Lights

onekgguy said:

I'd like to purchase a light for when the days get shorter. What are some things to consider when buying a light? I think I'd prefer a helmet mounted light over a bike mounted one. Obviously the brighter the better but what are some specs to begin with? Halogen? Watts? Price? If you have any do's and dont's I'd like to hear them. Thank you.

Lets have a little more info. How long will your night rides be? Where will your night rides be (road,dirt)? I have a little bit of everything(i7.photobucket.comGroup.jpgOpen ↗), if you give me more info I will gladly make a recommendation.

A couple of things I don't like.
1) Integrated batteries. I don't like any system that has the batteries built in. I like the option of carrying a spare. If you forget to charge them your screwed.

2) Helmet mounted. This goes against the current trend. I tried for a week and don't like it. Everything looks flat. Having the source of light further away from you eyes makes the shadows more visible and thus more accurately showing the texture of what your riding on. Using both is ideal but if I ride with just one its on the bars.

Checkout the Lightrider

Very innovative and increases the chances of you being seen I would think.

Its available in the UK and I've seen it listed on some European websites too. Not sure about the US or elsewhere but sure it can be posted!

thry're not in style now, but i think generator lights are the best. they are cheaper in the long (and short) run, you don't need to worry about charging or buying batteries, and they are enviromentally friendly. a decent one throws a good beam in front as well as lights up the back.
the main drawback is that they do slow you down a very little bit. however, if you think about it, traveling by night demands a slower speed for safety anyway. if you race, you can dismount it on your race day.

onekgguy said:

I'd like to purchase a light for when the days get shorter. What are some things to consider when buying a light? I think I'd prefer a helmet mounted light over a bike mounted one. Obviously the brighter the better but what are some specs to begin with? Halogen? Watts? Price? If you have any do's and dont's I'd like to hear them. Thank you.

The best LED lights are very bright, more reliable than bulbs and give you much longer battery life. Look at the Cateye 'opticube' front lamps.
Make sure that whatever you use covers your legal requirements. Probably a helmet-mounted light won't.

I anticipate beginning the rides in daylight and finishing in the dark, meaning that I may need two hours of supplemental lighting. I'm strictly a road biker riding an 8 foot shoulder. I'm surprised to hear that the bar mount is preferred over the helmet mount. That's good to know because my initial thought was that the helmet mount would be better because it would shine the light where I'm looking. I think the one big advantage in having a helmet mount would be when changing a flat in the dark.

I was came across this site which shows comparisons between HID and non HID lights. I think it would be worth the extra money to go with an HID light.

Any suggestions about rear lights would also be appreciated.

Thanks.

Kevin

onekgguy said:

I anticipate beginning the rides in daylight and finishing in the dark, meaning that I may need two hours of supplemental lighting. I'm strictly a road biker riding an 8 foot shoulder. I'm surprised to hear that the bar mount is preferred over the helmet mount. That's good to know because my initial thought was that the helmet mount would be better because it would shine the light where I'm looking. I think the one big advantage in having a helmet mount would be when changing a flat in the dark.

I was came across this site which shows comparisons between HID and non HID lights. I think it would be worth the extra money to go with an HID light.

Any suggestions about rear lights would also be appreciated.

Thanks.

Kevin

Make sure that what you choose is legal. Don't guess this, it isn't intuitive. But also make sure it is good. Legal and good are not the same. Should be, but not. Helmet-mounted light probably won't fit the bill.
The purpose of lights is so that you can be seen rather than you can see where you are going. Have more than one rear light so that motorists will recognise you as a three dimensional object, otherwise they just try to avoid hitting your light rather than giving you useful room when they overtake.
Riding through dusk is the most dangerous time of day. JUST BE SEEN!!!

philso said:

thry're not in style now, but i think generator lights are the best. they are cheaper in the long (and short) run, you don't need to worry about charging or buying batteries, and they are enviromentally friendly. a decent one throws a good beam in front as well as lights up the back.
the main drawback is that they do slow you down a very little bit. however, if you think about it, traveling by night demands a slower speed for safety anyway. if you race, you can dismount it on your race day.

i agree. i use hub dynamos on both of my bikes. you can feel no drag at all. sometimes i wonder why i just don't wire the lights direct without the switch. i use one of those shimano light sensitive switches & the lights come on automatically at dusk. an awesome system. i used to have one of those h.i.d. systems on my mountain bike. the brightest system you ever knew with the best burn time of any system. about 4 hours. i actually sold it. as far as i'm concerned, it was major overkill. it lit up the parks, people's houses, blinded motorists, ect. total overkill. a lot of wasted light. the beam was very poor as it just shined everywhere. oh it lit up the road like nothing else, but also everything else in the process. i guess i don't need a light on my bike that's as bright as a car's headlamps! the hub dynamo system thows a bright beam where you need it only & does not waste any light elsewhere. i love to ride long at night & sometimes even with that long burn time, i wound up running out of power. i used the money from the h.i.d. system to buy a hub dynamo & love it. i love the freedom of always not having to re-charge it--a major pain in the ass. also, the h.i.d. system had trouble with it's charger, & to replace the h.i.d. bulb, it's very costly. the connectors were somewhat troublesome too. i love the freedom of generating my own power, & the hub systems are very bright at a very slow speed which is amazing. please be aware, not all dynamo systems are equal. i once had an old bike with a bottle dynamo system & you had to be going around 10 mph before the light was at it's brightest. the hub system is fully bright at approx 6 mph with no noticable drag & noise...

