what Lights combo are you using for winter eve road training

EightOhEight

Ideally looking for a setup that's easy to transfer between my road and commuter bikes as well....
Cheersthen
808

luv2ride

Exposure lights for me. 1x Joystck on the helmet and 1 x Race Max 2 on the bars. With their quick release brackets they are really simple to switch between bikes. I regular swap between 2 x road bikes, an MTB and a SS commuter. Brackets are a bit on the pricey side but for convenience they probably take some beating...

nferrar

Exposure Strada Mk3 for the front and a fibre flare for the rear

maddog 2

If you want easy transferability then Exposure will take some beating.

Having said that, you can buy equivalent lights much cheaper (Joystick for example).

An alternative is the Hope Vision 1 front which has a good QR clamp, and works well on the road as it's punchy for it's price. Downside is it's a tad heavy. Upside is it runs std AA batteries.

noodleman

Exposure toro on the front and a lunar r2 on the back. Really impressed with the lunar for the money (£13.00) delivered.

cougie

Dealextreme torch on the front.
At the rear - Smart 0.5W and a clip on cheapy and a skully LED on my helmet.

Always more than 1 light on at the back !

Mettan

On the front, an XM-L T6 torch as a 'to see with' light, and a 5w Cree torch as a 'be seen' light - on the back, a Smart 1/2 Watt (bagged and sealed to stop water-ingress) - those are in addition to rear helmet lights.

gabriel959

Front

Magicshine MJ-808 on the handlebars - £35
Fenix LD20 on the helmet - £40 but any decent helmet light will do

Rear

2 Smart 1/2 Watt one flashing one steady
1 Cateye cheapo for my rucksack

rolf_f

Twin RSP Asteris up front - self contained rechargeable with quick release clamps; about 200 lumens each supposedly - plus paired Smart half/one watt rears. Two lights front, two lights rear for £100.

The Smart lights come with two mounts (for frame and seatpost) so even if you only get one, you may be able to leave the mounts on the bikes permanently for a quick swap.

Also as backup flashing rucksack cover and helmet lights front and rear.

On road I'd rather have a paired setup than a single no matter what the power.

DrLex

Philips front light and Moon shield 60 rear. Both USB rechargeable & very bright. Smart 35 front and 1/2 watt rear as back-ups, both on flash.

The Philips is very robust (metal) has a wide beam, and when filtering to the right of traffic queues, makes drivers believe I am on a motorised bike, so pull over. Consider getting a spare mount, but the one supplied is removed easily (thumb-wheel tightener). Runs on four AA, so can use non-rechargeables if one forgets to plug it in. In contrast, the moon is a sealed unit. I leave the strap mount on one bike and use the clip to affix to the saddlebag loop on the other bike.

moonshine

i'm an owner (& great fan) of Ay-ups - for road work, the ultra-lite is more than adequate at £130 approx.
http://www.ayup-lights.com/systems/ligh ... tra-light/
reassuringly expensive but real quality.... Im on my second winter with not so much as a hiccup with them +++++ recommended.

on the back, a smart 1W or 1/2 W - taped up to improve waterproofing - these are not waterproof enough to rely upon unless you use mudguards.... i will buy an exposure flare for my TT bike next year.

cougie

It is ridiculous in this day and age that we have to tape or vaseline or plastic bag our rear lights up.
It cant be beyond them to make them waterproof ? I know you can get LEDs for kayaks - how do they make themselves waterproof ?

Mettan

cougie wrote:

It is ridiculous in this day and age that we have to tape or vaseline or plastic bag our rear lights up.
It cant be beyond them to make them waterproof ? I know you can get LEDs for kayaks - how do they make themselves waterproof ?

Yup, agreed - I'm still waiting for a consensus on the Lunar R2 - some reports say that its better than the R1 (and 1/2 watt) waterproof-wise - be interesting to see when Smart can make a substantially waterproof light out of the box.

DaleB

Exposure Toro for me too. Can't fault it and would highly recommend these lights.

Same with the Smart Lunar R2, got two these on the rear and a Cateye TL-LD610 , a single Lunar R2 pisses all over the Cateye!

In my opinion you can't have too many lights on. But you still see people of all abilities young and old riding without them, and in the fog! Some people just don't help themselves.

Try Planet-X for the Lunars, they are heavily discounted at the moment.

Heini

I am also after a good set of lights for winter road use and find the array bewildering and cost differentials astronomical.
My main question is how many lumens you really need to spot any potential obstacles well and safely in advance - I appreciate it also depends on how the light disperses the light etc.
Ideally I would like to spend maximum £100-120 on a full set that will do the job of keeping me safe for 1-2 hour rides but some suggest that an all-in-one unit such as the £99 Lezyne (front only) that I looked at and seems to get good reviews would not be up to the job and better go up to something like the Tumble & Fall Pro 1200 which is also 50% more expensive.
I will have a look at some of the suggestions already posted, just wondered if there were any recent group tests available anywhere ?

fizz

Magic Shine MJ-816 on the front which is awesome, brilliant on unlit rural country roads, TBH its probably to much light and I've been careful with the mounting of it with it angled down and to the left so that its not dazzling on coming car drivers. Its 1400 lumens claimed, its good enough to spot potholes / gravel / puddles from a distance and it doesnt get overwhelmed or drowned out by cars behind me. For £95 that I paid for it, I think its well worth it.

