[Richthornton]

My commute will shortly be done in increasing darkness, and before long in pitch black. I can justify buying a new set of lights, front and rear, as the more I ride, the less I am spending on petrol.
What I need to know is what is a sensible level of brightness to light up the (unlit, country) roads ahead?
Lumens, candlelight, watts etc all mean nothing to me, so what level should I be looking for, anyone know?

Topic

[FMOAB]

The Lezyne power drive
The Lezyne power drive mentioned by Dave is a great light, high quality etc, but I suggest going with a double set of lights or a twin head unit in order to give some perspective on the depth of potholes.

I went with the Electron Terra for a balance of brightness and run time, seperate battery pack is a bit of a pain, but worth it for the battery life. You can currently get the brighter terra 2 evo for £71 on tredz.

[700c]

Not very useful to resurrect
Not very useful to resurrect this thread in the middle of summer?!

[TeamCC]

Bicycle lights should
Bicycle lights should illuminate the path well for you but not overpower other road users. I’m saying this as another cyclist, sometimes on a bicycle path at night through Hyde Park I am staring down what looks like a train or possibly the sun rising. Then I’m less safe on my bicycle when I have to look away or lose my night vision.

[Peter_Mould]

I think one of the comments
I think one of the comments has a really good website link. You need to consider many factors before deciding which one best suit your needs. Since you mentioned it is going to be pitch black, then it is necessary to get a brighter than usual lighting. LED for bicycles is available which is bright enough to light up the front while riding. It works just like LED in cars like BMW, Volvo and such only that the intensity is lower since bicycles are smaller.

[dangerousdan]

I got a 1200 lumen monster
I got a 1200 lumen monster direct from China off of eBay.

It’s bright as you like – I often get flashed by car drivers and abuse from pedestrians if I don’t get the angle quite right.

But I’d much rather cope with that than have someone standing over me as I lie bleeding in a ditch saying “sorry mate, didn’t see you there.”

In fact, I bought two. One for the head, one for the bars.

Can’t miss me.

[Richthornton]

For anyone interested, I
For anyone interested, I ended up ordering the Lezyne SuperDrive at an irresistible price of £65 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=70575
I probably would have preferred the Light + Motion Urban 300 but couldn’t find it for less than £90 so the Lezyne wins.
Thanks to all for the suggestions, I lost most of an afternoon comparing them all!

[paulfg42]

I bought a Magicshine MJ-872
I bought a Magicshine MJ-872 1600 Lumen Rechargeable LED Front Bike Light last winter for cycling along unlit country roads on my commute. The light is great for road vision, without even using the top setting. Very easy to change the setting and it feels like moving from full beam to dipped.

[Richthornton]

Whilst I have the attention
Whilst I have the attention of a bunch of people who seem to know their stuff about lights:
I have a Fibre Flare which I think is a fantastic rear light for a number of reasons. It stopped working after quite a lot of use in all weather conditions but I had a poke around and found that the problem seems to be simply that a tiny piece of electrical wire has become dissatached. It would seem a really simple job to repair but I just wonder where I could get a job like this done, I think I’d like to stop short of calling an electrician out for this one!
Any ideas?

[alotronic]

Agree with everyone that
Agree with everyone that talks about dip. The big bang MTB lights are great in the forest, but blinding drivers on country lanes is not a good idea, they tend to drive towards what they are looking at (ie your light).

I had a 900 lumen MTB light around town and ended up pointing it a looooong way down. Pointless really. Now I use a dynamo with a shaped beam (Bausch and Muller for ref) which is excellent – a proper cut off beam and good spread.

So buy a specific road light if you can, I haven’t tried these dip beam lights but I reckon that’s the way forward. I have a small flasher on my helmet that is not blinding for riding in traffic – cars can see you above the other cars around.

Same on the back – one bright solid beam and a small flasher.

And LOTS of reflective doo dads.

[Richthornton]

This is great, thanks for all
This is great, thanks for all the suggestions. At some point when I have enough time I will sit down and take a look at all the lights mentioned here.
In the meantime, keep ’em coming!

