Lights for a dark path.

Just off the road or off-road?

For riding allong unlit bike paths you'll probably get away with 5W halogen. For Mtn Biking at night most people will want a bit more - at least 10W and maybe a combination of bar mount & helmet mounted lights.

Of course this depends very much on your own vision.

Parbs

kanangara said:

Just off the road or off-road?

For riding allong unlit bike paths you'll probably get away with 5W halogen. For Mtn Biking at night most people will want a bit more - at least 10W and maybe a combination of bar mount & helmet mounted lights.

Of course this depends very much on your own vision.

Parbs

Well, it is a sealed bike path. However, there is the occasional pot-hole or broken bottle, and because of it’s location, there is the off chance of a stray duck or possum wondering the paths (although the bottle scenario is the most likely danger).

You think a 5W halogen light is OK? Like I said earlier it’s hard to tell in a fluorescent lit bike shop, but the 5W lights seemed pretty dull, but (part II) it would save me a few dollars.

Boring maths bit:
30 km/h equals 8.3 m/s. So I image I’d want to see a 2 or 3 seconds ahead = 16-25 meters.
So will a 5 or 10W do the trick? (I could of course slow down. 20 km/h = 10-16 meters).

I still have tucked away somewhere a 12/20w set of light which for unlit paths was not to bad. The battery pack that I made up only gave me about 2 hours though on the 12w and not much at all on the 32w setting. It also took quiet a while to charge the batteries.

I now use a Cateye Stadium that uses a 21w HID light. I dont have any trouble seeing where we are going and 99% of car drivers see us and don't pull out from side streets in front of us. It's as far as I know the brightest light available for cycling and has a 3 hour recharge time. I bought mine for $600 on ebay which is a lot cheaper than from the shops.
You get what you pay for.

Cheers

Geoff

I mountain bike with a 5W on the bars and a 10W on my helmet. Most of my time on the trail is spent with just the 5W being used. The 10W only gets turned on for technical sections where too many shadows are cast. I find just using the 5W fine.

I use the 5W when night road riding and have no issues with it. Its not the brightest but the battery time is a lot longer than the 10W.

I commute in Melb (5:30pm to 6:30pm) & use a 5wt on the 'bars & it seems plenty.
Although I've noticed that my eyes adjust to the dim light if there isn't a mega bright light giving heaps of contrast.

I prefer to use LED lights, the most recent modern ones rival and outperform incandescent lamps for brightness, and use less power so batteries will either last longer or will be lighter. Cateye's newest headlight (EL500?) uses such a LED.

My setup is a cheap white LED blinkie for visibility; this unit has 5 ultrabright white LEDs and if the batteries are fresh throws a very decent light.

The main light is a Luxeon 3W LED torch that I strapped to a quick-release fitting. This torch uses 3 AAA batteries, lasts several hours and bathes the area in front with bright light. The particular model that I have is focusable (very nice for bike riding), has a good peripheral lit area besides the bright spot, and cost me less than $20 on ebay. The batteries are 900mAh NiMH rechargables ($2 a shot from Jaycar). I recharge about once to twice a week. The blinkie's batteries (same) lasts about 2 weeks before re-charging. Also, if there is a sudden dimming of the Luxeon, I can swap the batteries between these 2 units.

The most difficult part was to mount the Luxeon torch.

You have to admit this is a lot more sensible than the multi-$100 lights that cyclists are gouged with.

jur said:

I prefer to use LED lights, the most recent modern ones rival and outperform incandescent lamps for brightness, and use less power so batteries will either last longer or will be lighter. Cateye's newest headlight (EL500?) uses such a LED.

My setup is a cheap white LED blinkie for visibility; this unit has 5 ultrabright white LEDs and if the batteries are fresh throws a very decent light.

The main light is a Luxeon 3W LED torch that I strapped to a quick-release fitting. This torch uses 3 AAA batteries, lasts several hours and bathes the area in front with bright light. The particular model that I have is focusable (very nice for bike riding), has a good peripheral lit area besides the bright spot, and cost me less than $20 on ebay. The batteries are 900mAh NiMH rechargables ($2 a shot from Jaycar). I recharge about once to twice a week. The blinkie's batteries (same) lasts about 2 weeks before re-charging. Also, if there is a sudden dimming of the Luxeon, I can swap the batteries between these 2 units.

The most difficult part was to mount the Luxeon torch.

You have to admit this is a lot more sensible than the multi-$100 lights that cyclists are gouged with.

