Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Bye Bye Blackburn


Or, as the Beatles might have said, "Blackburn keeping me safe at night"

A few weeks ago I got a Chrome Citizen bag to carry my gear when riding my rackless Schwinn ten-speed. Since the black bag would cover any reflective or bright clothing I might wear, I wanted a nice light to put in the supplied loop.

The Bike Rack had a great display of lights where I could try each one out. I walked from side to side trying to select a light that had good side visibility. I figured side visibility would be important when using a bag mounted light that can move around , as opposed to a fixed light attached to a seat post.

I settled on the the Blackburn Mars 4.0. This 1 Watt light was a little more expensive than other lights, but was super bright and came with many mounting options, and was very visible from multiple angles. The loop clip was good, but tonight I was going to wrap a little tape around the clip, just to be sure.

However, sometime over the weekend I lost it. I think I rode only 3 miles over the weekend, so that makes it suck even worse. In all likelihood, the Blackburn might even be kicking around the aisles at the local Bag N Save, since that's where I went, twice, on Sunday.

Fortunately, I have an extra Trek Flare 3 that's missing a gasket. It's not a terribly bright light, but a couple of turns of black tape to make up for the missing gasket, plus a couple more turns around the end of the clip should turn it into a usable bag light.

7 comments:

RD said...

welcome to the world of falling back lights... last year i think i lost 3 or 4.

Scott Redd said...

Yeah, that stinks having to buy new lights.

It still beats buying gas and paying for parking. I could buy a case of lights for what I'm saving on that front.

I just remembered that I also used the bag and light on Monday, taking the bus home Monday afternoon. I'll call MAT and see if it was found.

Douglas said...

Been there, done that. Still haven't found a light meant for clipping on bags. If you (or anyone) finds one please let us know. Meanwhile I'll keep duct tape on my barely visable light.
There's got to be something out there.
Google! Help us.

brady said...

Somebody's got some nice booty out there.

Oh and by the way, I've lost another nice pair of gloves. This time, it was NorthFace liners. Crap! That's it - from hence forth it's $2 stretch-n-fit childrens' gloves off the impulse-rack for me.

RD said...

scott,
I had this light for trek light for 5 months now

Scott Redd said...

RD: That's the Flare 3 that I put on my Chrome bag. I also have a Flare 5 on my seat bag on the hybrid (with tape on the clip)

Brady: Maybe you should sew your gloves to your jacket sleeves. :)

munsoned said...

I have a Cateye LD100. This light may not be super bright, but it'll wrap around most anything. I can see it being perfect for wrapping around a bag strap, but it was just ok at wrapping around a seatpost. Which is why I switched to a different rear light.