Help me buy some lights.

papac

Covered before I am sure but 'tis the season etc. (I got caught out in the dark last night.)

Budget 120 euros. Could be bumped a bit if the spend was worth it.
Almost exclusively for use on dark country roads.

All suggestions welcome.

Lumen

MagicShine (ebay special) or Fenix TK11 are popular.

I use a couple of Busch + Müller IXON IQs. Lovely beam pattern but not really enough light with just the one.

ajk24

I have a set of these:

http://www.ayup-lights.com/

double your budget but really excellent. I have used them on completely unlit country roads and they are as good as any dipped headlights.

Dubba

I bought Hope Visions 1 (£76 on wiggle) after reading a good review of it on this forum (try a search of it) and find them really good esp. on dark quiet roads.

Blackburn Mars 1.0 for the rear (£11 on wiggle) are also excellent in my opinion.

72hundred

You know its coming towards winter when someone asks....

papac wrote: »

Covered before I am sure but 'tis the season etc. (I got caught out in the dark last night.)

Budget 120 euros. Could be bumped a bit if the spend was worth it.
Almost exclusively for use on dark country roads.

All suggestions welcome.

And get the same (good) advice;

Lumen wrote: »

MagicShine (ebay special / deal extreme) or Fenix TK11 are popular.

Dubba wrote: »

Blackburn Mars 1.0 for the rear (£11 on wiggle) are also excellent in my opinion.

chakattack

Dubba wrote: »

I bought Hope Visions 1 (£76 on wiggle) after reading a good review of it on this forum (try a search of it) and find them really good esp. on dark quiet roads.

Blackburn Mars 1.0 for the rear (£11 on wiggle) are also excellent in my opinion.

+1 on the Hope LED 1

No messing with external battery packs, dodgy mounts to fudge a torch to fit your bike or poor quality workmanship. It's very well made and you can swivel it on the mount to temporarily deflect the beam when you meet a car (they will flash you!).

There is one flaw, there is no low battery indicator. Buy high quality rechargable batteries and carry spares and you'll have no problems.

With a fresh battery pack I know I have at least 2.5 hrs on full power (only needed on completely unlit country roads -> great visibility at speed) which is enough for most winter spins.

If you get a charger and batteries on ebay the whole lot is less than 100 euro for a simple and hassle free 240 lumen setup.

Will be buying a second one for my helmet and pure floodlit luxury.

thebouldwhacker

Threads about lights already???








THERE GOES THE SUMMER:mad:

adrianshanahan

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Threads about lights already??

Yep, we got caught in the low light this evening when out MTBing...

Falling is funny (if its not you)

thebouldwhacker

Falling is better than not mtbing

To misquote a post from a while back

If an mtber falls in the woods and there is no one around to see it.... is it still funny?

papac

Thanks for replies lads.
Nothing much new in the bike lights dept then.

Had kinda decided to buy a brace of tk11s and take it from there.Don't see any major improvement for that money so will probably drive on with that plan.
I am fairly handy with the soldering iron so I might try to put a remote switch on one to have a high beam low beam thing going on.

blorg

Fenix make a remote switch for the TK11 although you might save building your own. Do you want to make something that varies the intensity rather than on/off? As on/off is easy with the mounted TK11 but intensity is a bit tricky when on the bike (it involves rotating the head.)

The Magicshine is brighter but the TK11 is more than enough for night cycling on-road. The TK11 is also far more robustly made IMO and of course smaller/self-contained (I have two TK11s and one Magicshine.) The Magicshine broke soon after arrival and DX weren't a lot of help- it was just the mount so it still works stapped into a LockBlock but not sure I'd take it on rough ground like that.

Lumen

He's alive!

Blorg, what lights are you using for your medium-long cycle? I imagine 18650 charging is a non-starter.

Highway_To_Hell

I presume (but maybe I am wrong) that lighting requirements to be seen on well lit urban roads is different to lighting requirements to see where you are going on badly lit rural roads.

This year I plan to commute by bike right through the winter so I will be cycling in the dark. My route is on well lit urban roads (Citywest to Killiney) and I had planned on only using basic cateye lights, probably 1 on my handle bars and one mounted on my helmet. I will also have a rear flashing red light. I know it is un euro but over the weekend I have added reflective strips to the front and rear forks and put back on the wheel reflecters to both wheels (it only my fixed gear commuter so I don't mind.) I will also have led/reflective bands on arms and ankles. I think I will be lit up like a Christmas tree but is it adaquate for my needs or would I be better getting a decent/high lumen light set.

I would expect any longer weekend spins on my road bike will be done during daylight so I wouldnt have a hugh lighting up requirement.

any advice welcomed.

tunney

My long rides last year were late at night from Dublin to far end of Cavan.

I needed floodlights with a 5:30 + (depending on wind direction) hour burn time. Exposure Joystick on the helmet, bigger exposure light with a 3 cell piggy back on the bars. Have to dim them with on coming cars or you blind them so got the remote as well. Nicely built. Bright, good patterns.

markcroninbsc

i say forget the lights and buy a set of rollers

Lumen

markcroninbsc wrote: »

i say forget the lights and buy a set of rollers

You cannot commute on rollers unless you work from home.

markcroninbsc

Lumen wrote: »

You cannot commute on rollers unless you work from home.

thats what the car is for!

cdaly_

Highway_To_Hell wrote: »

any advice welcomed.

