Results and Tips

First off, a big thanks to those of you who participated in the The Quiz. It turns out, as you'll see, that most of you know how make the ever tricky left hand turn. The results were as follows:

88% use the left turn lane if the light is red.
86% use the left turn lane if the light is green--though some of you that used the turn lane when the light was red, didn't when it was green.
8% didn't use the turn lane when the light was red, but had an explanation--though some didn't leave a comment explaining what that explanation was.
11% didn't use the turn lane when the light was green, but had an explanation--again, some of you didn't actually say what the explanation was, though I suspect the explanation was similar to the comments that were made.
3% of you go against the flow of traffic, whether the light is red or green.

Due to rounding errors, all numbers are +/- 0.5%.

Frankly, I expected fewer to use the lane, based on my observations, but happily I am wrong.

In preparation for this post--so I don't look like an idiot, really--I grabbed the Oregon Bicyclist Manual from the local DMV. I wanted to verify that the proper way to make the left is using the turn lane. This is what they said, via an image:

Granted, in this illustration, there is no dedicated left turn lane, but as you can see, there are three acceptable methods. The first is the answer I was looking for with my quiz. The second is one that many of you use and commented on. The third is just fine, but the cyclist must yield to any pedestrians. I did not know that either #2 or #3 were ok in the eyes of john law.

Next up, choosing lanes:

Here, they show that the preferred method is using the left turn lane. But they use this disclaimer: "If you can't make it across traffic to the correct lane, use the crosswalk instead." So, once again, the crosswalk is perfectly legal.

Finally, if you do use the lane, triggering the signals can be tricky at times. Here in Oregon we use an induction loop system. The manual offers these tips. First position your bike like this:

If that fails to trip the light, lean the bike over like this:


Usually, I find that just positioning the bike correctly will work. I've only had to do the lean a handful of times.

By the way, if any of you are wondering what the results look like, Google just plops them into a spreadsheet. I get, in this case, three columns. The first column is a time and date stamp, the second column is the answer given to question 1 and the third column is the answer given to question 2. No other information is gathered, so I don't know who you are or even where you are. It's all pretty anonymous.

I might have to do more in the future!

A Quiz or Two

I know that there are many of you who commute by bicycle. Our ranks are swelling, driven in part by higher fuel prices. This time of year, though, at least here in Oregon, there is always an upsurge in bicycle commuters. The weather is nice, it's a good way to get exercise, and it provides another platform for smugness. It's all win!

However, there seems to be a lack of understanding when it comes to maneuvering in traffic. It seems that many cyclists are stuck in "pedestrian mode" while riding, and this is not a good thing. To illustrate my point, I've come up with a handy diagram and a quiz.

Disclaimer: I'm putting the quiz in here because I really, really wanted to try out Google Docs new forms function. Originally I had planned on telling you the answer, but now you'll have to wait until Friday.

The question revolves around negotiating a left hand turn at an intersection. The intersection is shown below, thanks to the wonders of MS Paint.

The bike lanes are represented by this symbol:

Here is the scenario: You are riding North-bound along B Street at position #1. You want to turn left on to A Street, into position #4. The light for your current direction of travel is red, as is the left turn light. Traffic traveling on A Street has the green.

Here's the first question: What do you normally do in the situation? I'm not asking for what you should do, but what do you really do.

Now, take that same scenario--you traveling North on B Street wanting to head west on A Street--only this time B Street traffic has the green light. Now what do you do? And is it different that the first question?

The quiz is below.

I'll be back on Friday to discuss the results and let you know what I do and what I've observed of late.

Eerily Quiet

This morning was... odd.

First, the weather. It's 54 degrees out there. Granted, today the forecast calls for rain and looking to the west, I think that they're going to be right. But, be that as it may, 54 is much warmer than what we've been seeing lately.

Second, it was quiet, too quiet. Normally there is quite a bit of traffic on the roads--everyone seems to go to work at the same time, right? Not today. It was so quiet in fact that I thought it might be Sunday and my schedule was off by one day. Man, I'd hate to think that I got up early and rode into work when I didn't need to... wait, let me rephrase that... I'd hate to think that I stopped in at work on a day I didn't need to and and didn't just keep on riding, since I was up.

Finally, even though I rode hills today, they didn't hurt like they have been. Frankly I think that E. was taking it easy on me, but nevertheless, it felt good. Maybe increasing the regularity of riding the hillier route is helping. Maybe the stars were aligned, everyone overslept and there was a warm mass ahead of a vicious storm that made everything just right. And that's fine with me.

Since this morning was so good, I'm going to push my luck and make one request to the weather gods: I don't mind the rain during the day--heck, I'm stuck inside at work anyway--but can I please have a nice tail wind on the way home? That would make today's oddities complete.

400L Beam Shots

Well, you asked for it, so here it is.

The sun gods were smiling down upon me this week. The rain paused long enough to allow me to get some good beam shots. The camera settings were the same as last time, so the images should be directly comparable, should you wish to do that sort of thing.

First up, the 400L on High Beam:

As you can see, it's a flood-type beam pattern. This is because it uses optics like those in the 500L. Now, since some of you have asked about the amount of light that the medium level puts out, I've taken one of those too. Here's the 400L on medium:

I also re-took an image of the Ultra 5W on high:

As you can see, the medium 400L is similar to the high beam on the Ultra 5W. Now, for the feature that sets the 400L apart from its siblings. Here's the 400L with the amber on high:


In person the light isn't so reddish. It's really a yellow light, I'm not sure why the camera's sensor got all confused. But this shows the intensity of the light, if not the color.

So, there you have it. DiNotte's commuter specific front light.

400L

No, that's not a typo in the title. Those Mad Engineers at DiNotte are at it again. This time, they've come up with a light -- one of the more unique -- that is specifically targeting the commuter. I know, this isn't their first commuter light -- the original Ultra 3W has a built in tail light for the commuter -- but that light is also nice off road. This one, while it would work off road just fine, is really for commuting. You see, while it looks like the 500L and 300L, it has one fundamental difference. As you can see below, the bottom lens is different -- if you have small children at home you are now humming Sesame Street's One of These Things is Not Like the Others.


You see, the bottom lens is a very wide beam for the amber LED housed behind it. Actually, it's like the tail light's lens. This is what sets the 400L apart from it's other 'L' siblings. The other two LEDs are high powered white emitters.

The idea is this, in rain or fog you have the amber light for flashing mode, or as a fog light -- it fills in right in front of the tire. In full dark situations, you run the the white LEDs to light your way. By putting them in one light head, you reduce the clutter on your handlebars, and you can extend your battery life by running the amber one when being seen is all you need.

Now, I know what you are saying, "Isn't this a solution looking for a problem?" Yes and no. Sure, you can turn on your white LEDs on flashing mode, it's true. Heck, it's true of DiNotte's lights. But you can't change the lenses on the fly. By incorporating the amber light, they've used that wide lens so that -- from a cars perspective -- more light is visible off axis than with normal narrow beam lenses, the type found on the white LED lights. Is it the right light for you? Well, this is probably going to be a niche light. If you primarily use your light for off road riding with the occasional commute, then I'd suggest checking out a different light. However, if you need a light for commuting only, then this may well be your light.