Its time for a lights thread

itboffin

Yup its true, i've been rolling with rear lights day & night all year this year and intend to for as long as i' riding but tonight on my commute home 8pm ish it was actually noticeably getting dark.

At the moment its to be seen only but its just a matter of time until its full on winter lighting

Winter is coming ....

BUZZ KILL

arthur_scrimshaw

itboffin wrote:

Yup its true, i've been rolling with rear lights day & night all year this year and intend to for as long as i' riding but tonight on my commute home 8pm ish it was actually noticeably getting dark.

At the moment its to be seen only but its just a matter of time until its full on winter lighting

Winter is coming ....

BUZZ KILL

You're as bad as the TV ads on now advertising back to school clothes for kids. God I used to hate those back then!

supersonic

Big shiny ones. Ones that can fry a horse from 50 yards.

UndercoverElephant

I want some that will disintegrate a horse, not just fry it!

rubertoe

I was actually thinking about this morning. I am doing away with all the crappy cheapo lights this year and going for something that blocks out the sun.

rhodrich

Bought a hub dynamo equipped wheel a couple of months ago. Given the quality of dynamo lights these days, it's most definitely the way forward.

veronese68

I had a cheap torch from DX, it was bright but a bit irritating. Now I have an Exposure Strada and a Joystick on the front. Both are 'kin bright and have that clever pulse mode where they are always on with a brighter pulse flashing. I use the joystick on this setting in daylight nowadays. I think it helps people to see me because my bike seems to invisible. Out back I have an Exposure Redeye and another one I can't remember the name of. They are expensive, even in the sales, but they work bloody well.

Kieran_Burns

I'm slightly worried I can't be seen, so I'm thinking of upgrading my Hope Vision 2 to the Vision 4 to go alongside the Magicshine MJ808e. Do you think I'll be okay?

veronese68

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm slightly worried I can't be seen, so I'm thinking of upgrading my Hope Vision 2 to the Vision 4 to go alongside the Magicshine MJ808e. Do you think I'll be okay?

We'll always be invisible to a percentage of phucktards. Then there are the really dangerous ones like the tart last night that know we're there, but don't give a toss. :roll:

elbowloh

I have 1 set of Exposure Flash/Flare that are for "best". I also have lezyne femto which are pretty much always on the bike....apart from when they get stolen.

UndercoverElephant

Rhodrich wrote:

Bought a hub dynamo equipped wheel a couple of months ago. Given the quality of dynamo lights these days, it's most definitely the way forward.

This is actually the correct answer. I've been running a B&M front light for the past three years and it's superb. I may upgrade to a newer model and re-rim the wheel this year, though.

elbowloh

Veronese68 wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm slightly worried I can't be seen, so I'm thinking of upgrading my Hope Vision 2 to the Vision 4 to go alongside the Magicshine MJ808e. Do you think I'll be okay?

We'll always be invisible to a percentage of phucktards. Then there are the really dangerous ones like the tart last night that know we're there, but don't give a toss. :roll:

howabout

bobbygloss

^^^ that is being silly.
But this is more realistic. 7 x XM-L2, with a claimed run time of 2.5 hours on full power.


(Found by Ouija in the MTB thread)

UndercoverElephant

Do you need two panniers to carry the batteries?

bobbygloss

Fuel cell and hydrogen cylinder in the trailer.

Kieran_Burns

Gawd that looks like it should be strapped to a rally car

arthur_scrimshaw

They'd see you coming if you looked like this.

supersonic

I've got one of these on test ;-) :



But you can't go wrong with one of these:

http://www.dx.com/p/y-002-2-x-cree-xm-l ... supersonic

Tested it too, superb light, better than ones costing 10 x that. Nice spread of light, well made, useful modes.

itboffin

what stun & kill? :shock:

arthur_scrimshaw

supersonic wrote:

I've got one of these on test ;-) :



But you can't go wrong with one of these:

http://www.dx.com/p/y-002-2-x-cree-xm-l ... supersonic

Tested it too, superb light, better than ones costing 10 x that. Nice spread of light, well made, useful modes.

I've got something very similar to your link and agree it's a great light apart from the curse of the rubber strap. I bought a Hope mounting bracket which sorted that out. I only use it offroad now because I was peeing off oncoming traffic, I could not get the cutoff right, tried shielding but that looked rubbish.

