Should all cyclists use action cameras? Have your say

Strobe lighting can be very dangerous, plus you would also need a bigger battery. 

brooksby wrote:

Are front facing and rear facing cameras different beasts, then?

Leaving aside the integrated light type, which are obviously specific, they'll sometimes be specifically designed to mount either front (bars or computer mount) or rear (seatpost). Not all though.

brooksby wrote:

I'm wondering if I ought to just bite the bullet...

A chilli bullet?

Just comes down to the mount really for rear or front. If you have a rack, then you have more options about where you can put it.

Plus for the back, as the seat post is typically used, it can be a light/camera combo.

Some discussions in the forums - I'll have a look later.

edit - stuggling a bit with the search facility (!) but there are a few references here
https://road.cc/content/forum/perfect-front-and-rear-cycle-camera-can-yo...

The cheapest one to try out is the chilli bullet

Intrinsically there is no a difference between forward and reverse facing cameras, other than you are capturing different angles and it's a judgement call about which is best, but it's also down to camera make & model, a GoPro will happily swap between front and rear positions, but the Cycliq 6 only fits rear facing and has substantially less battery power than the Cycliq 12 which could be made to sit rear with the right mountings.

My Fy12 (2nd Gen) has their poxy 4-lug mounting system on it.
You can get a 4-lug to action cam mount - the one from Cycliq is alright, but not brilliant. There's a bit of a design flaw where the collar mets the action cam mount; the material is too thin and after a while suffers from stress fractures (I had two go like it).
I brought a load of Garmin 1/4 turn 2-lug self adhesive male fittings and glued one to the other side of the Fly12 - so I have two mounting options on the same camera.
The 1/4 turn 2-lug mount has a wider range of female connectors, including brackets that mount under the seat on the seat rails (like the Garmin Varia mount); the Garmin mount also makes it easier to use on the handlebars.

If you stick a Garmin mount to the Fly12, and use it on a seat rails mount, you could easily have enough room for a rear light on the stem; if you us a rack you could place it directly on the rack using an action cam mount.

The only thing about using the '12 rearwards it to remember to turn off the light in the software, that way you are not showing a white light to the rear (unless you put a red filter over the light bit of the facing).

When I actually submitted footage, I discovered that the important bit of the close pass happens in between the handlebar and the seat post - no video of how close to my legs the guy was, the police went with "well judged 6" off your back wheel" until I pointed out that 1.5metres was mentioned somewhere recently.

Some even have 3 camera's.. front, rear and side view; and if they get a lot of good 'events', some set up a utube channel and shame the miscreants.

Xenophon2 wrote:

Looking at it from the EU side, I can't help but be amazed at the extent to which public life in the UK has become 'weaponized', with cyclists installing camera's seemingly with the sole objective of being able to send footage of (real or perceived) infractions by vehicle users to the police.    Do you guys alsways feel like if you're going to war when walking out the door?  

It can feel like that sometimes commuting in a big city, because there is a tiny but significant proportion of motorists - I'd say about 0.3% - who take pleasure in deliberately driving dangerously around cyclists, harrassing and intimidating them. The alternative to carrying a camera is what, to just shrug and say that's life and let them carry on with their reckless and dangerous behaviours until they inevitably kill or seriously injure someone? I don't carry a camera with the sole, or even main, objective of reporting people, I started using one to protect myself after that guy lost virtually everything he had paying compensation to the woman (yoga teacher?) who walked in front of him whilst looking at her 'phone as he rode through a green light. I only report drivers who either deliberately risk causing accidents or who drive so recklessly that they represent a severe danger to themselves and the public. Your comment reveals just how much there is a perception that somehow the roads are different to the rest of society: if thugs were roaming the streets and pushing people off the pavement because they were in their way and breaking numerous laws, you'd probably intervene or inform the police, put the thugs in a car and suddenly reporting them is, for some unfathomable reason, unreasonable and wrong. 

His incident had two elements. He failed to get proper representation to make a counter claim which would have limited costs to 30k. He also did not take care at the lights - green does not mean go regardless and he could have and should have done more to avoid the collision not just shout for people to get out the way. It was 50/50 liability in the end, but he got sunk on the costs element.

I got a camera after the final straw of a close pass by a small van driver who then about 50m further on managed to go off the road on to verge (no kerbs). I felt I had a a very lucky escape there.

Yes, I didn't mean particularly that he was entirely innocent, just that it was that incident and the outcome that made me more aware of the consequences one might suffer and so the utility of having camera evidence to show what one had or hadn't done. I joined British Cycling for the third party  liability insurance at the same time and for the same reason.

By all means film and report dangerous driving infractions but engaging in road rage, including yelling 'I've got you on camera', etc., is highly inadvisable.

Do you guys alsways feel like if you're going to war when walking out the door?

No, only when we cycle.
Cycling in France was a revelation to me, it is actually possible for motorists to drive without endangering cyclists.

If I go back to Paris after a long time away, on the first few rides I keep looking around to see where the police car is because I'm thinking surely they can't all be being this polite without somebody watching them?

For a start, the dash cam came first and is used by far more drivers than cyclists use cameras.

Then you have police portals aimed at acepting submissions.

I got a camera because drivers 'weaponized' their vehicle to put me at risk of injury. There are so few traffic officers around that unless there are real consequences for drivers, there is no incentive to drive with the level of care required.

Xenophon2 wrote:

Do you guys alsways feel like if you're going to war when walking out the door?

No - it's a war on the motorist.  Or "yes" because the government / road organisations / the motoring lobby / much public opinion thinks we should put on uniform (hi-vis) and helmet for our safety whenever we go out.

Xenophon2 wrote:

That's like bare handedly attacking a robber holding a sawn-off shotgun telling you to hand over the tenner in  your wallet.  It escalated an already very tense situation.

Because they'd already been hit I'd say it's more like someone carelessly dropped something on your head from a window and then given a half-hearted explanation in their defence and you've then kicked their fence.  Yes, they could throw something at you again but a) you're alert now and b) mostly we don't assume others are psychos.  Unfortunately this guy was.

I wouldnt say it feels like going to war, I just want to be left alone and ride my bike in peace, even with a camera. But it does feel like every time I ride I'm putting my life at risk on the roads, in a way no other activity i do does.

I got a camera after 2 nasty incidents where people drove their vehicles with actual intent to harm me, to knock me off my bike, they missed fortunately else I'd I'd probably not be here to discuss it anymore, but without video evidence and I was so shook up by it I couldnt even recall details of the vehicles let alone registration plates, the police could do nothing.

Now I dont ride at all without a camera, even though I dont think it actually has any effect, drivers arent driving thinking I'm carrying a camera, and it's even less impactful because the police no longer take any action from the footage, so what's the point, other than it will be a record if the inevitable happens and I'm not around to provide that evidence verbally anymore.

And I dont submit perceived infractions, I submit stuff that are things where I fear imminent collision or must take action to avoid it.

I'm in London so might be different but professional drivers are definitely better behaved when the rear camera is on the bike...

Yes, absolutely

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Calm down. Grow up. Get a life.

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Oh, and ha a read of 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. Sorely needed in your case.

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Surprising being as you have used similar language about drivers in the past. Is your problem down to him using "grown-up" swearing and not the fake "ooer, if I say For Coffee, it sound like I'm swearing but mum can't tell me off" when you post?