There’s about a week left until Daylight Saving time ends, and we’re definitely noticing the change in daylight as we ride our bikes home from school or after-school events. We’re making a lot more use of our bike flag lights and headlights and tail lights. Bike lighting transitions It requires a little bit of a transition for us. We usually pack lights just in case, but we try to get more into the habit of putting them on (we usually remove them when parked because of potential theft) and remembering to keep the lights in the correct bag. Bike Flag Lights in the fall The bike flag lights always stay on the bikes, so we always have them available as a backup in case we forget our normal tail lights. (If you are looking for tail lights, I’ve written a […]
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Adding a flag to your Bike Beam LED pole light
If you have a Bike Beam LED pole light, but don’t have a safety flag (or some other flag/pennant etc) on it yet, here’s how to add one. Having a flag generally helps with dynamic daytime visibility, they’re fun, and you can add your own message to your bike ride as well. They’re useful to help people visible on kids bikes and cargo bikes, or to add some fun to your commute. Some people have used them for Bike Party, Loud and Lit, and Thursday Night Rides. Step 1: Find or make a flag for the LED pole light that is the right size The Bike Beam has poles that are about 5/16″ or 8mm in diameter, so consider this when figuring what to fly on the LED pole. The Bike Loud PDX and Pedalpalooza pennants I have are sewn […]
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How to attach a bike flag (Bike Beam)
How to attach a bike flag, a guide Bicycle safety is probably a top priority for you, and one way to increase your visibility is to attach a bike safety flag. Where do I mount the bike safety flag? Attaching the bike safety flag is a relatively simple process. First, you need to choose a suitable location to mount the bicycle flag. The Bike Beam comes with either a rack mount or axle mount. But you can also attach it to a trailer. Other safety flags usually come with an axle mount or can also fit into the bike flag mounting hole of a trailer. You’ll usually want the flag at the rear of your bike. Different types of bike flag mounts There are 3 main types of bike flag mounts: Axle or quick release bike flag mount: This […]
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It’s Pedalpalooza in Portland. We love using their pennant as a flag for bicycles!
Pedalpalooza is an amazing summer full of bike rides Described as “a festival of bike fun” and “three whole months of fun on two wheels”, Pedalpalooza is 3 months worth of hundreds of bike rides and bike-related activities. The Pedalpalooza calendar features 2 to 20+ rides per day with all types of themes. There’s a Pride ride, coffee rides, Bike Play performances (often-musical theater experiences), mural rides, cargo bike rides.. it really feels endless. Last year while visiting Portland, we went to a kids clown ride with Olive and Dingo, and the Foster Night Ride. The Pedalpalooza pennant makes for a fun flag for bicycles We’re celebrating Pedalpalooza remotely with our pennant. I mounted it on our bicycle flag light. We live in Oakland though and only get to visit Portland once per year. But we knew we could still […]
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Flag Poles for Bicycles: Helpful Pros and Cons
Hi. We’ve been riding around with bike flags as a family for more than a year and a half now. We’ve been riding in all seasons (in Northern California, so there isn’t a ton of variation) and in rain and in fair weather. I wanted to share our experience of riding with a bike flag for kids. Pros: Why should I ride with a flag for my bike? Bike flags make the rider more visible The main reason to use a flag is visibility. Until we get more protected bike lanes, we often need to share the road with cars, and it’s important to be seen by drivers when on the road. The flag poles typically mount to the axle of the rear wheel of the bike. While riding to school, we can see a bike flag from 3-4 […]
Continue readingMore TagRiding our light up bike pole lights (aka Bike Beam) in Oakland and Berkeley
Family bike riding around Oakland and Berkeley Our child is old enough to pedal themselves around to school, the library, and to sports practice. Sometimes it’s hard, but usually we have a good time getting to where we need to go. We get some exercise, take in our surroundings, wave to neighbors, give names to cats and dogs, and appreciate random sidewalk finds. And we can get around in an environmentally-friendly way. We ride around with a set of bike pole lights that I have been developing for a while. The bike flag lights make us pretty easy to spot. If you see us, wave and say hello! I made our bike pole lights (aka the “Bike Beam” light) to keep my child visible When we first started riding around on neighborhood streets, I realized that my child was hard […]
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Bike Soccer Dad (No Minivan or SUV Required)
I’m enjoying being a bike soccer dad. I guess I’ve become a soccer dad now. Our kid has practice on the weekends, but we bike to the field instead of taking a the stereotypical soccer mom or soccer dad minivan or SUV. We do it because we rarely drive, but there are plenty of benefits to doing so. It’s good exercise, and it’s a great way to get outside and enjoy nature. It also helps reduce car traffic congestion and pollution. It’s about a 3 mile ride that takes us 20-25 minutes. We selected our route based on Oakland’s Slow Streets (which are being taken away soon, sadly!) and other low-car-traffic roads. Berkeley has done a decent job adding physical barriers on designated routes to promote safety by slowing the flow of automobiles. There are a couple of hairier intersections […]
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Bike safety flags for being extra visible while riding a bicycle, even in the daytime
Bike safety flags can help keep bicycle riders visible The greatest risk for someone riding a bike on roads with automobile traffic is being hit by a car. I strongly support infrastructure improvements that physically protect someone riding a bike. Dedicated bike paths and protected bike lanes can help a lot with this. I don’t like putting the burden of safety on the more vulnerable in general. At the same time, if there’s a low-effort way to improve safety, it’s probably a good thing to do. According to the NHTSA, the 2nd leading factor in bicyclist deaths is “Not visible (dark clothing, no lighting, etc)”. Vehicles are getting bigger, which causes more line of sight problems for other users of the road. Adding a flag is an easy and low-cost way of improving visibility, but it does have a few […]
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