UK driving licence categories and Electric bikes.

[portals]

Sounds very nasty, seems to be luck of draw then you crash, I got lucky last week however fell off my bike stationary outside my flat 18months ago and whole upper body went black and blue....go figure...

I have the ubiquitous small round LED lights on bike, in darkness with no other light sources you cannot see anything 1m in front of you. I found this out cpl weeks ago when attempting to cut through Botanic Gardens forgetting it has no lighting... I got 20ft in to park from the Garriochmill entrance and could hear noises coming from the bushes, very disconcerting as I could see NOTHING in front of me just a black wall of darkness and only just about see to turn bike around and head back out of park, then the first rocket screech came and it went zooming past me only a metre or so away, cue a barrage of maybe another 5 or 6 rockets aimed in my direction, they all missed and I could hear a gang of neds laughing and shouting abuse at me. Fair play, when I was a kid we used a bit of copper pipe like a bazooka to aim rockets on your shoulder at various 'targets'...

I put them on setting three so they flash quickly and they are used as you say to alert others of my presence. Still pondering what light to buy as a proper headlight for front so I can actually see at night

 

[guerney]

Still pondering what light to buy as a proper headlight for front so I can actually see at night

If you've decided on this and it proves adequate:

Bright Headlight for Winter - Recommendations?

Weather has been very good for time of year, been out on bike way more than I thought in dark, the headlight I have is rubbish and so dangerous so been looking past couple of days for a more powerful front lamp. Mostly they seem to be LED arrays and make all sorts of claims about how bright...

www.pedelecs.co.uk

...I'd get another, to create more shadows to show up horrible stuff on the cycling surface ahead, like potholes trenches ridges etc. Like camera flash, one bright light source flattens the scene.

 

[guerney]

I put them on setting three so they flash quickly and they are used as you say to alert others of my presence

I bet they knew you were there. Amazing how flashing lights stops cnuts doing stuff - while cycling through a very dodgy area vey late one dark night, I was stalked by a car full of cnuts. They kept circling around, following me closely behind, turning off and turning around to follow and overtake again. The fourth time, I set my lights flashing and they buggered off.

 

[portals]

I'm active in a drone forum and a few of the guys there use Vifly strobes on their drones and they are bloody bright, I mean incredibly bright, you cannot really tell from the video.

Stick one or more of these on your bike and/or person and people will see coming from hundreds of feet away..!

When I'm out with drones I prefer to fly stealth and be as inconspicuous as possible so I won't be putting one on my drone however I'm going to ask Santa to get me two for bike and 3D print a holder so I can easily remove them.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/N5BR66uXysaLyBDS8

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09J4LVLFR?starsLeft=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_YJPZZMZ7QHC7MFAQDS18&fbclid=IwY2xjawGoTJ9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHW8RBapPI2MndWySbl3NENlYGvBjdS7ig7bCKOhWoY2k6gPsiDyen01m6Q_aem_-s0u30Rirrrc55z3SFh_4g

 

[guerney]

I'm active in a drone forum and a few of the guys there use Vifly strobes on their drones and they are bloody bright, I mean incredibly bright, you cannot really tell from the video.

Stick one or more of these on your bike and/or person and people will see coming from hundreds of feet away..!

When I'm out with drones I prefer to fly stealth and be as inconspicuous as possible so I won't be putting one on my drone however I'm going to ask Santa to get me two for bike and 3D print a holder so I can easily remove them.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/N5BR66uXysaLyBDS8

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09J4LVLFR?starsLeft=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_YJPZZMZ7QHC7MFAQDS18&fbclid=IwY2xjawGoTJ9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHW8RBapPI2MndWySbl3NENlYGvBjdS7ig7bCKOhWoY2k6gPsiDyen01m6Q_aem_-s0u30Rirrrc55z3SFh_4g

Cool light. Could be made red. How waterproof is it?

Where is this drone forum? I may have to buy one to do a particular job in a couple of months, beyond the scope of a handheld gimbal, and I can perch a higher quality GoPro camera on top. Hope they're not too hard to control indoors. Might have to turn some anti-collision sensors off to fly between things. Maybe one of the DJI minis.

 

[portals]

If you've decided on this and it proves adequate:

Bright Headlight for Winter - Recommendations?

Weather has been very good for time of year, been out on bike way more than I thought in dark, the headlight I have is rubbish and so dangerous so been looking past couple of days for a more powerful front lamp. Mostly they seem to be LED arrays and make all sorts of claims about how bright...

www.pedelecs.co.uk

...I'd get another, to create more shadows to show up horrible stuff on the cycling surface ahead, like potholes trenches ridges etc. Like camera flash, one bright light source flattens the scene.

Might be an idea, I've run out of space though on handlebars so that's holding me up on ordering, maybe I can get a small extension or something.

 

[guerney]

Might be an idea, I've run out of space though on handlebars so that's holding me up on ordering, maybe I can get a small extension or something.

