point in buying battery-powered lights. Yes, they might be more powerful, but the decent dynamo lights out there are more than good enough for the job.

Best option for night riding is dynamo lighting. Wheel plus light easily doable for under £100 and you'll get completely reliable lighting. A big plus is if you go with a German light and mount it at the fork crown you'll be able to see the road, be seen by other drivers, and not dazzle oncoming traffic. Probably overkill on roads with street lighting but they really come into their own out in the country.

One thing for the rear light - consider mounting it on offside seat stay, or on a bracket that moves it away from the centre-line of the bike. Drivers will assume light is central and give you more space.

I commute, once or twice a week, out into the countryside.  Around this time of year I switch to the winter bike and keep away from the busier B road I use in the summer.  Takes longer but I feel more comfortable in the dark on the lanes, although I keep away from any lanes used as 'rat runs'.  I've got a 800 Lumen light which means cars see me coming before they actually see me (loom of the light).  It has a dim function as well.  Bit of 'reflectives' as well so you stand out.  Makes me appreciate the summer more!

Riding in the dark not a problem, as long as you have good lights. I use exposure strada at the front.

Fewer cars means drivers rarely have to wait to pass so less likely to be frustrated.
Headlights of cars give you a good idea where they are when approaching from behind. And you can tell if that sharp bend has an oncoming car.
But good lights absolutely essential on unlit roads, hitting a badger at 30mph doesnt bear thinking zbout.

I tend to do my daily fitness ride early in the morning and it's just wonderful.  Before 6:30 the roads round here are blissfully empty and the quiet is a joy.  I often see foxes, badgers and deer and enjoy that much more than spotting forty-two-ton trucks, white vans and school-run mums.  And, as a bonus, there's always that feeling of superiority you get, knowing most people are still in bed.

Even now, with the ride being mostly in the dark, I wouldn't swap.  

I'm fortunate enough to live out in the countryside where traffic is almost absent at night.

Whilst wonderful in that respect, the biggest risk I've found is that of startled nightlife. Often the only clue that you just missed something is a panicked scrabbling heard in the hedgrerow at the side of the road. 

Because it's properly dark here, headlights anounce a vehicle's arrival well in advance. This means I can ride in the middle of the road to give myself more of an escape path if something does make a dash for it. 

Look out for potholes, drain covers which may have moved (due to HGV's or buses etc) even on routes you know.

If your helmet has a visor on, take it off to increase your peripheral vision up front.

As said 2 lights front (no flash, though I do sometimes use Cateye's hyper constant mode). For unlit roads you need 700 or 800 lumen lights as the minimum really IMO. Rear have one flash and one constant. I also have Cateye helmet lights (little round blob shaped ones) which can flash or steady (white on the front, red on the rear).

Reflectives and high viz are useful. Clear glasses to keep wind and debris out.

Remember to look around you and don't get tunnel visioned by your front light(s).

Enjoy it!

With the Exposure Diablo that almost never happens .

Oh and watch you don't gun it into the back of grey cars parked in cycle lanes.

Ahem.

Personally I enjoy night riding, and I've done a few enduros (200mile + raoad races)which start at 1 or 2 am, and they are really fun. However, the traffic situation in NZ is very different to Europe. Having said that, I hate urban riding at night, and in the UK when riding at night I tended to use A roads with a decent shoulder. I had way to many close shaves on tiny little B roads during the daytime and at night.

I find night rides seem to go faster, I dont know why?   Get the best lights you can afford, nothing better than a fully lit road in the pitch black, see all the potholes and animal eyes staring at you.

Please, not the flashing front lights, certainly not on unlit roads. They really are spectacularly offputting and not needed. I'm not convinced flashing rear lights are all that useful at night, but at least usually less distracting.

I agree with all the posts so far, particularly drivers giving more room and taking more care to pass properly.  I think it's because they are less certain how much room they have to play with, and less confident nothing is coming the other way.

Definitely have two lights front and rear, you never know when a charge is going to die on you or some other issue can occur.  Plus have one constant and one flashing, there are studies that show some people see one type better than the other.  

Out in the country, I find flashing/strobing front lights harder to ride with, I usually turn the flashing one off, but under street lights I would probably have both flashing.

The one thing I find with night rides is 2 hours is about enough.  Apart from charge issues, I'm just not able to go on for hours and hours.

I have to agree with unconstituted. I did my first 'fully in the dark' night ride of the year last night and loved it! Make sure you're well lit, I have a See.sense Icon on the rear and an Exposure Diablo on the front to make sure cars can see me and I can see the road. Make sure you're warm, I've just ordered my first set of shoe covers because cold hands and feet can really ruin a night ride at this time of year!

Most of all, enjoy it!  

Like Marty says, best stick to roads you know - mostly because of potholes. Lighting is the biggest problem if you want to ride fast on unlit rough country roads. 

Drivers close pass when they're feeling overconfident yet most have poor driving skills so give a wide berth to a flashing light in the dark as they can't judge your size well.

Far fewer cars around at night and that really does make a difference. Cortisol levels lower then too so much drivers are calmer as well as being burned out. 

Still, as always, only takes one cretin to ruin it all but that can happen any time.

I would say just go out and do it. Honestly, nothing feels better than it does at night. Riding, running, hiking etc. Just feels amazing. 

Others experiences may differ but I find that drivers overtaking me at night tend to give more room than during the day- possibly because of reduced visibility they are slightly less cocky on how much space they have to play with, plus I am lit up very well- two good back lights (one flashing), a very reflective jacket with an Altura Night Vision LED dangling from it, as well as reflective shoe covers and obviously front lights as well. This is only my thinking on it (and doubtless people will disagree) but if you do more than just the legal lighting requirements, it takes drivers that extra time to work out what it is they are approaching and those few seconds mean they generally knock off the speed a bit.

I also tend to stick to roads I know well and have been out on daylight hours very recently- it doesn't take long for a pothole to develop where there were none before so it is a case of going for mileage as opposed to speed- even with decent front lights showing the way.  I tend to have a couple of loops that I know very well and use these to get the km in at night- a slowish first run or two on the loop just to check for any nasties then up the tempo a bit more when I am sure I'm not going to disappear down a mineshaft. The other benefit to riding at night is that you can't see the gradient of the hill, so if there are any that are a pyschological obstacle, going up them in the dark can be quite liberating!

However I can understand the fears about heading out in the dark- particularly as I ride quite rural roads, and some drivers still don't expect cyclists out at that time. But once you get out at night a few times you will find it a very enjoyable experience and can help routes you may be bored with using take on a new dynamic.