An amazing brake/turn/running tailight for bikes!

[Sgt. Howard]

Go to Meritline.com and look at their 14 LED bicycle indicator light unit. Runs on two penlight batteries and will mount on any bicycle in minutes. $7 each. I do not lie, $7 each! $6.50 if you buy two at a go (two pack option). I goobered my order and now have four. As I have four motorbikes built, I shall not complain- I will probably buy more anyway.
There are no instructions... given the company name of JING YI, I'm not sure instructions would have been very useful anyways. The light unit clamps to the post underneath your seat. A control unit goes on your handlebars- I put it to the left grip just upstream of the clutch handle. Then there is this wierd plastic minuature concertina-shaped greeblie on a light black double-lead wire- this is the brakelight switch. This is squeeze activated by the cable of a brake- like the space between adjustment cup and the lock-down on a side-pull caliper. Take apart the cable attatchment of the lockdown- hopefully, the end of your cable isn't all frowsey. Thread the widjit (I decree that to be the OFFICIAL name of the device) onto the brake cable with the set screw of the widjit towards the end of the cable. ReClamp the lock-down and adjust your brake to function. Very likely the squeeze between the cup and lock-down should be sufficiant to activate your light- if not, use the set screw to cover the slack. The control box has a slide for left/right turns, a switch for tail light (8 different light patterns including full on) and a push button for a peizio horn!
There is enough wire to hang the light from the seatpost, but in time I will splice in enough wire to hang it off the rear fender- THEN we shall see how durable these things are. The control box flashes a left/right light when you use the turn signal, but it is insufficiant to signal oncoming traffic... at most it lets you know it's going. It also has a peizio 'chirp' with each blink, again to get your attention. I will eventually splice front LED ambers into the system for that purpose. There's an interesting selection of songs/annoying noises that the 'horn' comes off with, but nothing loud enough to get the attention of a stoner vegging out on rap at 80 decibles while driving his de-tuned Gremlin... certainly enough to let the cute blond with the short skirt walking down the sidewalk know you are looking at her...
Turning the running light (tail light) on, you will find that you have to cycle the switch 'off' 'on' eight times to SHUT IT OFF as the on/off switch actually selects the rear light pattern... odd way to do buisness, but it does work. Turn signal and brakes are on once the batteries are in place- they activate as needed. With a minor amount of fuss, this set has great potential for a minimal expenditure- I consider it worth the risk.
the Old Sgt.

[Al.Fisherman]

If you ride at night, these are good. You can be seen better. My son had them on his bike as he came home at 3am.

http://www.meritline.com/led-flash-v...--p-62720.aspx

http://www.meritline.com/tire-light-blue---p-42332.aspx

As far as the above post they are a little flimsily but do work well. Had a set from China Mart down the street. Don't remember the cost. Might want to check.

[Sgt. Howard]

Two of the four units do not work- one has no running lights the other no turn signal. I will see what their policy is here and let you know how well they abide by it.
the Old Sgt.

[Sgt. Howard]

OK- the turn signal switch is tricky at best when the motor is running. One good burst of EMP from the motor and the taillight will revert to solid light pattern regardless of where you had it set. The system does NOT like rain. It is fragile.
On the good side- the brake light is reliable, all lights very visible and it is bloody cheap.
All in all, I'm calling this a learning experiance and NOT recomending it to others.
the Old Sgt.

[toojung2die]

I've had one of these on my bike for about a year. It's junk but with a little help from my soldering iron it has pretty much held together. I replaced the spark plug wire with a Magnacore from SBP and that solved the EMI problem with the rear flasher. The solder joints on this are very poor. Retouch every connection, especially the LED connections. Vibration will kill these in no time.

Order at least two to get one that works out of the box. I'd gladly pay 4X what these cost for a more reliable unit with the same features. Like the Old Sgt. said, they're fragile but at least the brake light seems to work reliably.