[Simon E]

dave_atkinson wrote:the beam

dave_atkinson wrote:

the beam test engine that gkam has linked to is the best way to compare them, we’re working on an updated one.

Wahey!

In the meantime I would look at the 300 lumens / £100 region for unlit roads, and bear in mind that beam spread is as important as output.

I have used a Fenix LD20 for 3 years now. It’s rated at 180 lumens on full power and has a reasonable spread. When the road is wet, particularly on the narrow lanes that may have debris, I often wish I had two.

So I’m looking at supplementing it with a Lezyne Power Drive (well made, should last well) or similar. road.cc’s excellent beam comparison shots already referenced have persuaded me that the mini drive is too narrow a spot to be of value, despite it now going dirt cheap now as revamped models are due very soon (£27.50 here). If I didn’t already have the LD20 I’d probably buy two Mini Drive lights to run simultaneously.

A former colleague has Moon X-300 but I’d suggest the more powerful X-500 or Lezyne Super Drive instead.

For the rear Cateye lights like the LD600/610 are brilliant. They run for ages on two AAAs.

[MrBLH]

Deal extreme do some good
Deal extreme do some good lights at a low price, I use this one for my commuting now but it was originally bought for off road night riding.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mj-808e-ha-iii-cree-xm-lt60-3-mode-1000-lumen-led-bike-light-set-4×18650-57100

2nd mode is plenty bright enough to light the road to spot any ‘defects’ or anything you might want to avoid, as well as being visible to cars.

On the rear I have a super flash which is really visible and economic with batteries, a gift though so not sure on the source.

[Darthshearer]

One thing that annoyed me on
One thing that annoyed me on my commute was the bright strobing front lights some other riders had. It was annoying when you passed them as it used to put me off and car drivers were dazzled / hesitant and caused problems.

When I commuted on the bike I used a Hope Vision 2, it was great.

For going out at night off road I have an Exposure MaxX D a cracking light and like Bed Clanger (ooo matron) says, they are great units.

[Bedfordshire Clanger]

Hi Rich,
Once the clocks
Hi Rich,

Once the clocks change I’ll be doing about 45 minutes in complete darkness out on the country lanes and 15 under street lights each way for my daily commute. I use an Exposure Strada mk2 and it’s excellent. There’s a flashing function for well lit roads and twilight plus dipped and full beam modes. On all but the darkest nights the dipped mode is good enough for me to ride safely at up to 25mph. It’s also handy to switch between modes when cars are coming the other way on the back lanes to remind them to dip their lights. There is a wired thumb switch that you can attach closer to your hand on the bars for easy operation but I’ve never bothered with it. The light is designed for use on the road so it has a wide flat beam which illuminates the way ahead but doesn’t shine too high to dazzle oncoming traffic or light the tree tops. The light is a rechargeable single sealed unit with an aluminium casing and very secure bracket. I couldn’t do without it. I recommend it unreservedly, it’s worth every penny.

On the rear I’ve just bought the Exposure Flare with rechargeable batteries and charger to replace my old plastic Cateye light which stopped working after I dropped it. So far I’m very happy with it and it is extremely bright. With flashing or steady beam functions.

I’m sure that there are plenty of comparable lights out there and some may baulk at the price but I’m very happy with mine. I’ve been using the Strada for every day commuting in the dark since Jan 2011 without any trouble at all. You can’t go wrong with it. I recouped the money I spent on it in petrol cost avoided in about six weeks.

The latest model, mk3, is a shade under £200 online at Winstanley, Shiny and Wiggle. If you can find the mk2 in a clearance somewhere for even less it would be worth picking up.

[bazzargh]

Nige – I thought I’d check
Nige – I thought I’d check your claim for the knog lights as I’ve had (different) lights of theirs fail on me in torrential rain. The Blinders are rated IP66, which means they are dust tight, but for water they’re protected against ‘jets or waves’, but not even temporary immersion (IP67 rating) let alone prolonged immersion (IP68 rating).

So yes waterproof but *not* total immersion, hope you haven’t been dunking yours in the bath to show off 😉

[Author]

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