Lights recommendations

rob39
rob39 Posts: 479
edited March 2018 in Road buying advice
Planning a 24hr charity cycle ride mid June or early July, so will need some lights for the night legs. Majority of the ride will be on quiet country roads and very dark with a couple of sections through a couple of small towns. Its a 13 mile circuit,
So what would be the recommended lumen power for the front light???

Comments

  • joebristol
    joebristol Posts: 327
    Difficult with road riding to choose between seeing really well and not blinding other road users.

    I’ve got a few front lights that I use on the front of my road bike for commuting. At full power one is 600 lumens and the other is 700 lumens. On the busy road sections I run both on medium and pointed down a bit - but on an unlit towpath I unleash full power. Off-road they wouldn’t be enough each - but on road they’ll be fine. Off road I run the 700 lumen torch style one on my helmet and have another 1200 lumen bar light. The 1200 would be too bright on the road in most of its settings though I’d say.

    None of them were very expensive - £16 / £25 / £25 I think. With the 600 and 1200 they run seperate battery packs so you could buy a couple to last the time you need - the 700 is a torch style one with a single 18750 battery in it I think - you could again buy a couple.
  • rob39
    rob39 Posts: 479
    Joebristol wrote:
    Difficult with road riding to choose between seeing really well and not blinding other road users.

    I’ve got a few front lights that I use on the front of my road bike for commuting. At full power one is 600 lumens and the other is 700 lumens. On the busy road sections I run both on medium and pointed down a bit - but on an unlit towpath I unleash full power. Off-road they wouldn’t be enough each - but on road they’ll be fine. Off road I run the 700 lumen torch style one on my helmet and have another 1200 lumen bar light. The 1200 would be too bright on the road in most of its settings though I’d say.

    None of them were very expensive - £16 / £25 / £25 I think. With the 600 and 1200 they run seperate battery packs so you could buy a couple to last the time you need - the 700 is a torch style one with a single 18750 battery in it I think - you could again buy a couple.

    Any links to the type of lights they are. They sound great
  • alan_sherman
    alan_sherman Posts: 1,157
    Just buy a hub Dynamo wheel and LED light and be done with it. No stress about batteries.
  • joebristol
    joebristol Posts: 327
    Hi Rob, whilst the lights are bright enough, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend any of them whole heartedly!

    The 700 lunen light is from a UK ebay seller called Torchy. He’s well reknowned for providing decent batteries and chargers that are properly uk certified, rather than slightly dodgy Hong king / China based sellers which is very hit and miss. It’s a Soshine DC12 and in itself it’s a great little light. On the helmet it’s perfect - but on the handlebars of my racer it vibrates a bit too much due to the weight of it. Torchy does sell slightly more expensive lights hat I think are smaller / lighter.

    The 600 lumen light is a Brite-R selector - but the bracket on the bars is made of slightly brittle plastic so you’ve got to be careful with it so you don’t crack it. Also it’s got a touch sensitive button on the top of the unit to change power settings - but on bumpy paths it can change the setting on its own. It doesn’t do this off-road on my mtb with 2.5” tyres and 160mm travel forks, but on the racer it does.

    I’d suggest for decent lights at a budget to look at Torchy stuff. He has a wide variety of lights available. I find some of the big brands are quite expensive for what you get - but a 600 lumen rechargeable light shouldn’t set you back too much anyway.
  • joebristol
    joebristol Posts: 327
    Brite-R selector - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brite-R-Select ... B016DOLZ50

    Another Brite-r light I haven’t tried but might be better as it looks like the selector but without the touch sensitive power button - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brite-R®-Bicycle-6000mAh-Rechargeable-Battery/dp/B016TO7W7E

    Torchy Soshine DC12 - it’s only 525 lumens actually - not 700 but I’d say it’s just as bright if not brighter than the brite r light. Definitely a whiter light - there’s also a £20 version of the same light with a lower capacity battery.

    http://www.torchy.co.uk/product/soshine ... -l-u2-led/

    I’ve read quite a lot of good things about his fluxient lights too.

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