Thanx, that's just what I was after. The search begins.....

peterlip said:

Thanx, that's just what I was after. The search begins.....

Peter, I know you posted this a while ago, but did you find your light? I've been looking as well and so far the CatEye EL500 is looking pretty good. It is $44.95 on amazon.com

- dc

I bought some aussie designed lights and very happy with them

one is a 5W halogen using a 4 cell NmH (commuting)
and the other i use when it is pitch dark 10W 5cell NmH

the great thing is the package comes with everything, helmet and bar mounts, mounts for the batteries, good quality cords and smart chargers

they are vision stick by niteflux.. 5.5 and 10

i picked the 5.5 up for $100 and the 10 for $160

they even come in a nice canvass soft wrap package

www.niteflux.com.au

I prefer them to LEDs because the halogens seem to penetrate darkness better and wider beam pattern...

I've used all sort of cateye LEDs and find they are generally only good to be seen... off course... with the double and triple shot... you are talking a different league but they are over $500

www.cateye.com

have fun shopping

do some reviewing on www.mtbr.com too

dcloud said:

Peter, I know you posted this a while ago, but did you find your light? I've been looking as well and so far the CatEye EL500 is looking pretty good. It is $44.95 on amazon.com

- dc

Yes, I did get the CatEye EL500. I got it on ebay for A$59 from the US, including delivery. On ebay Australia, they were going for around 65-75 at the time. Retail, it was $120 (i think).
Anyway, I'm using rechargeable batteries (4 x AA), and essentially ride home in the dark 2 or 3 times a week (25 minutes per day). I got it at the start of June, and have only had to recharge it twice since then. So economically it's great. About 10 minutes of the ride is in total darkness (unlit bike path), and I find the light adequate when cruising, but not quite bright enough if I turn up the pace. Above 30, if a cat or rabbit is on the path there is not quite enough time to stop, but I've managed to avoid running anything over. Having said that, I'm not well known for my good eyesight.
Also, the beam is quite narrow, so for the occasional corner, I am practically in the dark.
Aside from that, I'm quite happy with it. On the road, it's bright enough to be seen, although it would've been nice if it flashed.
Oh yeah, one more thing, I had to get another bracket. My handlebars are 32mm, so I picked up a "H-31 Oversize Bracket" from my LBS which was around $4.00 (from memory).

Have a look at the Princeton Tec Eos Bike light. It's a 1 Watt LED that can either be used as a normal headlight, handlebar mount, or mounted to your helmet. It's the best I've seen from any of the outdoor brands that make the headlights, e.g. Petzl's Tikka/XP, Black Diamond's Spot.

http://www.princetontec.com/products/index.php?id=37&type=0&use=4

jur said:

I prefer to use LED lights, the most recent modern ones rival and outperform incandescent lamps for brightness, and use less power so batteries will either last longer or will be lighter. Cateye's newest headlight (EL500?) uses such a LED.

I'll add my 2c and experience on this. Last year I was using a 10W Niteflux for road commuting. A good, well constructed unit that won't break the bank (~$150). After a lot of charge cycles the battery packed it in. The battery was good for a 1.5hour burn time and required an 8hour charge cycle. I felt 10W was probably more than I needed in lit areas but, areas without lighting it was the minimum I felt comfortable on, which includes a few unlit bike paths that form part of my commute.

I went to my LBS to discuss replacing the battery (which are readily available). They were happy to sell me one, but also made a strong recommendation on:

http://vetta.com/Product_Lights_MicroLux.htm

At about $150 (compared to $85 for the new battery) for a LED lighting system and comparing to other similar products I felt it was good value. It runs in two modes and the burn times quoted for the 4xAA batteries got me very interested. I bought one, and will say that I'm very very satisfied with the product. I've been using for a little over a month thus far which means I've been burning for over 15 hours and as yet haven't changed the original batteries. The two modes are great, probably the equivalent of 5W halogen on the low setting and 10W on the high setting. Perfect for running on low in lit areas and ramping to high for unlit areas. So apart from the fact the unit hasn't been designed to look particularly nice (like the Niteflux) or doesn't appear overly robust, and doesn't have a flashing mode I'd strongly recommend looking at one. While it might not look robust to be fair I've ridded it in some horrible conditions over the past month and it's still going, so maybe the looks are deceiving.

--brett

Here's an idea for mounting a torch to your handlebars using a silicon wristband: eg Livestrong
instructables.comE6XNVE9MYKEP4HD9XXOpen ↗