Bicycle lights brand closes after 35 years, citing "political winds" and "decline" of US manufacturing

Bicycle lights brand Light & Motion has closed and ceased trading, the company's CEO citing "significant" challenges as US-based manufacturing "continues its decline".

The established player in the cycling lights sector has been in business for 35 years, but the brand's website is no longer accepting orders and features a statement communicating the news.

Light & Motion manufactured lights used in diving, photography and video, as well as its cycling-specific products, many of which received strong reviews here on road.cc. The brand's cycling products were distributed by Madison in the UK for many years, and are still listed as a brand on its consumer website Freewheel at the time of writing. 

CEO Daniel Emerson said the decision to cease operations was "due to many factors" but highlighted "the challenges of being a US manufacturer" and "the political winds". The statement in full, first reported by Pinkbike, said:

Dear customers,

Due to many factors, Light & Motion, a US manufacturer of dive, bike, photography and video lights is closing its operations. Over our 35 years in business, we have delivered some amazing products and enjoyed innovating to solve customer problems while building products in the US.

The challenges of being a US manufacturer are significant and the political winds, regardless of the talk, have been against US manufacturing, which continues its decline. We designed our lights to provide many years of continued use and we thank you all for your support over the years. We are not able to provide service, but some of our dealers are able to repair lights, including Backscatter.

 All Light & Motion's products, including the Seca Comp 2000 which received an 8/10 review with us in 2022 for its "excellent traffic-friendly beam", now display 'out of stock' and 'sold out' messages on the brand's website, many of the products having seemingly been heavily discounted in recent times.

An 'end of year sale' saw the Seca Comp 2000 reduced to $99.99 from its $224.99 RRP, while the Seca Comp 1500 was down to $89.99 from $179.99, however no products remain available.

Light & Motion stressed that while its lights were designed to be durable, some of its dealers would be able to continue offering repairs.

For most of the last couple of years, the bike industry's motto has been 'Survive until 2025' – the idea that this year may be the time we see the troubled industry's fortunes improve.

> Is the cycling industry storm finally over? Why there may be fewer "disaster stories" in 2025

With that said, in the last two months alone, we've seen Scottish brand Endura post a £14m loss, GT pause its new releases and lay off staff, and the owner of custom bike specialists Spoon and WyndyMilla enter liquidation — while 2025 began with the news that Brompton's profits have nosedived by over 99 per cent and Raleigh posted a £30m loss.