Recommend a light

Mark Burch said:

What lights would you recommend for a road bike?

I'm thinking of riding long distances at night on major and minor
roads and possibly taking part in a long distance event that includes
riding through most or all of the night.

Summer or winter night? (Big difference in number of hours there).

Quoted message said:

They would only be used
occationally. Weight, reliability and brightness are more important
for my needs than economy.

Main battery could be conserved if some of the roads are lit by using a
small "be seen by" LED light. Then two Lumicycle halogen lamps (5W + 12W
spots) with a Li-Ion battery would fit the bill nicely if the run times
are sufficient (see website; NiMh run times also apply to Li-Ion).
Perhaps an alternative or extra battery, or powerful LED lamp, would be
needed for ultra-long run times though.

~PB

Mark Burch said:

What lights would you recommend for a road bike?

I'm thinking of riding long distances at night on major and minor roads and
possibly taking part in a long distance event that includes riding through
most or all of the night. They would only be used occationally. Weight,
reliability and brightness are more important for my needs than economy.

Mark Burch

Try the new U.S.E LED lights. The Enduro version lasts from 5.5 - 16
hrs depending on output setting, weighs 275g and costs £325. Brightness
on full power is claimed to be equivalent to a 35W halogen.

http://www.exposurelights.com/

Tony

"Mark Burch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What lights would you recommend for a road bike?

I'm thinking of riding long distances at night on major and minor roads

and

Quoted message said:

possibly taking part in a long distance event that includes riding through
most or all of the night. They would only be used occationally. Weight,
reliability and brightness are more important for my needs than economy.

The bit about making it all the way through the night is the one which
hurts - most of the high power battery systems won't last that long.
Lumicycle with a 5 watt bulb is claimed to last 8.5 hours. Note a 3 watt
light with proper optics will probably be as good as this, ie you've got not
brightness gains over a decent dynamo system.

It's a hard question. My stock answer would be a SON, probably with two
front lamps - fits on reliability and run time, brightness will probably be
enough for road riding (little squiggly country roads with [censored] on the
surface is where you may want more - I stick to bigger roads at night),
weight is less than eg a lumicycle NiMH batery pack, but doesn't necessarily
fit your 'occasionally' criterium.

By 'road' bike do you mean bike used on the road, or a lightweight stripped
down racing machine? If the latter, then you probably want to be able to
remove/refit lights if you only use them occasionally, which in practice
means a battery system.

So you want something like a posh LED system (not to be confused with the
cheapish commonly available ones). Solidlights claim 10 hours off their 1303
working at 1W (minimum). Carry a spare battery (not very heavy) and you've
got something suitable.

cheers,
clive

Mark Burch said:

What lights would you recommend for a road bike?

I'm thinking of riding long distances at night on major and minor roads and
possibly taking part in a long distance event that includes riding through
most or all of the night. They would only be used occationally. Weight,
reliability and brightness are more important for my needs than economy.

A SON with 2 lights in 12V mode. I have that and don't hesitate to
recommend it.

--chris

On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 14:13:24 -0000, "Mark Burch"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

I'm thinking of riding long distances at night on major and minor roads and
possibly taking part in a long distance event that includes riding through
most or all of the night.

That indicates to me that a dynamo system is likely to be what you
need. It's not that rechargeable systems can't be made to last all
night, but you really don't want the worry.

Here is the Audax UK lighting page:
http://www.audax.uk.net/lights/index.htm

Riding all night is not uncommon on longer randonees, so those guys
know their stuff.

I use a SON on the recumbent and a Nexus on the tourer.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

in message <[email hidden]>, Mark Burch

(') said:

What lights would you recommend for a road bike?

I'm thinking of riding long distances at night on major and minor
roads and possibly taking part in a long distance event that includes
riding through most or all of the night.

On or off road? If on-road, you have to go for a dynamo, ideally a hub
dynamo, ideally (if you can afford it) a SON. The advantage of a dynamo
is there is no battery to run out so it will keep going as long as you
do, and the faster you go, the brighter the light. A front dynamo light
will be far more reliable than any other system. While the dynamo will
be designed to power a back light as well, rear LED lamps are now so
effective and long-lasting that I'm not sure it's worth the bother of
wiring a rear dynamo light.

