Bike lights

sean19690

I need your help. Thinking ahead to the darker evenings. i want to invest in a really good front light, one that will light up the country lanes particularly pot hole. really bright seen from space bright. any advice?? Budget 200

mrushton

Dynamo or battery? Price point?

sean19690

I don't no much about dyno, so battery would be my prefrence

£ 200 pound max

mrushton

Is there a thread on lighting on here?

Lumicycle are good as are Solidlights, Dinotte also get good reviews. Do you want to ride all thro' the night or just a couple of hours. The brighter the light/the longer the burn time, the more you pay. Do you want HID lights, Halogen or LED. NiMH batteries,Lithium or double AAs?

Have a look at the Lumicycle site, Solidlight, Dinotte or www.peterwhitecycles.com I'm sure others on here will give you some pointers.

ride_whenever

for your budget, only one serious contender, AY-UPS from oz:

http://www.ayup.com.au/index.php

Excellent lights

doyler78

ride_whenever wrote:

for your budget, only one serious contender, AY-UPS from oz:

http://www.ayup.com.au/index.php

Excellent lights

Second this. Got these last winter and I have about 7 miles of unlit roads on my commute and I found them to be great. Go for the roadie kit with intermediate beam for road use. Best thing of all now is that you can get these from the ay-up website but they actually now have a UK based distributor so no more worries over warranties and import duty etc. The cost on the website is the final cost.

Going to get a narrow beam for my helmet so that I can see bike computer and gears which really annoyed me last year but couldn't afford it at the time.

mekonta

I'd recommend these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/NiteRider_MiNewt_X2_LED_Front_Light/5360031093/

NiteRider MiNewt X2 LED

within your budget I think - I used them last year and very impressed with output, weight and battery life. Few of my riding buddies thought the same too and are also using them.

robbarker

LED technology s moving so fast that last year's conventional wisdom is now well out of date.

I use a Solidlights twin LED powerered by a Schmidt dynohub on my Audax bike which is fantastic.

I am even more impressed by my latest light though, a Fenix torch with the Lockblock handlebar mount. You can get a pair of P2Ds with cycle-friendly orange-peel diffusers, rechargeable batteries and charger for about £100. For that kind of money they are a complete bargain.

See www.fenixtorch.co.uk

physiosteve

Met this dude @ SITS 08 who made his own light for less than £100
bangs out 740 lumens plus, know that cuz we checked it against top of the range USE race light (the 1 with 3 LEDS) and its better, fully waterproof not heavy
basically looks the dogs bollox...!
just investigating where to get the bits from...
PS was anyone else battling through the mud at SITS 08 at the weekend...?

Cunobelin

3 watt LED torch at £10 from Tesco!

Then zip tie to bike - sorted!

whyamihere

physiosteve wrote:

Met this dude @ SITS 08 who made his own light for less than £100
bangs out 740 lumens plus, know that cuz we checked it against top of the range USE race light (the 1 with 3 LEDS) and its better, fully waterproof not heavy
basically looks the dogs bollox...!
just investigating where to get the bits from...
PS was anyone else battling through the mud at SITS 08 at the weekend...?

I was there as a mechanic to a couple of teams of my friends, fortunately not riding. Our teams ended up with 2 snapped mechs and a snapped mech hanger, with one guy from each team having to walk round overnight, taking 5 hours for a lap. Disgusting weather.

Pirahna

I'll 3rd the Ayups. A 5 hour battery life means I can do a full mid winter commute on one charge. With something like 60 miles of unlit roads on a round trip these lights are superb.

robbarker

Pirahna wrote:

I'll 3rd the Ayups. A 5 hour battery life means I can do a full mid winter commute on one charge. With something like 60 miles of unlit roads on a round trip these lights are superb.

What's the actual price of a twin light setup delivered from Oz then? I notice these employ the same Cree Q5 LEDs that the Fenix lights use.

doyler78

robbarker wrote:

Pirahna wrote:

I'll 3rd the Ayups. A 5 hour battery life means I can do a full mid winter commute on one charge. With something like 60 miles of unlit roads on a round trip these lights are superb.

What's the actual price of a twin light setup delivered from Oz then? I notice these employ the same Cree Q5 LEDs that the Fenix lights use.

Depends what you call a twin light set as one set included two lights which can be manipulated up and down independently.

