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news
roadcc peoples choiceWhat's the best rear light for cycling? Help decide the road.cc People's Choice
What's your favourite rear light? Tell us in this week's People's Choice poll.
The days of feeble incandescent-bulb rear lights are thankfully long gone, swept away by LED devices visible from hundreds of metres away with long battery life. You've a huge range of options from tiny backup flashers to intense units that are brighter than car rear lights. So what do you choose? Rechargeable or battery-powered? Steady or flashing? Or one of each?
Here's your chance to tell us.
Old school (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 acme08/Flickr)
Here's how it works:
- Post a comment to nominate a product. Check it hasn't already been nominated. Add a link to the product wherever you can.
- Like a comment to vote for that product. Remember to like your own comment if you're nominating something.
- One comment per product. Any multiple comments will be deleted and their likes will not count towards a product's score. The first nomination will be the one that is counted.
- One product per comment. Otherwise the voting doesn't make any sense.
- Maximum 30 nominations per award. Once we hit 30 nominations we will close the nomination process.
- All votes will be counted up until the closing date. Votes after this may appear but will not be counted.
- We reserve the right to remove any comment at our sole discretion.
- Closing date is 10am, Wednesday, November 4.
Over to you!
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
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Nothing new about zebra [or light controlled] crossing on roundabouts. Sheffield has had them for decades, possibly since the 1970s.
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That's true enough. But doesn't address my point that the chainset you get as a replacement will not physically fit chainrings from the chain set...
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In all fairness, it almost certainly NEVER happened…
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71 comments
That Lezyne Stripdrive Pro is good but does not last near long enough. As a car driver, the flashing rear lights make a huge difference to visibility, more than overall brightness. I have a Hope District Plus which is a pain to charge but lasts ages and is super high quality in terms of build and very bright. That would be my best.
Exposure TraceR - like all their lights bright and easy to charge - and the latest ones have a much improved rubber ring to stop anything nasty getting into the micro USB charging port
see sense . have had lezyne and bont R NOTHING compares. 10 hour battery life
+1 for the SeeSense
Sigma MONO RL - small, bright, very easy to charge, and looks good too.
http://sigma-inmotion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/titel.jpg
Exposure Tracer, well built metal construction, bright, doesn't touch legs when on seatpost.
Poundland rear lights - clip a couple to your back pockets or backpack.
http://www.poundland.co.uk/my-cycle-5-led-back-bike-light
Another one for the TraceR. Small, very bright, well made, pulse mode, USB charging, long battery, easy to attached and remove... What else could you want?
I say Cygo Hotshot rear light w/USB rechargeability and 30-50 hours of usage. My only problem is the undersized screw on their seatpost bracket (too easy to strip out).
Knog Blinder Rear here. Especially now you can replace the mounting band.
The VeloCityLight. As well as being one the brightest lights available it also has the speed and brake function which gets you noticed by drivers and cyclists a like. The battery life is awesome and the whole light just makes me feel more distinct . www.velocitylight.com
Giant Numen Aero+ TL
Struggled to find a light that would securely fit my seatpost until I found this one. Fairly cheap (I paid £17.99) rear light that fits perfectly on an aero seatpost. Look great, seems fairly aerodynamic and it's very light - the perfect rear light to put on your TT/Aero bike when doing night TT's! It's not the brightest light out there, but side visibility is excellent.
see.sense - very noticeable decrease in close passes, have used one day and night for a year now.
RSP Messon 5 - seat stay mount means light isnt obscured by my saddlebag, and is angled correctly for line of sight from behind.
<p>Veglo Commuter http://www.veglo.cc/</p>
<p>Big, bright, and gets a lot of respect from cars on the dark country lanes.</p>
Smart R1 for me
Smart R1 for me
Smart R1 for me
The best rear light by far is the NiteFlux Red Zone 8. Extremely visible light. Vehicles give me a wide bert and more room on the road. Outstanding! 10/10.
The Red Zone series achieve exceptional visibility with up to 400lm (in red) over 300 degrees viewing angle. That is around 10x what other lights can deliver and is easily seen well past horizontal. https://www.niteflux.com/buy/red-zone-8/
NiteFlux Red Zone 8. Simply the best. Visible over 300 degrees.
image.jpeg
+1 for the SeeSense...the best lights I've ever had
Moon Shield 60
Best light bar none - the strobe setting is great for really bad conditions. With great power come sgreat repsonsibility - don't angle it up into drivers' eyes!
Been running the rear Magnic Light iC (http://www.magniclight.com/MagnicLight/index.php/en/hikashop-menu-for-ca...) for a few months now and it's frickin' awesome. More than bright enough for day or night running but designed so that it doesn't dazzle anyone behind (cars or clubmates), flashing & brake light functions (if you go for those things), stand light that lasts several minutes, great side visibility, compact sealed unit with good build quality (time will tell on the longevity). All of the positives of a dyno light but in a contactless unit that can be fitted to any bike and doesn't give any noticeable drag. Hopefully the last rear light I'll ever buy.
BTW - website doesn't seem to allow liking of your own post.
www.seesense.cc check it out, also the new ICON
+1 for the TraceR. I've had mine a few years and it's bright and bulletproof.
+1 for the TraceR. I've had mine a few years and it's bright and bulletproof.
Lezyne Strip Drive Pro Rear - http://www.lezyne.com/product-led-sport-strippro.php#.VjELRK7hDEY
Reassuringly bright and flashy. USB charging, and the rubber strap can easily go round an aero seat post.
This Radial light is basically the same as the Smart ones. bombproof, reliable but a few quid cheaper. Doesnt have a zillion flashing modes either which is a plus.
https://www.radialcycles.co.uk/radial-blaze-0-5-watt-rear-light.html
got this a few months back to just stick on the commuter as it was cheap and cheerful (after the last one was pinched) and can't fault it so far, seems plenty bright enough to me....
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