Re: [CR] Flashlights for Bike Lighting

(Example: Framebuilders:Bernard Carré)

In-Reply-To: <622933.62556.qm@web82207.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
References: <496CA3F5.7070205@blueyonder.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:20:15 -0500
From: "Harry Travis" <travis.harry@gmail.com>
To: <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR] Flashlights for Bike Lighting


Are LED's allowed here? Doesn't there have to be incandescence? Oh, right, HP introduced them to the commercial marketplace in 1968, so I guess they're OK.

It is a golden age of flashlights. Any web search tool will get you a good seat at a major forum, and to consumer evaluations of quality from numerous sellers of klutzy, kludgey, elegant, and mil-spec flashlights.

For battery prices, the differences among on-line vendors are only a U$ or 2 per cell. These folks have given me good service http://www.thomasdistributingshop.com/

and have enough sales on chargers to have you regret a better price next week.

A search will show whether low-self-disc charge types are available in all sizes yet. IMO, the way to go if you are an intermittent user. Eeneloops from Sanyo more consistent between-cells than a couple of others.

Want C or D cell lights? So do police, for the heft. Ah, tradition, and traditional ways. So, there'll be a demand for these dual-use tools.

For cyclists, the world will be better when someone ventures to tool up and produce a flashlight head with asymmetric focusing. It could happen, followed by price competition that dropped light prices to below that of good-condition on-topic quarter-century-old frames.

The randon http://groups.google.com/group/randon and bicycle lifestyle http://groups.google.com/group/bicyclelifestyle groups have members who follow this scene for on -topic products intensively.

Harry Travis Washington, DC USA

On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 10:00 AM, Jerome & Elizabeth Moos < jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> To raise a non-contraversial, if there is such a thing here, issue in
> connection with touring/randonneur bikes. Anyone know of currently
> available flashlights appropriate for use on such bikes?
>
> I asked Chris at Velo Orange when he would again have the flashlights he
> was selling a while back. His answer was that he does not currently expect
> to have them again. Evidently, the ones he was selling were made by small
> Japanese firms, and he tells me the deamnd is so strong in Japan, the the
> manufacturers have no interest in exporting to the US, as they can sell
> everything they make at home.
>
> Of course, in terms of producing light, most any flashlight will work, but
> one prefers something the will look elegant. I suppose many of us would
> define elegant in this instance as reminescent of the lights on French
> constructeur bikes before or shortly after WWII, although I must note that
> in the book (in French) Jan Heine is selling documenting the history of PBP,
> the photos from recent years show some competitors using flashlights that
> would strike most of us as distinctly un-classic.
>
> Surely there must be flashlights currently made in America, Europe or UK or
> in larger quanitity in Asia that would look suitable on a touring bike?
> Anyone have any suggestions?
>
> On a related issue, most flashlights, at least those available in USA, use
> C or D size batteries. I've come to prefer rechargeable batteries as a way
> to minimize the need to dispose of potentially hazardous materials, although
> even rechargeable batteries will eventually be discarded. Anyone know where
> to get the best prices on rechargeable C and D batteries and on chargers
> that will handle these sizes? I know such do exit, but they are not nearly
> as common as the AA and AAA size rechargeables that can now be purchased at
> most any drugstore or discount store.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Big Spring, Texas, USA