bicycle headlights?

[Rex R]

so I am getting back into bicycling, and I was wondering what I should be looking for in the line of lights? many moons ago I had a bracket to hold a flash light(mis-named hand torch) from there I went to a generator setup, however I would imagine that there have been a few changes in the past 30 years or so . thoughts, comments, advice are welcome thanks
Rex

 

[BrAdam]

I use an Ion 2 setup. Super easy to put on and off bike. Headlight has high, low and flash settings. Rear red has same and I leave rear on bike and use every ride on flash regardless of day or night riding. I’ve been pleased with it from day of purchase. I’m sure you’ll get other suggestions too.

 

[HandsomeRob]

Right in my wheelhouse! (I run a bike shop!)

Lights have evolved by leaps and bounds in just the last 5-10 years, let alone 30! Most these days are usb rechargable, with the battery built into the unit, and throw off a crazy amount of light. The newest one to hit the market that we're all in love with is the Bontrager (made by Trek) Ion Pro.

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/...ontrager-ion-pro-rt-front-bike-light/p/22466/

This is a pretty top-of-the-line light but hear me out. It throws of 1300 lumens with a great beam pattern for night riding, the flash setting is designed to be used in the daytime, letting all the drivers know you're there, and it has amber side illumination for 180 degree of visibility to people around you.

I am a huge geek for lights and all the safety equipment. They make some lower tier lights too and there are other brands (Specialized, Light and Motion, Lezyne, and Serfas to name a few) that are great that I could probably shed some light on as well (pun intended) if you have any questions.

 

[Rex R]

so essentially we're back to battery powered lights, gotcha. that means storage cap. is something to watch for. just knew that I would get some good advice here thanks.
Rex

 

[HandsomeRob]

haha yes. Depending on setting, you'll get anywhere from 1.5 to 20 hours out of a single charge. All depends on how you use it. But definitely something to keep an eye on when comparing different lights.

 

[NateB]

I have a pair of Dinotte LEDs, one for my helmet and one for my bars. They're small, very bright, and easy to switch between my mountain and road bikes. These lights are an older model that take 4 AAs. I get about 2-3 on a charge. I have a brighter, rechargeable light that I won in a contest , but it is actually a little too bright for the road. I also have a 3 LED flashing taillight on a fender on my road bike. The helmet light isn't entirely necessary riding on the road or a greenway trail, but is essential for the mountain bike trails after dark.

 

[OverTheTop]

I built a set many years back that had a pair of 10W LEDs (separate assemblies on the handlebars). Works a treat. I used one of the Taskled driver boards and built the LEDs into standard bike lights I had thrown the guts away on (except the reflector and housing). A separate drink-bottle sized module (built into a metal drink bottle) held the batteries and controller etc.

These days there is so much available off the shelf I would not bother again.

I have a brighter, rechargeable light that I won in a contest , but it is actually a little too bright for the road.

Just aim it a bit lower so you don't glare oncoming drivers, assuming it has decent beam pattern.

 

[NateB]

It has a pretty wide spread, I haven't been able to aim it low enough to be useful without blinding drivers. It works well on the trail though, and I think it was intended to be more of an off road lamp anyway.

I also built a pair of clones for my Dinotte 200Ls. My DIY lamps were housed in some aluminium tubing with 200 lumen Cree LEDs. They worked well, but got hot. You needed to maintain airflow by riding to keep them from overheating and shutting off. It was a fun project.

 

[boatgeek]

I have a Serfas True 200 on the front. It has ~700 lumens and ~1 hour life on the high power, which is plenty for riding on unlit paved park trails in the city. I turn it down to a lower power setting (~3 hrs) on lit roads so I don't blind drivers as much. It doesn't have the side amber lights, but I would look for that on a headlight if I'm in the market again.

My back light has a pulse feature where the intensity goes up and down slowly rather than flashing on and off. I think that's a relatively new California requirement, but I could be wrong on that. When I'm driving, I've found those types of lights less distracting than the flashers. If it is flashing, I think a slower blink is better than a faster one.

 

[Rex R]

as a driver I was never to fond of the flashing bike lights at night used by the younger generation(possibly bar hopping). semi related was looking online at tyre pumps...wondered what good an electric pump would be for bike use. I suppose it might be possible to plug one into a head light .
Rex

 

[Blackleaf99]

I have had good luck with the Cygolite Streak 450 Bike Light. It is forward facing only. And the Cygolite series is constantly evolving so there are probably several generations of newer lights available now. But charging and reliability have been very good.

 

[K'Tesh]

I love my Cygolite Expilion 850 USB lights. I run with two of them, one helmet mount (I look, they see), and a handlebar mount. They have been much more reliable than the NiteRider lights I used to run with. I love that I can swap out the batteries if needed.

 

[cbrarick]

just stay off the road...drivers just aren't looking for bikes after dark, especially drunks and jerk drivers.
tail light for dusk. Always off the road by dark.

 

[georgegassaway]

A friend gave m a great headlight, a CatEye brand. Nice beam at night, also has flash mode which is good for daytime on trails so other cyclists can see me, much as I appreciate seeing other oncoming riders also using a flashing headlight on trails.

I have done some limited amount of night riding, and found myself wanting a bit more illumination where *I* wanted to look since most bike headlights are pretty much a circular beam, and not a wide across beam, and turning the handlebars to see something left or right is very dangerous for riding since the handlebars should be used for steering while riding, not to aim a light while riding . Also I sort of had to choose the headlight beam angle to either show me the road right in front of the bike and sacrifice some of the view much farther out, or farther ahead but little illumination of the road 10 feet in front of me or less.

I had put a GoPro camera mount onto my bike helmet, to shoot a few videos of some bike rides. Well, there is a fantastic small flashlight I like to use in general, very bright but not big or heavy, so I worked out a way to mount it onto the GoPro mount on my helmet. So with that light on my helmet, I can turn my head to aim the light anywhere I want to look, left-right-up-down. Which is the same natural thing one does with a handheld flashlight anyway. Having both lights , one on the bike and one on my helmet is very good way to see when riding a bike at night.

And.... if ONE went dead, I still have the other as a back-up to get safely home.

This is also the point where I should say I only use lights (plus tail light) that run off AA or AAA batteries, and carry spares on my bike. There are some charge-up night lights that are very impressive that I will never buy, because when those go dead they are dead till you get home and take a few hours to recharge them, instead of popping in a new set.