If off road it's more tricky, because off road you often want a lot of
light when you're going very slowly so a dynamo isn't a lot of use.
Halogen type battery lights will last a couple of hours at best. This
is OK if you are doing multi-lap events where you can pick up a charged
battery on a pit-stop, but no use if you can't. There are new ultra
high power LED lights on the market this year which offer good
illumination with much longer run times. One of the developers of these
posts here from time to time. In either case you need good battery
technology - either nickel metal hydride or lithium ion - and
appropriate chargers.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Women are from Venus. Men are from Mars. Lusers are from Uranus.

Mark Burch said:

What lights would you recommend for a road bike?

I'm thinking of riding long distances at night on major and minor roads and
possibly taking part in a long distance event that includes riding through
most or all of the night. They would only be used occationally. Weight,
reliability and brightness are more important for my needs than economy.

Dynamo (B&M 6 is cheap; Shimano dynamo hub moderate; Schmidt dynamo hub
expensive) plus a Schmidt E6 front lamp. Use a Cateye TL-AU100BS or
TL-LD260BS at the rear.

Simon Brooke said:

The advantage of a dynamo
is there is no battery to run out so it will keep going as long as you
do, and the faster you go, the brighter the light.

Only up to about 10mph. Then you hit the lamp's voltage limiter (and in
any case the output of a dynamo drops quickly above its rated speed,
which is essential for cheapo lamps without a voltage limiter).

In article said:

Mark Burch said:

What lights would you recommend for a road bike?

I'm thinking of riding long distances at night on major and minor roads and
possibly taking part in a long distance event that includes riding through
most or all of the night. They would only be used occationally. Weight,
reliability and brightness are more important for my needs than economy.

Try the new U.S.E LED lights. The Enduro version lasts from 5.5 - 16
hrs depending on output setting, weighs 275g and costs £325. Brightness
on full power is claimed to be equivalent to a 35W halogen.

http://www.exposurelights.com/

Though apparently the full power doesn't last for the full battery life.
http://lists.topica.com/lists/bikecurrent/read/message.html?mid=810190263
(The reason Chris says "Many of you will realise that I'm not entirely
impartial in all this" is that he is http://www.solidlights.co.uk/,
which the original poster might also want to consider.)

Alan Braggins [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

Though apparently the full power doesn't last for the full battery life.
http://lists.topica.com/lists/bikecurrent/read/message.html?mid=810190263
(The reason Chris says "Many of you will realise that I'm not entirely
impartial in all this" is that he is http://www.solidlights.co.uk/,
which the original poster might also want to consider.)

Which I would recommend without using them for the simple reason that
Chris was helpful well beyond the call of duty when I was building my
homebrew LED lights.

Jon (The blatently not-impartial!)

Just zis Guy, you know? [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

I use a SON on the recumbent and a Nexus on the tourer.

Is there a noticeable difference between the SON and the Nexus? Is it in
the order of the price difference?

Jon

On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 00:51:22 -0000, Jon Senior
<jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I use a SON on the recumbent and a Nexus on the tourer.

Quoted message said:

Is there a noticeable difference between the SON and the Nexus? Is it in
the order of the price difference?

Yes and no respectively :-)

The SON really is very good indeed, though, and with the 12V wiring
arrangement probably does justify the price, actually. It has sealed
bearings and other refinements, but there is a new Nexus and Shimano
rarely rest on their laurels, so I think either is a sound choice.

If I were equipping another large-wheel bike I really don't know which
I would buy. I don't think I'd be disappointed in either case.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

in message <[email hidden]>, Jon Senior

jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk ('') said:

Just zis Guy, you know? [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

I use a SON on the recumbent and a Nexus on the tourer.

Is there a noticeable difference between the SON and the Nexus? Is it
in the order of the price difference?

According to the test published here
<URL:http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/dynotest.html>
the drag of the Nexus when the light is not switched on is higher than
when it is. The drag of the two hubs when the lights are on is similar;
the drag of the SON when the lights are off is very low indeed.

