Lights

shaungil

Folks,

Am doing Race Around Ireland in September so need to invest in a decent set of lights. Some criteria from rule book include:

Front Headlights

1. All bicycles used in Night time conditions must have a headlight that provides at least 6

metres (20 feet) of illumination on the roadway in front of the handlebars of the bicycle

and visible from 100 metres
Back Light

3. Rear lights must be red and visible from at least 150m (500 feet).

4. Rear lights must have at least 3 LED bulbs or one bright incandescent bulb.

I want ones that I can use for the odd commute from Skerries in winter so a) can illuminate some dark roads and b) make me visible

I'm already forking out a fair bit of cash on various things so would prefer not to part with over EUR 100 (is this realistic?).

Raam the ones you showed me look good and will defo borrow for RAI as back up but need to get my own anyway.

Any thoughts and links to wiggle to avoid me doing too much research would be greatly appreciated.

Bunnyhopper

I got one of these recently - they had them going cheap on PBK but they're out of stock now. They're very bright, constant or flashing, run off 2xAAA batteries.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Smart_1~2_Watt_3_LED_Rear_Light/5360026001/

For the front I have the predecessor of this (the EL510):

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Cateye_EL520_Front_Light/5360025759/

The 510 runs on 4xAA batteries and has a long-life setting that is almost as bright as the full beam. It's fine for around the city but it's not great for anywhere that doesn't have street lights. Even for heading through the Phoenix Park back roads after dark it's a bit too weak and doesn't have a wide enough beam. I've heard mention on here of Fenix torches as an alternative (you can get a bicycle mount to attach then to stem or bars). I think I'd look at getting one of those if I was going out of the city. Where's best to buy them and which model would be most suitable I don't know - I'm sure someone on here will be able to advise you.

https://www.fenix-store.com/index.php

Lumen

For the front, Fenix TK-11, 2x18650 batteries (protected), a charger, and a velcro bike mount. One battery lasts about 3 hours on max IIRC.

The only downside with a torch is that it emits a round (unshaped) beam, so you'll tend to get flashed by oncoming traffic unless you point it down quite a lot, which will reduce the range.

There are bike lights with shaped beams (e.g. Busch & Muller IXON IQ Speed, on my 2010 Santi list) but they're more expensive than a Fenix.

blorg

Fenix TK-11 is very good, I have cycled halfway across the country with it on turbo before the batteries ran down (and they are easily replacable.) To be honest even the 13 hour mode is sufficient for road riding at night, the turbo mode is a bit of a luxury, maybe save it for fast descents.

Nietzschean

blorg wrote: »

Fenix TK-11 is very good, I have cycled halfway across the country with it on turbo before the batteries ran down (and they are easily replacable.) To be honest even the 13 hour mode is sufficient for road riding at night, the turbo mode is a bit of a luxury, maybe save it for fast descents.

you do fast descents at night? just thinking of that gets my HR up...

turbine?

I bought these last winter. Their the business for road use and with the helmet mount and bar mount great for trail use.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12060

and these

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15642
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790

It gives 500-600 lumens for just over (compared to a set of AY-UP's) (The torch is rated at 900 lumens but apparently that is over optomistic)

Burn time on full is around an hour but its easy swap out batteries, and on medium setting the burn time is a good bit longer, say three to four hours.

The light is more of a flood so better of on the bars, but still shines way further than you need.

The helmet mounted light is this one:

https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15335

about 240 lumens, longer burn time. Spot light rather than flood. Uses same batteries as first torch.

Great value set of lights.