Light lights

Muztard

Got back into cycling earlier tis year and am enjoying it even more now I've joined the local cycling club.

Originally I signed up to do Sunday morning rides but have recently joined in on the Tuesday evening rides. As the nights will soon be closing in I reckon I might need some lights for the ride home (usually about 8:00pm) so not too dark at the moment.

Can anyone recommend me some lights that are both bright and not too heavy or bulky?

Thx in advance.

keef66

Smart superflash 1/2W for the rear. V Tiny and v bright. Somebody else just posted on another thread that Fudges have them at half price atm (£7 something)

I have a Fenix L2D mounted on the bars using a Lockblock; tiny, simple but effective. Rechargeable AA's give about 1.5 hours on full power. Got mine from the photon shop, about £40.

Cheaper, brighter options from Dealextreme in HK will be suggested by others, but reliability not so good for some.

Hoopdriver

Blackburn Mars 4 and Cateye 1100 are both top-of-the-line rear blinkers that will get you noticed by weary evening time drivers heading home after a long day. There are lots of options for blinking front lights. Knog make a range of very simple, bright, easy to put on your bike lights. See Wiggle.

If you want to SEE rather than simply be seen, then you will need a bit more upfront. What you get then will very much depend on both the sorts of roads you will be riding on, how keen you are to keep riding through winter and how much you want to spend. I ride a great deal in the dark of winter on remote unlit country lanes, and enjoy it, and so I spent rather a lot of money and bought some extremely good Lupine headlights - I consider them a sort of health/life insurance policy and money well spent. For others it would not be. It depends what you want to do, and how much you want to spend.

cougie

+1 for what Keef says. I'd go with 2 Smarts on teh back though - one constant, one flashing. Then it doesnt matter if one fails - you still have the other.

(not that they are likely to fail, but sh** happens and they cost buttons)

John C.

+2 for more than 1 on the rear, I also have 4 little red LEDs in my helmit, not a substitute light but high up and easy to see. I also use a front facing head torch, again high up and easy for others to see. Just bought one of these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... AQ:GB:1123

Seams bright compared to my other bike lights but not tried it out on the road yet

blert123

Hope 1 led front cateye ld1100 rear everytime read the reviews never seen a bad review.

cougie

I have the Cateye - twice as pricey as the Smart light and not as bright and its heavy. I much prefer the smarts.

Dancing Bear

never mind LED's in the helmet - these headlamps look pretty useful - ... cant find them on WIGGLE!

amaferanga

If you get a Smart light and especially if you cycle in the rain, make sure you have more than one rear light. My experience with them (I have 4 in total) is that they're poorly sealed and once water gets in they start switching on and off randomly even after they've been dried out. I think I'm going to try a smear of silicone around the join each time I change batteries this winter.

Actually, this morning when I walked into the kitchen I found one of my Smart light flashing away - it was definitely off when I went to bed and hasn't been outside since last winter.

cougie

I dont have problems with my Smarts - and one is right above the tyre spray on the MTB. I do put a smear of vaseline around teh seal when I swap batteries though ?

The new one may be better ?

keef66

My cateye holy hand grenade has been subjected to several soakings, and never missed a beat. I like the fact you can have one set of led's on static and the other flashing.

I'm still going to get another Smart to replace the stolen one. Might go for the new 1W jobbie.

father_jack

Having had two cateye TL1000 which failed I wouldn't recommend those, almost got rear ended when two of them stopped working. I use 2 x Smart 1/2W ones now. Noticed upgraded ones 1W each nice