Having said that Juliette has a Nexus and does not report noticeable
drag.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; MS Windows: A thirty-two bit extension ... to a sixteen bit
;; patch to an eight bit operating system originally coded for a
;; four bit microprocessor and sold by a two-bit company that
;; can't stand one bit of competition -- anonymous

On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 00:51:22 -0000, Jon Senior

jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk said:

Just zis Guy, you know? [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

I use a SON on the recumbent and a Nexus on the tourer.

Is there a noticeable difference between the SON and the Nexus? Is it in
the order of the price difference?

The Nexus hubdynamos are excellent, imo.

You can get the older NX-30 for 36 euros from Germany [I've had two of
these from them], or the newer 3N-70 for 66 euros.

http://tinyurl.com/6yvjt

Or you could get it from Wiggle for 62 ukp, or still better, for 65ukp
from SJS!

Garry

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Jon Senior

jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk ('') said:

Just zis Guy, you know? [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

I use a SON on the recumbent and a Nexus on the tourer.

Is there a noticeable difference between the SON and the Nexus? Is it
in the order of the price difference?

According to the test published here
<URL:http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/dynotest.html>
the drag of the Nexus when the light is not switched on is higher than
when it is. The drag of the two hubs when the lights are on is
similar; the drag of the SON when the lights are off is very low
indeed.

AFAIK, the above data was from the old model Nexus, not the new one which
appeared this year. Therefore, assuming the new to be the same as the old
would be a mistake.

- Nigel

--
NC - Webmaster for http://www.2mm.org.uk/
Replies to newsgroup postings to the newsgroup please.

On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 16:17:03 -0000, "NC" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

the drag of the Nexus when the light is not switched on is higher than
when it is. The drag of the two hubs when the lights are on is
similar; the drag of the SON when the lights are off is very low
indeed.

Quoted message said:

AFAIK, the above data was from the old model Nexus, not the new one which
appeared this year. Therefore, assuming the new to be the same as the old
would be a mistake.

I think it's actually older even than that: Myra's review describes
what I think is a first generation version, mine is the
second-generation, and this year's is a third generation. Or at least
that's how it seems to me. Mine definitely does not drag more when it
is off.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 00:51:22 -0000, Jon Senior
<jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I use a SON on the recumbent and a Nexus on the tourer.

Quoted message said:

Is there a noticeable difference between the SON and the Nexus? Is it in
the order of the price difference?

Yes and no respectively :-)

The SON really is very good indeed, though, and with the 12V wiring
arrangement probably does justify the price, actually. It has sealed
bearings and other refinements, but there is a new Nexus and Shimano
rarely rest on their laurels, so I think either is a sound choice.

Has anybody tried the shimano hub with the same 12V lighting? I suspect it
may well work. (I know it happily delivers > 8V).

cheers,
clive

Just zis Guy, you know? [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

Yes and no respectively :-)

The SON really is very good indeed, though, and with the 12V wiring
arrangement probably does justify the price, actually. It has sealed
bearings and other refinements, but there is a new Nexus and Shimano
rarely rest on their laurels, so I think either is a sound choice.

If I were equipping another large-wheel bike I really don't know which
I would buy. I don't think I'd be disappointed in either case.

Ahh. Not something I had thought of but, "large-wheel bike". Can I
assume that the Shimano hubs are not suited to 20" wheels (I know SON
make a different one for them.)? What is the difference between the
SON28 and the SON20?

I'm tempted to fit dynohubs to the fixer (Winter hack) and the 'bent
(Tourer), so I'd be looking at one of each size. I guess the cheaper one
would be nice for the hack bike since it rarely gets ridden more than 10
miles or so in any one ride.

Jon

In article said:

Alan Braggins [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

Though apparently the full power doesn't last for the full battery life.
http://lists.topica.com/lists/bikecurrent/read/message.html?mid=810190263
(The reason Chris says "Many of you will realise that I'm not entirely
impartial in all this" is that he is http://www.solidlights.co.uk/,
which the original poster might also want to consider.)

Which I would recommend without using them for the simple reason that
Chris was helpful well beyond the call of duty when I was building my
homebrew LED lights.

I've used one, and I'd recommend them to anyone prepared to pay that much
money for commuting bike lights. Sadly I don't have that money spare, and
have to give the one I borrowed back now.
(I'm not qualified to comment on off-road usage.)