They no longer come from Aus as I said above as there is now a distributor in the UK. The roadie kit which includes all you would need for a road bike is £149.

pedlad

Second vote for the fenix which I have as a helmet light for mtb'ing to complement my lumicycle twin lamp set up. Both are great although the lumicycle with it's 35w lamp illuminates half the malverns....not the greatest battery life though with that on!

wiffachip

the nights are fair cutting in

daniel_b

I'll 4th the Ayups, bought 6 sets of lights, as in 6 seperate units, from Aus at the end of last year, that was for three people.

So we each have a set we can put on the bars, and a set on the helmet.

Awesome lighting, truly awesome.

Our sets (2 pairs) worked out at around £170 each delivered, as I negotiated a discount, and we didn't get stung for duty

You certainly won;t regret them if you buy them, shame the prices seem to have gone up a bit though :?

Dan

alfablue

robbarker wrote:

LED technology s moving so fast that last year's conventional wisdom is now well out of date.

I use a Solidlights twin LED powerered by a Schmidt dynohub on my Audax bike which is fantastic.

I am even more impressed by my latest light though, a Fenix torch with the Lockblock handlebar mount. You can get a pair of P2Ds with cycle-friendly orange-peel diffusers, rechargeable batteries and charger for about £100. For that kind of money they are a complete bargain.

See www.fenixtorch.co.uk

I am a Fenix fan too - I now have 2 L2D CE Cree Q5's, amazing output, 4 hours on high, 2AA batteries a piece.

Fenix L2D CE £39, Lockblock, £7, 2900mah NiMH batteries (x4) £10, charger....

Best light/runtime/weight/price setup available.

The advantage of the L2D over the P2D is the AA batteries, but the output is marginally lower, but even when using just one it was the best light I ever had and plenty for unlit paths. 2 lights make for a great off-road setup. I like it that they are self-contained (no cable or battery holder) and they double-up as general purpose torches, and with a diffuser, a great tent light, so ideal for touring. I have one orange peel and one smooth reflector.

Jon8a

Have a look at superstarcomponents they are doing HID lights in the price range you're looking at. Get god oreviews too.

I've got a 3W LED torch off Ebay held onto my bars with a fashioned piece of inertube. Not stylish but it works and cost me less than £10.

alfablue

I might be being controversial here, but I think HID, whilst brighter than LED, are a worse choice than the latest Cree Q5 LED's due to heat, high power use and bulb replacement costs. Within 2 years I expect it will all be about LED's.

doyler78

alfablue wrote:

I might be being controversial here, but I think HID, whilst brighter than LED, are a worse choice than the latest Cree Q5 LED's due to heat, high power use and bulb replacement costs. Within 2 years I expect it will all be about LED's.

I think this not controversial at all and if it wasn't for the nice bright led's I wouldn't have cycled in the unlit roads round me at all because I just didn't like the idea of HID because they are not known for their longevity and last thing I wanted was having to cycle around with two great lump of lights with one as a backup. With led's being very lightweight and cost effective it was much more practical for me plus I get to keep my bottle cage for bottles

Those Fenix have a nice spec however I still love my ayup as they are just works of art. So beautifully made and will be in the market for a new one come October.

alfablue

I too covet the Ayups, price was the deciding factor (I started with just one and commuted with it last winter on an unlit railway path, 13 miles each way). I graduated from a Dinotte which was good but battery life was poorer. In the past I have used various halogens and I agree it is great to keep the bottle cages for bottles!

johnbirkby46213

alfablue wrote:

[
I am a Fenix fan too - I now have 2 L2D CE Cree Q5's, amazing output, 4 hours on high, 2AA batteries a piece.

Fenix L2D CE £39, Lockblock, £7, 2900mah NiMH batteries (x4) £10, charger....

Best light/runtime/weight/price setup available.

The advantage of the L2D over the P2D is the AA batteries, but the output is marginally lower, but even when using just one it was the best light I ever had and plenty for unlit paths. 2 lights make for a great off-road setup. I like it that they are self-contained (no cable or battery holder) and they double-up as general purpose torches, and with a diffuser, a great tent light, so ideal for touring. I have one orange peel and one smooth reflector.

Would the L2D (singular or as a pair) be suitable for mainly unlit country roads. No off road stuff. And sometimes lit streets?

Thanks. They seem very competively priced.

andrew_s

There's a new Fenix TK11 light now available that will probably be of interest (£50).

