How to see and be seen
Bright Lights Included With Every Electric Bike
All of our ebikes come with front and rear lights standard. In front we include the very bright Herrmans H-Black Pro. In the back is the Herrmans H-Trace or Herrmans H-Track (both of which come with an integrated reflector).
If you'd like additional lights, read on!
Get an additional front and rear light
When it comes to nighttime visibility, a quality front and rear light are the bare bones minimum and not a place where you want to cut corners. Back in my college bike commuting days, I went through many a lower cost battery powered light from a big box store and I’ve learned my lesson. Lower cost lights tend to have a weaker beam (= they aren’t as safe in either you being able to see or you being seen), they are easily effected by rain and moisture (= money spent on getting replacement lights), and they eat through batteries (= more money spent on batteries and / or frustration of having a dead light and no replacement batteries). Investing from the start in high quality, bright, reliable front and rear lights is the way to go, both for your pocket book and your own physical well being.
In my personal experience, I have found that USB rechargeable lights give me the most consistently bright beam. USB lights are packed with powerful punch which leads to their super luminous beam that helps both the rider see and be seen. This typically means I need to charge my lights after every ride but it’s a fair trade off for the security of knowing I’m riding and can see everything I need to, even on the darkest of streets. They are also easy to recharge on the go. I like to keep a battery back-up charged and in the drawer with my bike lights in case I need to bring the pack along and charge my lights in prep from a night time ride or I want to have the option to charge part way through a ride and not have to scramble to find an outlet.
Modern Bike has a great article here comparing bike beams. For example, here is a comparison between a 139 lumen battery powered light and a 550 lumen USB rechargeable light.
Quality front lights like the Light and Motion Urban front lights (ranging from 500 lumens to 1000 lumens) are bright, waterproof and durable and may be a good option if you'd like a second light on your bike. An additional bright rear light like the Cygolite Hypershot 350 will provide extra visibility to vehicles behind you.
WheelBrightz (yes, Brightz with a ‘z’)
These lights are low cost and a super fun way to stay visible on the streets. Wrap them inside your front wheel rim to make your ride look like a Tron Lightcycle of the future or around the Hooptie to increase visibility of the back deck and passengers. Since the rear wheel is covered by bags, one on the back wheel isn’t totally necessary. The one thing I love most about these lights is how positively other people respond to them.
When riding around the city at night, kids are oohing and ahhing while adults will shout out “Awesome bike!” I feel like they do a great job at getting people excited about biking because they see how much fun we are having, and they want a piece of the pie!
In my household, we have these lights on the wheels of any bike we use for commuting but skip having them on race bikes or mountain bikes since we aren’t typically nighttime commuting on those rides. These can be found in many local bike shops or online.
Hi-Viz Gear
Vests, helmet covers, leg bands and other clothing with hi-viz reflective tape or fabric does wonders for making sure you’re seen, both during the day but especially as night. Many folks can spot a rider's vest well before they can make them out on their bikes! These are easy to find in any bike shop, are relatively low cost and super quick to throw on or in your bike bag.
Hi-viz gear during the day is also great for folks riding in areas where hunting is allowed, like in local parks and national forests.
In our family, we wear these vest both day and night. IKEA makes a perfect child sized one.
