+1 for Exposure lights and V8 pedals.
Specifically, Iāve got a Sirius MK8 DayBright (front) and TraceR MK2 ReAKT (rear) bought in a bundle pair from Wiggle (and having checked just now, it seems thereās apparently a perma-deal on that pairing). Have without question been given noticably more room by cars after upgrading from some cheapo USB LED jobbers that I thought were half-decent up until upgrading. The brightness of the front light is such that I generally use it in most daytime conditions that arenāt full, bright, daylight sun (i.e. when itās even slightly overcast, rather than yer actual dawn/dusk/night time). I reckon the ReAKT feature is particularly valuable (i.e. reacting to when you brake, kinda like a carās light would, so your speed changes are comprehended at a glance by motorists in the same way theyād notice a motor vehicle slowing down) (although I havenāt ridden behind it to see it in action for real, first-hand, to make a fully informed personal judgement). Lovely product design too. If I were buying again and money were tighter, Iād defo just stick with that brand and downgrade slightly. If equivalent features are available on other brands for a comparable price, fair enough, but that didnāt seem to be the case when I was looking into things ~three years ago.
Despite having logged plenty of kms with Look Keo pedals without any complaint whatsoever, I not-so-secretly suspect that clip in pedals are effectively snake oil for keeping up appearances for any sort of general riding that doesnāt fall firmly and absolutely into the category of ātrainingā or ācompetingā, rather than any sort of leisure or urban usage. And flats kinda bring back the feeling of my hop-on-hop-off-wherever-whenever BMX days, so thereās that, too.