The cheapo extension I bought kept slipping, this slips less - mine's an older Minoura version bought for £7.99 from Amazon:

Minoura Space Mount SG 400 - Short

If you need extra cockpit space for lights or computers, the new Minoura SG 400 Space Grips are now sleeker and more secure than ever. Now with a stronger clamping mechanism that can stay attached to the bike, the Space Grip SG400 also has a sleek finish that enhances your handlebar space. Space...

www.sjscycles.co.uk

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003AI3WX6/

 

[portals]

Cool light. Could be made red. How waterproof is it?

Where is this drone forum? I may have to buy one to do a particular job in a couple of months, beyond the scope of a handheld gimbal, and I can perch a higher quality GoPro camera on top. Hope they're not too hard to control indoors. Might have to turn some anti-collision sensors off to fly between things. Maybe one of the DJI minis.

The strobe has a button to change the colour and mode, white is brightest but you can also use red/green/blue and choose on/slow flash/fast flash. So white on front and buy another for rear if red is bright enough.

It doesn't look particularly water proof but you're not flying a drone in the rain anyway, for a bike maybe it would go in a small clear waterproof bag.

Save your money re DJI minis, there are as good drones available for half the price brands such as Fimi, Autel, Holy Stone, Ruko and Potensic. Lots of competition past cpl years at the lower end and Potensic appear to be winning.

I have had multiple drones over the years and currently have three Potensic Atom 4K 3-axis gimbal drones. For the money look at flymore kits, great value, this drone will blow you away even if you're used to DJIs...

Downside is availability of parts or lack off, support and forums are FB and I had to beg them to sell my a flex cable from their supplier after a crash, why I now have three, me and son fly one each and the third is now a parts donor drone, already missing a leg, compass and gimbal...

Also lots of good quality accessories that you can 3D print for FREE (practically), for Atom such as cool foldable landing gear, lanyard straps, sun shades, joystick protectors, blade holders...too many to mention....oh and also my design of a 4 battery holder that fits in Atom flymore case.

Potensic Atom 4K / SE / LT - Battery Holder by portals999

Hold up to 4 batteries in your Potensic Atom case!I have posted x1, x2 and x4 battery holder stl filesPrinted using gray PLA at 200C/60C on Creality CR6-SE15% infillI used Tree supports and a Raft (YMMV)Please support to keep prints free!https://buymeacoffee.com/portals999

www.thingiverse.com

Potensic Atom Controller Strap - Remix by portals999 by portals999

Remix of controller strap so it fits nicely with the sun shade:reduced width by 6mm so it fits perfectly with my sun shade and samsung s8+ in the Atom controller (see pics)removed corner to stop it hitting rotating base of antenna and damaging it so it now sits flush in controller (see...

www.thingiverse.com

 

[guerney]

It isn't a job I particularly want to do, but it requires a smoothly roving camera eye going between and through objects with apertures of about 4ft, in a dimly lit and comfy roomy indoor space. Not a bank. If one of the cheaper ones can do that, wonderful... if not. it'll have to be a DJI carrying a GoPro on top, with the DJI's anti-collision sensors switched off, so it doesn't refuse to fly through and between stuff. High quality footage must be ultra smooth. DJI's stablisation is reputedly the best, I may buy one which can have it's proximity sensors turned off, first. Client will pay for the DJI, I'll sell it sometime later.

GoPros are better cameras, and they have very good stabilisation:

 

[portals]

It isn't a job I particularly want to do, but it requires a smoothly roving camera eye going between and through objects with apertures of about 4ft, in a dimly lit and comfy roomy indoor space. Not a bank. If one of the cheaper ones can do that, wonderful... if not. it'll have to be a DJI carrying a GoPro on top, with the DJI's anti-collision sensors switched off, so it doesn't refuse to fly through and between stuff. High quality footage must be ultra smooth. DJI's stablisation is reputedly the best, I may buy one which can have it's proximity sensors turned off, first. Client will pay for the DJI, I'll sell it sometime later.

It sounds like you want a FPV drone not a video drone. The Atom is a GPS video drone meaning you need a GPS lock of at least 12 satellites, you can fly it indoors but only if well light and under 12ft else ToF is likely to put drone from OPTI mode to ATTI mode and you crash... ToF is also partly obstacle avoidance underneath so when you fly over anything it will jump up few inches ;-)

You will have same issue with a lot of DJI mini drones too unless you go for a FPV drone such as the DJI Avata (very expensive and big) or a cheaper video non-GPS drone like DJI Neo (small budget but less control).

GoPros are better cameras, and they have very good stabilisation:

I don't have a GoPro but can tell you the 4K video the Atom produces is stunning with excellent stabilisation from the 3-axis gimbal. Dudes have posted videos of Atoms with gopros on top and mostly the video is poor, not designed to stabilise whilst on a drone.

This was shot at dusk, change YT Quality setting to 1080, not able to upload 4K :-(

Shot around the Kelvin, again set to 1080 (no 4K available on YT)

 

[portals]

Takes not bad pics too!