Money no object best rear light for saddle bag

spasypaddy

Whats the best light to hang off a saddle bag?

None of the exposures are any good for hanging off a saddle bag, happy to have batteries but would prefer rechargeable.

Was going to get a redeye with a long cable but then when i swap bikes ive got the issues of swapping cables.

Was going to get a flare or the new one that they make but again wont hang off a saddle bag.

Any suggestions?

UndercoverElephant

Fibre flare? Batteries, but it lasts for ever. Very visible too.

spasypaddy

how do they attach to a saddle bag?

t4tomo

Difficult to improve on standard cheapo smart rear light to be honest

UndercoverElephant

spasypaddy wrote:

how do they attach to a saddle bag?

Any way you like, you could attach them directly to the saddle rails, wrapped around the saddle bag, for instance.

spasypaddy

t4tomo wrote:

Difficult to improve on standard cheapo smart rear light to be honest

and thats where i think exposure have missed a trick. the new blaze rear light could easily have been made to hang from a saddle bag

mroli

Those Smart lights are about as visible and bright as you can get. water ingress was said to be a problem, but I never had an issue: http://www.koo-bikes.com/smart-lunar-r2-rear-light-2-x-12-watt.html?gclid=CIzcs6G7u7kCFTLMtAod3gwA2Q

rolf_f

mroli wrote:

Those Smart lights are about as visible and bright as you can get. water ingress was said to be a problem, but I never had an issue: http://www.koo-bikes.com/smart-lunar-r2-rear-light-2-x-12-watt.html?gclid=CIzcs6G7u7kCFTLMtAod3gwA2Q

I think the original 1/2 watts were the best. Still very bright but with a vastly superior run time. Could do with a couple of spares but they now only seem available in sets with the dire Smart front lights.

iPete

no seatpost at all? the hope district is obviously the balls but you have a lot of aero seatpost in your sig.

I'm not sure if you can mod the mj-818 to fit a saddle bag...

First.Aspect

Why do you want it on a saddle bag?

I've managed to secure a Dinotte to a saddle bag, but it required huge enginuity and massive intelligence (an allen key as a brace, a velcro strap and a very full saddle bag so nothing moves around too much).

rubertoe

The R2 is stupidly bright and at £11.99 is stupidly cheap

spasypaddy

so having looked at all your suggestions i went for the new exposure TraceR. Thankfully my saddlebag is a fizik one which attaches via a special quick release bracket so it attaches quite nicely to that.

its a substantial upgrade on the flare, they've fixed the main weakness of the flare which was the battery needing to go in and out and the front being twisted off/on

mbthegreat

One of those led bar things on the seat stay?

Kieran_Burns

I hang my Cateye LD1100 off my saddle bag on occasion - it comes with the hook option and my saddlebag has the loop

Mr.Duck

rubertoe wrote:

The R2 is stupidly bright and at £11.99 is stupidly cheap

Indeed. But it looks too cheap.

If you want something water tight and reliable. Something that performs and can be relied on. There must be something better. But the more expensive options still seem to have problems...

apreading

I think the Blackburn Mars are more reliable? Very bright and cheap too here: http://www.merlincycles.com/search/?t=m ... %2CcmsLite

rubertoe

Mr.Duck wrote:

rubertoe wrote:

The R2 is stupidly bright and at £11.99 is stupidly cheap

Indeed. But it looks too cheap.

If you want something water tight and reliable. Something that performs and can be relied on. There must be something better. But the more expensive options still seem to have problems...

I bought one, why would you not at that price, Original R2 in original packaging.

the R2 is a solid light, bit of grease around the seal and there is no issue with ingress, in fact i dont think i had any issues with the R1 that i had other than the suicide leap it took from my saddle bag.

rolf_f

Mr.Duck wrote:

rubertoe wrote:

The R2 is stupidly bright and at £11.99 is stupidly cheap

Indeed. But it looks too cheap...

Lol............. (he's dead, but I do like his expensive looking rear light! )

slowbike

Mr.Duck wrote:

rubertoe wrote:

The R2 is stupidly bright and at £11.99 is stupidly cheap

Indeed. But it looks too cheap.

If you want something water tight and reliable. Something that performs and can be relied on. There must be something better. But the more expensive options still seem to have problems...

