Bike light lost - need replacement

tangled_metal

On the ride home my cateye X2 rear light somehow came off its mounting on my rear rack. I used a cateye carrier mount with spacer x and attached the light to that as I normally do. I charged it up at the weekend and I have ridden my bike 3 times since so I don't know why it came off. The spacerx and rubber band are still there just the light has gone.

So my question is, do I replace with the same X2 or the newer version kinetic X2 or step up to x3?

I was very impressed by my original x light then got the X2 when the rubber rear came off. I was happy with the X2 until it got lost. So can I trust the rubber band attachment to a spacerx any more? Should I look elsewhere?

My one criteria other than the usual bright, rechargeable, side visibility is that it must easily fit on my rear rack.

Any ideas?

redvee

I'd ditch the X2 as the same has happened to someone else on the CTC forum too

cougie

This is why you should never rely on just the one light at the back.

If I'm riding at night I always have two on. A seesense on the seatpost flashing and a cheap smart halfwatt on the seat stay.

You can pick the latter up for buttons and they're very decent so long as you have mudguards. Two of those would be better and cheaper than your one cateye.

tangled_metal

cougie wrote:

This is why you should never rely on just the one light at the back.

If I'm riding at night I always have two on. A seesense on the seatpost flashing and a cheap smart halfwatt on the seat stay.

You can pick the latter up for buttons and they're very decent so long as you have mudguards. Two of those would be better and cheaper than your one cateye.

You're right, that's why my backup light got me home safely. Annoyingly my second front light ran out of charge too. I charge every second or third day and my Aldi back up lights are often in flash so should last longer. I suspect those moon clone lights get about a year of commuting before the battery loses efficiency.

tangled_metal

My current setup is I think the Aldi nebula clone on my head tube, the performance lightset from Aldi on my bars and seat pack light loop. The X2 on a spacerx on my rack.

Last year I used a nebula clone on the seatpost and a cateye volt 300 replacing the Aldi performance lightset from this year. However over summer I lost them somewhere in the house. The volt 300 was a good light for my needs. I've been looking for something to replace it but the Aldi stopgap seemed OK. The rear light looks really good and seems bright enough. Almost as bright as the X2 I think.

I must admit I did like the X2 light. I've been thinking about its light spread too. I think it's designed to be used vertically. I had been using it horizontally, it probably means the wide angle of spread is vertically and there isn't much sideways spread. I never thought about that when I inserted the spacerx the way I did. Easy enough to turn it 90°.

So ppl don't recommend the elastic band mounted x series lights on the rack. What else that's as bright as the x2/x3 lights? That's 80 or 100/150 lumens I believe. Seatpost has no room so I'm looking for a rack mounted, bright light. So far the rack mount lights I've seen seem a bit under powered to me.

I don't want to have one on a stay or side of a rack because a loaded rack would obscure the light at least a bit. Also I don't want to rely on the seatpack mounted light because I don't trust the clip plus it moves around a bit.

My partner used to have a cateye mounted light on her rack. A simple screw tightened locking strap round the rear bar if the rack. Not a good mount IMHO.

fenix

Two cheapos either side of the rack though would cover all of your bases ?

slowbike

Ah ... rear lights - one of my most favourite subjects!

I used to like Cateye rear lights - had a few - but two have fallen off mid ride - no bone shaking off road riding - just plain simple road rides.

I now have
1 Knog blinder (the other one the battery failed and won't charge - you can't replace the battery) - this is a very versatile light that is quick to swap anywhere - I've added a verticle bar to the back of our racks so we can place them on there when needed.
2 Smart R2s - I love these lights - I had a "complaint" at a TT once because the guy behind me could see it for ages and it was demoralising for him because it didn't look like he was getting any closer. Mine are AAA. They are either clip over a loop (such as saddle bag) or have a mount which has to be screwed to a seatpost or seat stay - I did some jiggery one year and added the mount to my rack (innertubes stretched around the rack to pad it out so the clamp worked).
1 Aldi-Camera light - this is ok - but not the best light (and not the best camera) - and requires a huge amount of seatpost to sit in.

Various other strap/screw on lights that I've picked up over the years.

My son has a 2 x CR2032 flashy light for his balance bike - I wouldn't use it on a daily basis for commuting though - it'd chew through the batteries!

My brother uses the FibreFlare - which would easily be attached to a rack - but I don't think you can get them anymore. Oh - there's a super-shorty USB on amazon.

keef66

I lost my trusty 9 year old Cateye TL1100 a few months back. Must've bounced out of the bag loop at a point I didn't hear it clattering down the road. I think the size and weight of the thing coupled with a new seat pack having a slightly different loop was it's undoing.

Anyhoo, I replaced it with a Moon Comet XPro. Crikey, rear lights have come on a lot in the last 10 years. It's smaller than a finger of KitKat and about as light. USB rechargeable Li-Po battery. A range of static and flashing modes and different levels of brightness, from merely retina searing all the way to full on light sabre. Multiple mounting options, all of which appear extremely secure. There's also a bracket available to mount to the rear of a rack.

At the same time I also bought a hatful of cheap AAA rear lights from Planet X, and another but more basic AAA Cateye, so I always have 2, sometimes 3 rear lights at night.