This is some very good information...just one problem...my wife just told me that she would rather I didn't ride at night. It didn't help that my daughter also agreed with her. They're worried about my visibility to drivers. I don't know that I can win this one or that I really want to make it an issue as my wife is very good otherwise about my riding.

What are some of your thoughts about the dangers of night riding? Thanks again for you input.

Kevin

onekgguy said:

This is some very good information...just one problem...my wife just told me that she would rather I didn't ride at night. It didn't help that my daughter also agreed with her. They're worried about my visibility to drivers. I don't know that I can win this one or that I really want to make it an issue as my wife is very good otherwise about my riding.

What are some of your thoughts about the dangers of night riding? Thanks again for you input.

Kevin

to tell ya the truth, i love riding at night. it's cooler & less idiots on the road. it's very peacefull too. i have front & rear dynamo powered lights that come on automatically at dusk. my lights have a standlight feature so when i stop, they store charge & the led rear tailight stays on. the front light has a yellow led that comes on when i stop when the halogen bulb goes out. cars see me very well at night--better than in daylight i think. i wear light clothes & i have reflectors all over my bike. i'm very visible at night. what angers me is when i see some idiot at night with black clothes on, riding with no reflectors & lights on his bike. that's just stupid & someday they will pay a price for that....

onekgguy said:

This is some very good information...just one problem...my wife just told me that she would rather I didn't ride at night. It didn't help that my daughter also agreed with her. They're worried about my visibility to drivers. I don't know that I can win this one or that I really want to make it an issue as my wife is very good otherwise about my riding.

What are some of your thoughts about the dangers of night riding? Thanks again for you input.

Kevin

The real danger is in between daylight and night. Lately I have been waiting an extra half hour or so until its completely dark to go riding. Lights are more effective once the sun is completely gone.
With the right equipment night riding plenty safe and very much fun. Have the wife drive behind you so she can see how visible you are.

onekgguy said:

Any suggestions about rear lights would also be appreciated.

Thanks.

Kevin

Go bright. This is the wrong place to be dazzled with long run times and low cost. Go to your LBS and get the brightest thing he/she has. Price and run time is secondary. You want cars to see you long before their headlights hit you.

i have the Nightrider HID setups. I have one on my helmet (put the battery pack in my jersy pocket) and 1 on my handlebar which uses a waterbottle shaped batery. They are pretty much the brightest out there and work great. Battery life is around 4-5hrs depending on the outside temp.

nightrider link

I agree that if properly lit up, your night-time visibility to cars is better than daytime, and that dawn/dusk is probably the worst. Several suggestions to keep from being unseen:
* get a red LED strobe for the back of your helmet (I clip it over a loop of webbing run through the slots in the helmet). This puts it much higher than a seat post rear light, and your head movement makes it clear you are a cyclist. It also has good side visibility if you choose a light with that in mind. I use this even in daylight.
* light clothes, or reflective vest (I use yellow or light orange shirts)
* reflective and/or battery operated strobe band for one or both ankles: again, makes it clear you are a cyclist due to its motion, and has good side visibility. (side visibility is hardest to achieve)
* front light that is also shows light on the sides. The Catseye Opticube mentioned in an earlier post has a little light panel on each side and is fairly good for this. It is not the brightest light, and if you have no streetlights to help, it is too weak to give a view of the road far ahead, but I have no doubt it is sufficiently seen by cars. It is very light, and batteries last a long time due to the LED. My only gripe is, it has no strobe setting.

I think strobes are a tremendous help to be sure you are noticed (and the batteries last much longer). And, when I used a Nightrider front light, I used its strobe feature at dawn/dusk, when all I care about is to be seen, not for me to see the road. I gave up on the Nightrider though, as the battery was pretty heavy, and it died after one year, costing $100 to replace. I'd still recommend it if you have no streetlight help to see the road.

I know this setup makes me look a little like a Mardi-Gras float, but drivers can see me, and that makes the commute much safer.

Chero

the first half hour or so of my ride is now before sunrise. the roads I ride (mostly) have streetlights. I was more concerned about being seen by cars than seeing. I bought a set of front and rear blinking ("disco"😉 lights for about $20, red clipped onto my saddle bag and white for the front clipped onto a the handlebar. It allows me to be seen by traffic. Batteries (2 AAAs each) are supposedly good for 200 hours.

