A couple of friends and I decided to do a night ride last night to test our lights prior to the weekend. I'm using a borrowed Nite Rider system that's just a headlamp, but boy is it bright. We rode from the house and did a 10 Mile loop at Hartman's for about a 16 Mile round trip in about 1.5 Hrs. on singlespeeds. I hadn't done a night ride in quite a long while and I loved it. The trails I frequent seem very different at night, and I often found myself wondering "where am I again?" without any landmarks to orient by. Out of the three riders, I ended up being the only one who didn't crash. Inexperience and inattentiveness took their toll on the other two but nobody got seriously hurt. I didn't have any clear lenses glasses, so I went without. For the most part that was fine but I think I'll get myself some clear lenses soon. I felt like my eyes were naked without any protection. Fortunately there isn't much brush at Hartman's to poke my eye, but the moths attracted to the light got me several times and provided good incentive to just keep on moving. I'm already thinking about getting a good bright headlamp to do more of these with. I like to dabble in electronics so the DIY route seems like a good option, even if I just get a branded lamp and make my own battery system to save some money. I may add a handlebar mount at some point but the headlamp seemed to be plenty last night and with the cloud cover it was _very_ dark. So have any of you built a light system? Any good links or tips? I've Googled and found a bunch of stuff but I'd love to hear some first-hand advise if anyone has it. Thanks!
A couple of friends and I decided to do a night ride last night to test our lights prior to the weekend. I'm using a borrowed Nite Rider system that's just a headlamp, but boy is it bright. We rode from the house and did a 10 Mile loop at Hartman's for about a 16 Mile round trip in about 1.5 Hrs. on singlespeeds. I hadn't done a night ride in quite a long while and I loved it. The trails I frequent seem very different at night, and I often found myself wondering "where am I again?" without any landmarks to orient by. Out of the three riders, I ended up being the only one who didn't crash. Inexperience and inattentiveness took their toll on the other two but nobody got seriously hurt. I didn't have any clear lenses glasses, so I went without. For the most part that was fine but I think I'll get myself some clear lenses soon. I felt like my eyes were naked without any protection. Fortunately there isn't much brush at Hartman's to poke my eye, but the moths attracted to the light got me several times and provided good incentive to just keep on moving. I'm already thinking about getting a good bright headlamp to do more of these with. I like to dabble in electronics so the DIY route seems like a good option, even if I just get a branded lamp and make my own battery system to save some money. I may add a handlebar mount at some point but the headlamp seemed to be plenty last night and with the cloud cover it was _very_ dark. So have any of you built a light system? Any good links or tips? I've Googled and found a bunch of stuff but I'd love to hear some first-hand advise if anyone has it. Thanks!
Matt
My main squeeze riding buddy builds bike lights occasionally on his kitchen island from info he found on the internet diy sites, and they are amazing! We're going out again tonight after dark, and I'll try to get you guys together.
So have any of you built a light system? Any good links or tips? I've Googled and found a bunch of stuff but I'd love to hear some first-hand advise if anyone has it. Thanks!
Matt
Yeah I built a pretty nice light using parts from Home Depot...
Halogen light, a section of pvc pipe some wire, a simple push switch and a drill battery... It works pretty damn well and I use it as a back up...
I can't remember where I found the instructions, but I am sure you can find something on Google... If you like I can post some pics of my franken Light.
"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
A couple of friends and I decided to do a night ride last night to test our lights prior to the weekend. I'm using a borrowed Nite Rider system that's just a headlamp, but boy is it bright. We rode from the house and did a 10 Mile loop at Hartman's for about a 16 Mile round trip in about 1.5 Hrs. on singlespeeds. I hadn't done a night ride in quite a long while and I loved it. The trails I frequent seem very different at night, and I often found myself wondering "where am I again?" without any landmarks to orient by. Out of the three riders, I ended up being the only one who didn't crash. Inexperience and inattentiveness took their toll on the other two but nobody got seriously hurt. I didn't have any clear lenses glasses, so I went without. For the most part that was fine but I think I'll get myself some clear lenses soon. I felt like my eyes were naked without any protection. Fortunately there isn't much brush at Hartman's to poke my eye, but the moths attracted to the light got me several times and provided good incentive to just keep on moving. I'm already thinking about getting a good bright headlamp to do more of these with. I like to dabble in electronics so the DIY route seems like a good option, even if I just get a branded lamp and make my own battery system to save some money. I may add a handlebar mount at some point but the headlamp seemed to be plenty last night and with the cloud cover it was _very_ dark. So have any of you built a light system? Any good links or tips? I've Googled and found a bunch of stuff but I'd love to hear some first-hand advise if anyone has it. Thanks!
Matt
Michael Dart has some good sources that he once gave me but I lost them when my hd crashed. Maybe he'll speak up. Price Point has this one on sale
