Lights

roscoe

Hi guys,

Any recommendations for decent front and rear lights for a Specialized Allez?

To be seen basically, don’t need them to light up the road. Looking for something that’s bright, really bright! Options for fully on or pulse/flash, rechargeable. Used day or night.

Had a look on wiggle, read reviews online and there’s a huge choice so thought I’d see what other folks are using.

Cheers

roscoe

Adding ti the above, budget £100 ish.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

https://www.planetx.co.uk/products/planet-x-super-mini-2-way-200-lumen-bike-helmet-light are great as a supplementary/redundancy "to be seen" light that can cover front or rear (or both if attached to helmet instead of frame).

pblakeney

I just use Moon Orions. Cheap, small, light and do the job at 100 lumens.
For your budget you are looking at lighting the road or gimick (imo) features.

MidlandsGrimpeur2

I have always used Lezyne, never had any issues. Something like the Micro drive/strip drive set with a front/rear combo is good. You have a range of lumen options which dictates price. The 600xl front light is more than enough for UK roads and has a range of flash and beam functions on both lights. You should be able to pick up a set for £60-70.

webboo

I have Lezyne front light which didn’t get much use and just after the warranty ran out it no longer would charge.
I have a cateye front light which is 8 years old and still working perfectly.

roscoe

Ideal, thanks guys

pangolin

oxoman said:

Lezyne, moon, cateye amongst others are all reliable and in budget. Exposure are the dogs danglers but out of your budget. As an aside I would recommend you have a spare set on the bike in case of mid ride failure.

Exposure trace/tracer combo is £75

andyrr

Cateye?
Amazon have this for £30 CatEye AMPP 200/Viz 100 Light Set

roscoe

andyrr said:

Cateye?
Amazon have this for £30 CatEye AMPP 200/Viz 100 Light Set

Gone for this set up. Thanks for the heads up

plymouthsteve

Bontrager ion flare rt front and rear set is £89. Less sometimes.
I can't break them and I'm usually very good at doing that.
Use mine all year round in all weather including rain without mudguards.
I think there's some bluetoothness going on somewhere too 🤔
Very bright.
Have a Google. They're good 👍

alwaystimetotorque

Another shout for Exposure trace/tracer. Great light output as well as battery life and easy to recharge from any laptop or anything else with a USB port.

The really small size means they can be mounted easily anywhere.

pangolin

OP has already bought some lights

pep.fermi

For years LBS discouraged me from installing dynamo hub lights.
Finally I installed them on my commuter. Best thing I ever did.
No longer need to bother about charging etc. Ever.
Installed them years ago, always worked perfect, never needed any maintenance.

plymouthsteve

pangolin said:

OP has already bought some lights

True, but other people read these threads for a long time after that

froze

What pisses me off about bicycle light manufacturers is that the make the LED bulb to last 100,000 hours, but the battery will only last 200 to 500 recharge charges, that means that if the typical light will last 4 hours, times 200 is only 8,000 hours on the LED, some flash modes could see 30 hours of run time but still that's only 15,000 hours, but since the batteries cannot be replaced, we have to throw it away and buy another. So much for the green responsible idea.

That is why I bought a NiteRider Lumina 1200 Boost headlight because when the battery no longer takes a charge, for less than $30 NiteRider will replace the battery. In fact, the way the light is laid out I can replace the battery myself if I want to, but they'll check other things and reseal it before sending it back.

That light has a 800-lumen pulse flash, that flash pattern is the best one, there is another called fast flash, but it doesn't have the brighter pulse which is much more attention grabbing. On pulse flash it will run for 10 hours, mine will run about 10 hours and 20 minutes, so the factory is under-rating the amount of time the battery will work before needing a charge. Of course, you should never drain the battery more than 30% except in emergencies.

That particular light is on sale for $99, if you want something with about 800 more lumens than mine, go over to the refurbish tab on the NiteRider website and look at the Lumina Dual 1800, that light will pulse at 1,500 lumens, but it might be out of your price range at $120. If you decide that's the one to get act fast because the refurbs go fast, my light was a refurb and only paid $50, but they don't have any of those at this time.

pep.fermi

Why batteries?
Dynamos are greener. And cheaper. And less hassle (well, zero hassle).

joeyhalloran

froze said:

What pisses me off about bicycle light manufacturers is that the make the LED bulb to last 100,000 hours, but the battery will only last 200 to 500 recharge charges, that means that if the typical light will last 4 hours, times 200 is only 8,000 hours on the LED, some flash modes could see 30 hours of run time but still that's only 15,000 hours, but since the batteries cannot be replaced, we have to throw it away and buy another. So much for the green responsible idea.

That is why I bought a NiteRider Lumina 1200 Boost headlight because when the battery no longer takes a charge, for less than $30 NiteRider will replace the battery. In fact, the way the light is laid out I can replace the battery myself if I want to, but they'll check other things and reseal it before sending it back.

That light has a 800-lumen pulse flash, that flash pattern is the best one, there is another called fast flash, but it doesn't have the brighter pulse which is much more attention grabbing. On pulse flash it will run for 10 hours, mine will run about 10 hours and 20 minutes, so the factory is under-rating the amount of time the battery will work before needing a charge. Of course, you should never drain the battery more than 30% except in emergencies.

That particular light is on sale for $99, if you want something with about 800 more lumens than mine, go over to the refurbish tab on the NiteRider website and look at the Lumina Dual 1800, that light will pulse at 1,500 lumens, but it might be out of your price range at $120. If you decide that's the one to get act fast because the refurbs go fast, my light was a refurb and only paid $50, but they don't have any of those at this time.

This is why I went with exposure too as they offer a full repair service supporting lights that are ~20 years old in some cases!

i.bhamra

Some Moon models have replaceable batteries, I have one (LX760 or something similar) that's still going strong after 5 years and is now onto it's 3rd battery. No need for any special tools just unscrew the end and slot in a new battery.