It takes either 2xCR123 or 1x18650 li-ion rechargeable, and gives 225 lumen for 1.5h on CR123 or 2.7h on 18650. There are two modes - either high or low (60 lumen, 10/12h), where the 225 lm high setting is noticeably brighter than the 180 lm turbo mode on the L2D.
The 18650 cell is 4mm fatter and 15mm longer than a single AA, so the light is usefully smaller than the L2D.
18650 batteries are £11-£12, plus £10 for the charger, or cheaper from Hong Kong.
Rechargable CR123 are available, but are only half the capacity of the disposable ones.

andrew_s

"johnbirkby46213 wrote:

Would the L2D (singular or as a pair) be suitable for mainly unlit country roads. No off road stuff. And sometimes lit streets?.

Yes.
On your own on a quiet road, a single L2D on medium is just about adequate. High is normal riding mode, but turbo is useful for a fast downhill. Two L2D is luxury - maybe 1 on high with a second set to turbo that you turn on when you want maximum light?

There isn't really a wide enough spread of light for offroad. You would probably want one on the bars and one as a pointable helmet light, both set high or turbo.

Modes: turbo=180 lumen/2.4h, high=107/4h, medium=53/10.5h, low=12/55h
Switching into or out of turbo is a twist the bezel job that really required both hands, unless your mount is properly rigid.

System_1

Another Ay-Up fan here too. Fantastic light output, amazing solid build and they are absolutely tiny. Just lovely little things. I also quite like the fact they don't have loads of different settings, they're either on or off and coupled with a 6 hour battery life you don't spend time mucking about trying to conserve it especially if you buy a spare.

Those Fenix torches look really good value if you're on a budget, and I don't mean to offend Fenix fans with this comment but if I had £200 to spend on bike lights I wouldn't consider them for a second. They are torches after all, not bike lights. They are almost six inches long :shock: That, to me, is a compromise that doesn't need to be made when you have the money to spend.

sad Bastad

My dilemma is pretty much the same as sean's. I have started commuting (12 miles each way) this Spring and want to continue through the Winter, on some unlit A roads and country lanes. I had earmarked a total budget of £300 (front and rear). I spoke to the people at lumicycle but I feel that their technology is being superseded by LEDs. I am disinclined to spend too much on LEDs though because I fear that very shortly they will be much better and, probably, cheaper. But the Ay Up seems a good compromise. To be seen would you also have a flasing front light? What about rear lights what is the view on the best set-up?
Many thanks.

aracer

andrew_s wrote:

There's a new Fenix TK11 light now available that will probably be of interest (£50).

Would be very tempting if it wasn't that it appears to weigh 3 times as much as an L2D or P3D - why can't they make one like that which takes an 18650?

Scrumple

Rear lights are not to see with, just to be seen.
As such, you only need something that is visible to traffic.

You can make do with a Smart LED at under a tenner from wiggle.

The front light is where all your budget should go, as it is light to help you ride and be seen. Unfortunately the fab, cheap, highly visible rear lights aint up to showing the way!

FSR_XC

What about this?

http://store.dinottelighting.com/shared ... =590415596

It is pictured as a helmet mount, but does also have a bar mount.

doyler78

sad Bastad wrote:

My dilemma is pretty much the same as sean's. I have started commuting (12 miles each way) this Spring and want to continue through the Winter, on some unlit A roads and country lanes. I had earmarked a total budget of £300 (front and rear). I spoke to the people at lumicycle but I feel that their technology is being superseded by LEDs. I am disinclined to spend too much on LEDs though because I fear that very shortly they will be much better and, probably, cheaper. But the Ay Up seems a good compromise. To be seen would you also have a flasing front light? What about rear lights what is the view on the best set-up?
Many thanks.

Flashing lights only have advantages in urban, lit roads as they make it easier to pick your light out when there is so much more light pollution from other things however on unlit roads they are not very useful in my opinion as a solid light which bright enough for you to cycle at a decent speed on will be plenty bright enough for oncoming traffic to see you. If anything the flashing light is probably as distraction. For me I have a mix of lit and unlit roads and only use the solid ayups and haven't experienced any probs whilst cycling in urban environments though I must admit that I certainly notice bikes more coming the other way with the flashing light in these areas. Again in an urban setting there is likely to be little opportunity for you to meet oncoming traffic anyway as the busier roads mean that most of your likely problems are likely to come from following traffic.