I've just bought 2 of these and ran them over the weekend (wifes bike and my own) - to make them a little more water resistant I taped them up with electrical tape. Wet ride yesterday and today - working fine. I hope that's an indication of what's to come!

What is handy with the Smart Lunar R2's is that they come with two mounting brackets - one for the seat post and the other for the thinner stay. My wifes light is mounted on the seat post - she has nothing obstructing view of that. Mine is mounted on a rack stay - as I have a rack top-bag that would obscure the light completely if mounted on the seat post.

I'm a little dubious about saddle bag clip mounting - I lost a cateye light on a rough downhill section of my (on road) commute - never did find it

hedleymiller

Rolf F wrote:

the dire Smart front lights.

I'm on my second set of Smart lights - the first back one was replaced (after a few conversations) due to water affecting the on/off functionality, which in the case of a light is pretty crucial. Brightness is ridiculous though, and for the price definitely worth it.

The first front light jumped off it's mount going over London bridge and was never secure after that, I'm on the second which seems ok so far, though sometimes randomly turns off - what is your dire experience so I know what to look out for? A friend has the same and his seems to sometimes decide to turn off mid commute - does that sound normal?

spasypaddy - having looked at everyone's suggestions you went for something that hadn't been suggested by anyone?! (Sorry, couldnt resist)

spasypaddy

hedleymiller wrote:

spasypaddy - having looked at everyone's suggestions you went for something that hadn't been suggested by anyone?! (Sorry, couldnt resist)

i actually bought my first choice light after someone gave me an ingenious way to get it mounted on my saddlebag.

veronese68

spasypaddy wrote:

hedleymiller wrote:

spasypaddy - having looked at everyone's suggestions you went for something that hadn't been suggested by anyone?! (Sorry, couldnt resist)

i actually bought my first choice light after someone gave me an ingenious way to get it mounted on my saddlebag.

How? Do share. This is probably a prime example of where a picture is worth a thousand words.

spasypaddy

veronese68

Rats, don't think that would work for me as I have a strap on Topeak thing. Thanks for sharing.

willy b

The obvious answer is to get rid of that rucksack that hangs from beneath your saddle. :twisted:

Rule 29 chap!

spasypaddy

yeah, it never occured to me to do it like that.

the next option was a knog blinder as that was damn impressively bright and would fit where my cheap lezeyne back up is on the saddle bag

spasypaddy

willy b wrote:

The obvious answer is to get rid of that rucksack that hangs from beneath your saddle. :twisted:

Rule 29 chap!

functionality >>>>>>>> form

i have been tempted to move to an empty bottle for storing my saddle bag stuff in but not all my bikes have bottle cages

UndercoverElephant

spasypaddy wrote:

willy b wrote:

The obvious answer is to get rid of that rucksack that hangs from beneath your saddle. :twisted:

Rule 29 chap!

functionality >>>>>>>> form

i have been tempted to move to an empty bottle for storing my saddle bag stuff in but not all my bikes have bottle cages

Don't bother, it turns out a little bit rattly if you do.

spasypaddy

UndercoverElephant wrote:

spasypaddy wrote:

willy b wrote:

The obvious answer is to get rid of that rucksack that hangs from beneath your saddle. :twisted:

Rule 29 chap!

functionality >>>>>>>> form

i have been tempted to move to an empty bottle for storing my saddle bag stuff in but not all my bikes have bottle cages

Don't bother, it turns out a little bit rattly if you do.

bit of foam padding sorts that out. but i'm not going to do it. the fizik bag is perfect in that it currently works with 3 of my 5 bikes and the other two are in the process of me sourcing fizik saddles which work with it.

mroli

Just to let you know that my fizik bag split after a couple of years on the plastic holding the mount to the saddlebag (below the bottom left red band of your light). It was on my fixie, used every day to commute over rough London roads, carrying inner, tools etc and they are pretty cheap - but did seem to be a small design flaw to me....

asprilla

Gah!

Having fettled an Exposure Flare mount to fit perfectly on an aero seat post I thought I'd treat myself to a TraceR as it appears to solve all the issues I've had with my Flare (auto change and lack of fuel gauge) only to discover it uses a completely different mounting backet.

Grrr!

It doesn't look like the TraceR bracket is as good for fetting against an aero post. Doubly annoying is that I've got three bikes with Fizik Arione saddles on, each with a clip on Fizik Pak, but the bike with the aero seatpost isn't one of them......

Bum.