Disadvantage is I cannot see the road as well in the less well lighted areas, so road hazards are a bit of a concern.

onekgguy said:

I'd like to purchase a light for when the days get shorter. What are some things to consider when buying a light? I think I'd prefer a helmet mounted light over a bike mounted one. Obviously the brighter the better but what are some specs to begin with? Halogen? Watts? Price? If you have any do's and dont's I'd like to hear them. Thank you.

Rideastrong said:

i have the Nightrider HID setups. I have one on my helmet (put the battery pack in my jersy pocket) and 1 on my handlebar which uses a waterbottle shaped batery. They are pretty much the brightest out there and work great. Battery life is around 4-5hrs depending on the outside temp.

nightrider link

i used to have the niterider blowtorch hid system on my mountain bike, but i sold it. ya, it's easily the brightest light available, but the problem i had with it was the beam was so powerful, it just shined everywhere. motorists would shout to me "does that thing have a low beam" when i would ride through dark parks at night, it lit up the whole park! i just think it's major overkill for a bicycle. more for a motorcycle i think, but everybody has their opinion. to each his own. another thing that sucked is that i love to ride long distance at night, & it usually would start to dim out on my way home from the long trip. i had a secondary generator light on the bike too & always winded up engaging it after the hid petered out. when i got home, it's usually at night or early morning, & i always had to wake up in the middle of the night or early morning to disconnect the charger after it's charged. my fast charger charged it up in 2 hours. i just found that a pain in the ass. the hub generator systems work out good for me. i ride on the darkest country roads, through the off road windy bicycle paths through dark parks & i have no problem seeing even though the wattage is nowhere the hid systems, & the best thing is i never have to worry about "power outages" on even the longest trips.....

Rideastrong said:

i have the Nightrider HID setups. I have one on my helmet (put the battery pack in my jersy pocket) and 1 on my handlebar which uses a waterbottle shaped batery. They are pretty much the brightest out there and work great. Battery life is around 4-5hrs depending on the outside temp.

nightrider link

wow! wait a minute, you have 2 hid systems!? i didn't catch this before. i bet motorists on the road hate you! out of curiosity, why do you need 2 hid systems? i mean 1 is as bright as the sun & blinds everybody on the road, but 2? does your local city reimburse you for lighting their roads up at night? i had the water battery style battery that just drops into my bottle holder, a neat idea. i have bolts to mount a second battery holder & thought of having a second battery on the bike after my original battery drained since i usually outrode the battery charge on a nightly basis, but i thought it would be too heavy, not to mention the battery cost of around $150.00 per battery. the hub systems are light in weight & i never have to deal with batteries again. another thing i noticed is shorter burn times in cold weather of about an hour less with the hid--another big factor in my decision to change lghting systems....

saturnsc2 said:

wow! wait a minute, you have 2 hid systems!? i didn't catch this before. i bet motorists on the road hate you! out of curiosity, why do you need 2 hid systems? i mean 1 is as bright as the sun & blinds everybody on the road, but 2? does your local city reimburse you for lighting their roads up at night? i had the water battery style battery that just drops into my bottle holder, a neat idea. i have bolts to mount a second battery holder & thought of having a second battery on the bike after my original battery drained since i usually outrode the battery charge on a nightly basis, but i thought it would be too heavy, not to mention the battery cost of around $150.00 per battery. the hub systems are light in weight & i never have to deal with batteries again. another thing i noticed is shorter burn times in cold weather of about an hour less with the hid--another big factor in my decision to change lghting systems....

I do not ride the road at night, only during daylight hours. I tend to do my mtn bike training at night to work on my technical skills. I also do 24hr mtn bike races so having the best lighting i can is key. I have 1 light on my helmet so i can have light when i turn my head. I also have 1 on my handle bar. All the guys on my team run the same setup. We like it very much.

Rideastrong said:

I do not ride the road at night, only during daylight hours. I tend to do my mtn bike training at night to work on my technical skills. I also do 24hr mtn bike races so having the best lighting i can is key. I have 1 light on my helmet so i can have light when i turn my head. I also have 1 on my handle bar. All the guys on my team run the same setup. We like it very much.

with the system i had, there was plenty of light no matter which way my head was! i just seen the latest niterider hid systems which have leds on the light head in addition to the hid light. the leds are bright too & can offer very long run times if you don't use the hid. is yours a newer set like that? those are pretty cool...

saturnsc2 said:

with the system i had, there was plenty of light no matter which way my head was! i just seen the latest niterider hid systems which have leds on the light head in addition to the hid light. the leds are bright too & can offer very long run times if you don't use the hid. is yours a newer set like that? those are pretty cool...

it has the led's, but it is a 2004 model. the 2005 look the same, but i believe the battery is slightly different.