Offroad Light

For any other DIY-type people out there you can go a long way with a
£3 3W LED from say Rapid, one of their 90p lenses (or a £5 one from
RS), three NiCds/NIMHs, a battery box and a few other bits of plastic
and metal to house and heatsink it.

Jon

Noel wrote on 06/11/2006 08:27 +0100:

Quoted message said:

I went out for an offroad night ride last week and my pal had some
horrendously expensive Lupine Edison 5:

http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/Lupine_Edison_5.html

This light was pretty well like a card headlight and lit up the trail
fantastically. (I inadvertently got in front of him at one slightly
awkward and steep part and could see pretty well nothing but my shadow.)

I would like to get a similar type of light as it does open up far more
cycling opportunities during the winter darkness. My budget is far more
modest though,

The Blackburn System X3 Single Lightset seems like a decent enough light:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=9205

and if I can get it picked up in the US from www.rei.com then I can get it
for £70 rather than £120:

http://www.rei.com/product/48016710.htm

Is anyone familiar with the chargers for these lights? I am wondering if
they are multi-voltage DC adapters or would be more country specific than
just the plug?

The Blackburn light (a Luxeon LED) will not come anywhere close to the
Lupine and will be marginal for trail use. You need to look for a HID
lamp or just a plain old halogen lamp. Have a look at the Niterider
site which has good pictures illustrating the comparative illumination
of the different products. http://www.niterider.com/bike.shtml

The Blackburn will be similar to the MiNewt single while the Lupine will
be a brighter version of the Firestorm (£360 from Wiggle). Compare
those though with the Classic (£200 from Wiggle) which is as bright but
with a different colour temperature. The main drawback of the halogen
compared to the HID is the run time which is just over an hour (vs 4hrs)
on full beam.

The MiNewt Dual isn't bad and is quite cheap but also has a short run
time on full power (£135 from Wiggle)

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

In article <[email hidden]>

Noel said:

I went out for an offroad night ride last week and my pal had some
horrendously expensive Lupine Edison 5:

http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/Lupine_Edison_5.html

This light was pretty well like a card headlight and lit up the trail
fantastically. (I inadvertently got in front of him at one slightly
awkward and steep part and could see pretty well nothing but my shadow.)

I would like to get a similar type of light as it does open up far more
cycling opportunities during the winter darkness. My budget is far more
modest though,

Depending on the sort of off-roading you do, might you be better off
with a light attached to your head (I'm avoiding the h word) which would
put the light only where you need it[1] rather than lighting up the
countryside?

[1] Plus whatever ineffective light you have ATM to put a glow around
your front wheel.

Rob Morley said:

In article <[email hidden]>

Noel said:

I went out for an offroad night ride last week and my pal had some
horrendously expensive Lupine Edison 5:

http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/Lupine_Edison_5.html

This light was pretty well like a card headlight and lit up the trail
fantastically. (I inadvertently got in front of him at one slightly
awkward and steep part and could see pretty well nothing but my shadow.)

I would like to get a similar type of light as it does open up far more
cycling opportunities during the winter darkness. My budget is far more
modest though,

Depending on the sort of off-roading you do, might you be better off
with a light attached to your head (I'm avoiding the h word) which would
put the light only where you need it[1] rather than lighting up the
countryside?

[1] Plus whatever ineffective light you have ATM to put a glow around
your front wheel.

A helmet light may work fine as a secondary source, but I wouldn't
recommend using one as your only light. Using only a helmet mounted
light mucks up your depth of field and can make navigating
rocky/rough/dusty trails more difficult. A helmet light does help in
twisty sections and that's why I ride with two HIDs, one on the bars
and one on the helmet (1).

Laters,

Marz

(1) yes a helmet, while I may contest the statisical and actual
usefulness of helmets when on the road, I've never met anyone who
questions helmet use when mtbing.

Noel said:

I went out for an offroad night ride last week and my pal had some
horrendously expensive Lupine Edison 5:

http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/Lupine_Edison_5.html

This light was pretty well like a card headlight and lit up the trail
fantastically. (I inadvertently got in front of him at one slightly
awkward and steep part and could see pretty well nothing but my shadow.)

I would like to get a similar type of light as it does open up far more
cycling opportunities during the winter darkness. My budget is far more
modest though,

The Blackburn System X3 Single Lightset seems like a decent enough light:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=9205

and if I can get it picked up in the US from www.rei.com then I can get it
for £70 rather than £120:

http://www.rei.com/product/48016710.htm

Is anyone familiar with the chargers for these lights? I am wondering if
they are multi-voltage DC adapters or would be more country specific than
just the plug?

Cheers
Noel

The Blackburn chargers are multi voltage and come with a bunch of plug
adapters.

I've got an X6 and found it good, meeting the spec for burn time.

My daughter got one and found the burn time 1 hour less, so took it back
to LBS. Ultimate Sports/Madison who distribute could not replace the
abttery then, so she assumed it was a known problem. Got another set
mail order and had the same problem, so sent that one back as well.
Just beware about this, though it may not affect the X3, single light unit.

Pete Whelan said:

I've got an X6 and found it good, meeting the spec for burn time.

My daughter got one and found the burn time 1 hour less, so took it back
to LBS. Ultimate Sports/Madison who distribute could not replace the
abttery then, so she assumed it was a known problem. Got another set
mail order and had the same problem, so sent that one back as well.
Just beware about this, though it may not affect the X3, single light unit.

Thanks for all the comments. I have plumbed for the X6 in fact so thanks
for the heads up (!) on the potential run time issue.

I guess I'll find out tomorrow when the lights arrive, but looking at the
pics I don't think you can configure them to have the spot on the helmet
and the flood on the handlebars without a second battery pack or extension
cable?

Cheers
Noel