I'd say you're doing fine.

I use two flashing front lights on the bike as well as a steady beam on my helmet for night-time. The helmet light is handy for directing at drivers to attract their attention at junctions. It can also be handy for those poorly lit bits when you want to spot the potholes...

papac

markcroninbsc wrote: »

i say forget the lights and buy a set of rollers

Its not really an either/or situation I'd say.

Rollers/turbos have their place but the outdoor training season can be extended with a set of good lights.

papac

blorg wrote: »

Fenix make a remote switch for the TK11 although you might save building your own. Do you want to make something that varies the intensity rather than on/off? As on/off is easy with the mounted TK11 but intensity is a bit tricky when on the bike (it involves rotating the head.)

The Magicshine is brighter but the TK11 is more than enough for night cycling on-road. The TK11 is also far more robustly made IMO and of course smaller/self-contained (I have two TK11s and one Magicshine.) The Magicshine broke soon after arrival and DX weren't a lot of help- it was just the mount so it still works stapped into a LockBlock but not sure I'd take it on rough ground like that.

Thanks for link to switch Blorg. Wouldn't be arsed with diy for 20 yoyos. I'd end up spending half the money and fart-acting around for half a day to make something not as good.

My plan was to use two tk11s judiciously aimed so that I could turn one off to avoid dazzling oncoming cars. Once I got them set up right by trial and error I would paint some reference marks on the side of my shed so I could repeat the set up. Anyone see any problems with this plan.??
Would 2tk11s be enough for high speed descending on really sh1t roads.??

Magicshines look a bit ropey to me.I had discounted them very early in my research.

Turbulent Bill

Highway_To_Hell wrote: »

This year I plan to commute by bike right through the winter so I will be cycling in the dark. My route is on well lit urban roads (Citywest to Killiney) and I had planned on only using basic cateye lights, probably 1 on my handle bars and one mounted on my helmet. I will also have a rear flashing red light. I know it is un euro but over the weekend I have added reflective strips to the front and rear forks and put back on the wheel reflecters to both wheels (it only my fixed gear commuter so I don't mind.) I will also have led/reflective bands on arms and ankles. I think I will be lit up like a Christmas tree but is it adaquate for my needs or would I be better getting a decent/high lumen light set.

If you're on well-lit urban roads then you shouldn't need high-powered lights to see where you're going, but you will need to be noticeable to everyone else amid all the other lights. The flashing lights / Christmas tree effect is the way to go if you're worried about not being seen.

cdaly_

papac wrote: »

Thanks for link to switch Blorg. Wouldn't be arsed with diy for 20 yoyos. I'd end up spending half the money and fart-acting around for half a day to make something not as good.

But you'd have so much fun doing it...

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

if you're worried about not being seen.

I've always been convinced that my use of flashing lights in daylight is of benefit too. Draws the eye so you get noticed. This was confirmed for me the other day when I was driving (sorry) the back roads of Portmarnock. The tree-lined roads had patches of bright sunlight and patches of shade. I was following a cyclist down Blackheath(?) Lane and, as he went from sun to shade and back he would be more or less visible. Typically quite a bit less visible while he was in shade and I was in full sun.

However, he had flashing lights front and rear and so was always in my vision even when in the shade...

Blowfish

Lumen wrote: »

He's alive!

Blorg, what lights are you using for your medium-long cycle? I imagine 18650 charging is a non-starter.

Actually, it should be possible with one of these.

blorg

I have three power monkeys with me plus their solar panel but although they use 18650s internally they are sealed so not an option for charging.

For the front light I am using an ITP A3 EOS. This is a tiny tiny single-AAA light which weighs only 9g but is extraordinarily good. Obviously runtime is affected with only around 50 minutes on the turbo mode (80 lumens) but the medium mode (18 lumens) gives 4 hours and is OK if you are not pegging it. Spare AAAs are readily available and easy to carry. There is also a low 1.5 lumen mode giving 50 hours which is pefectly adaquate for reading in a tent, etc. One of the key points mentioned in the reviews was that the three modes were usefully different and they really are. I don't plan on cycling in the dark but I have already done so on unlit country roads through necessity and it was more than adaquate; have used it camping rough in the woods too.



To be honest I didn't fully grasp how small this thing was; a single AA torch probably would have done me as good with longer runtimes but on the other hand it is handy to only need one type of battery (Smart 1/2 watt on the back also takes AAA.)

tomasrojo

Does anyone know of anywhere in Dublin that sells the Cateye EL 530?



I've had one for a few years and I found it good enough for my purposes, but it's finally given up the ghost. I'd like a Cateye again, because I have their brackets on all my bikes.

I would order off wiggle, but I need it for some night-time cycling tomorrow.

tomasrojo

The EL 530 is on cycleways.com. I guess I'll try there.

Thanks for nothing, boards!

funkyjebus

You could see if you can get a one of these beasts.

http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/eco-gadgets-self-powered-laser-makes-bicycling-safe/