Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday, eating away an hour of light in the evening. So you gotta get your bike ready for darker commutes if you haven’t already, and Commute Seattle wants to help.
This is the second year Commute Seattle has help Light Up Your Ride, an event to provide folks with a place to ask questions about bike commuting in the dark and to get some advice on how to stay visible through the winter. Plus, there’s free coffee and prizes and stuff.
Personally, I finally made the jump to dynamo lights (powered by a generator in the front wheel hub), and so far I’m loving it. It wasn’t exactly a cheap upgrade (you gotta get a new wheel), but neither was replacing finicky battery-powered lights that break every year. In many European countries, bikes cannot legally be sold without lights, and some countries even require that dynamo-powered lights come standard on new most bikes.
But the US bike market never adopted a bike light requirement, so it’s up to you to figure out a solution that works for you and fits in your budget. But lights absolutely are not optional. You are legally required to have a headlight and a rear reflector, though a rear light is highly recommended. Studies suggest that people biking at night without lights often feel more visible than they really are.