I've got an Exposure Strada Mk5 for road use now, it's not as bright as the Chinese light but the beam pattern much more usable on road. Also got it at a stonking price direct from Exposure using their friends and family discount as they are just down the road from me

Kieran_Burns

supersonic wrote:

I've got one of these on test ;-) :

So that is a small child holding it, yes? Please let it be a small child holding it or that is basically suitable for guiding ships...

meanredspider

This year I'm going to go all "Dutch" and have one of those little plastic LED lights that swing off your bars. I think that they only come with batteries that are already about to expire. Since everybody else is driving/riding whilst texting (even in the dark) a decent light is a waste of money...

keyser__soze

itboffin wrote:

Yup its true, i've been rolling with rear lights day & night all year this year and intend to for as long as i' riding but tonight on my commute home 8pm ish it was actually noticeably getting dark.

I keep the front/rear lights on my commuter bike all year round. I know the day I take them off or take the good bike in is the day I have to work late. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work the other way round, so not taking them off and taking the R3 doesn't guarantee an on-time finish as I found out last night.

Chinese Magicshine clone for me on the front. Used to run one on the rear too using a red lens/splitter cable which got a lot of people asking me where I bought it but found the biblical weather that had me wishing I'd been taking an arc to work rather than a bike put paid to that idea as they're not sufficiently waterproof without full guards.

supersonic

Kieran_Burns wrote:

supersonic wrote:

I've got one of these on test ;-) :

So that is a small child holding it, yes? Please let it be a small child holding it or that is basically suitable for guiding ships...

Lol, I do have small hands - but it is me! 9 XML2 LEDs, 6000 lumens with a 12 cell pack ;-)

That's measured lumens too by the maker. Otherwise it's 10,000!

seajays

I ordered myself some new CREE lights on eBay, in preparation for when the nights start getting darker (no streetlights on the cycle path). Parcel arrived last week containing this:

:shock:

Not exactly what I was looking for... no idea how to attach it to the bike.
Now waiting for lights to arrive again (apparently problem was a "new guy" in the warehouse).

ViperS15

I'll be sticking with my Cateye Volt 1200 front and Volt 50 rear. Can't fault either of them for anything!

daniel_b

Seajays wrote:

I ordered myself some new CREE lights on eBay, in preparation for when the nights start getting darker (no streetlights on the cycle path). Parcel arrived last week containing this:

:shock:

Not exactly what I was looking for... no idea how to attach it to the bike.
Now waiting for lights to arrive again (apparently problem was a "new guy" in the warehouse).

Superb, I thought you had some adjustable directional beam for a minute!

UndercoverElephant

Seajays wrote:

I ordered myself some new CREE lights on eBay, in preparation for when the nights start getting darker (no streetlights on the cycle path). Parcel arrived last week containing this:

:shock:

Not exactly what I was looking for... no idea how to attach it to the bike.
Now waiting for lights to arrive again (apparently problem was a "new guy" in the warehouse).

You'll have plenty of light on tap, that's for sure...

veronese68

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Seajays wrote:

I ordered myself some new CREE lights on eBay, in preparation for when the nights start getting darker (no streetlights on the cycle path). Parcel arrived last week containing this:

:shock:

Not exactly what I was looking for... no idea how to attach it to the bike.
Now waiting for lights to arrive again (apparently problem was a "new guy" in the warehouse).

You'll have plenty of light on tap, that's for sure...

I think there's a Y piece missing. You appear to have 2 tap connectors in regular 15mm to 1/2" but only one large union on the bottom of the tap.
Thought I'd shed some light on that for you.

MonkeyMonster

Actually, I will soon be riding through unlit country roads... I have an electron 4 aaa battery 9 led jobbie on the front (nice and bright) with two usb blackburn fleas on the helmet and seattube cateye big fattie one with 2 x 4 rows of leds, plus 2 others, one bag one that moves between seat stay or bag too for rear lighting.

However do I need something more to physically light my path out in the stix?

DrLex

Veronese68 wrote:

I think there's a Y piece missing. You appear to have 2 tap connectors in regular 15mm to 1/2" but only one large union on the bottom of the tap.
Thought I'd shed some light on that for you.

If it's like the one I had, then the flexible hoses screw into the bottom of the tap body; the threaded section you can make out is for the plate to clamp it to the underside of the worksurface. Alas, tap did not pass WAF, and was swapped out for a 'normal' mixer within a year...