Mars Blackburn 4 & an old Cateye new equivalent would be Cateye TL-LD610 , Mars set to constant and the Cateye set to scrolling mode.

genki

A lot of people seem very pleased with the power of this front light
http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/ind ... opic=61664

1200 lumens for just over £30. I've been using it this last month for commuting and its the first time I've had motorists complaining about me blinding them ;-) Stick the battery in an old bidon and it's easy to make it waterproof.

EightOhEight

Thank you all for your reply's.

cougie

The reviews of the Lunar R2 on wiggle do sound Promising. And planet x have it at half price too.

grahamcp

genki - why are you blinding motorists? sounds dangerous and I can't see it having a positive impact on drivers attitudes towards cyclists.

I use an exposure Toro on the front, which I pair up with an old Knog or Blackburn quadrant in case of emergencies. On the back - an exposure redeye which plugs into the Toro - it is excellent but I always have another led on the back just in case anything goes wrong with it.

While we're on the subject - I'm really not a fan of rapid flashing/strobe settings on the front, so I never use these. I think they are really distracting for oncoming drivers and cyclists, and hate it when I have one coming towards me. I sometimes use a much slower flash on the Knog though.

keef66

+ 1 to that. I once accidentally activated the strobe function on my Fenix L2D, and caused an oncoming BMW X5 to stop dead in confusion. What it would do to an epileptic god only knows!

cougie

Yes I've stopped using the Fenix strobe now and using the SOS flash they have. I wish they had something to choose in between these extremes as they make great lights for the bike.

keef66

I don't really understand why Fenix haven't produced a bike specific light. I love the indestructible nature and simplicity of the thing, and the fact I can ride all night with a pocket full of fully charged AA's

It just needs to be adjustable on the move (twisting the front bezel is a no-no at speed!) and have a lens or reflector arrangement that doesn't dazzle oncoming traffic. A slightly brighter one running for longer on 4 x AA's would be ideal.

Failing that I'm giving serious consideration to having a dynamo front wheel built up and pairing it with some proper Busch & Muller lights front and rear

cougie

Have you tried the magicshine style torches. Very similar to the fenix, but ridiculous brightness and far cheaper.

I'd not dunk them in water but they're pretty sturdy.

meanredspider

Grahamcp wrote:

While we're on the subject - I'm really not a fan of rapid flashing/strobe settings on the front, so I never use these. I think they are really distracting for oncoming drivers and cyclists, and hate it when I have one coming towards me. .

And yet I've had loads of compliments from peds & drivers alike on my Light & Motion VIS 360 lid light set when the front light has been set to flashing mode. It's a great light set for road & commuting use.

Main front lights for fast descents +1 for Ay-Ups. Great power and good VFM. 6 hours of battery and easily transferable between bikes. Would make great lid-lights for night-time MTBing too.

genki

Grahamcp wrote:

genki - why are you blinding motorists? sounds dangerous and I can't see it having a positive impact on drivers attitudes towards cyclists.

I'd rather they saw too much of me than not enough, though I agree that there's a limit to which this should be taken particularly now the LED technology is so advanced that we can get cheap and powerful lights. If I see a car about to pull out of driveway, at a T-junction or pinch-point then I might use the strobe to let them know I'm there. I've just got myself an exposure flare to cover the other end so hopefully there'll be little excuse for SMIDSY's.

Mettan

Just ordered a 2nd 1.4a XM-L T6 torch (DX UK warehouse £11 quid) - my current one pulls ~ 1.71a at the cap using AW 2900's giving a real ~ 500 - 520 lumens - a 2nd one will give me a real ~ 1000 - 1050 lumens - (not that I'll be using both on High mode :shock: ) - lit use you only need one on medium and one on low with a flasher on the helmet, for unlit, both on Medium will do the job nicely. I'm out at 5.00am 3 or 4 days a week at the moment so they will see some use.

cougie

My Smart Lunar R2 arrived from Planet X this morning.

Once I've got my vision back I'll let you know how bright it was.......

antlaff

I use helmet mounted Exposure Diablo running on low when its dry. Only need to goto medium setting when wet as otherwise too bright. Have a Hope Vision 1 on the bars directed more horizontally. On the back I have a exposure Flare on the seatpost and an Exposure Redeye piggybacked with the Diablo. Also have a Fizik Blin:K Rear Light as back up. Then when I change to commuter I have 2 1/2w Smarts and just swap the Hope 1 over and use the Diablo combo on my helmet. No issues being seen or blinding people. Use the Diablo on blink when in town as it draws attention from drivers better.

petemadoc

Magicshine 900 lumen jobby on the front. Very bright, been using this for nearly 18 months now, very happy with it especially for £40 all in.

Rear I've got 2 Smart Lunar R1's , waterproof issues with the R1 but still a great light, I killed one last winter with too much water. Looking to get a couple of the R2's as well in the hope they're more waterproof? Can anyone confirm?

lucieandpaul

As I ride off road loads I have a Full Beam Nightfire which I am running at 2500 lumens for off road.

On road I have it on flashy commuter setting 900 lumens and crank it up on the country back roads.

Allows me to blat along like daylight!

Expensive but nothing comes close IMO

Paul