Lights for my commute?

ant_8u · Sep 1, 2015

Hi Guys

I'm just about to buy some lights for my daily commute.....but I've got no idea what i need!!

My evening ride home will be on a small but slightly busy country road with no street lighting. It's basically pitch-black

I need something that'll light up the road when there are no cars around to light my way

What lights should I consider, and what rating of Lumens should I be looking for as a minimum?

FSXStumpy · Sep 1, 2015

My wife just bought a Serfas True 550 light, 550 lumens and a good run time, with lower power modes available too. Hard to beat. Bright enough to singletrack easily.

Previously she had a Knog Blinder Road 2 for her road bike, and that was also very nice, albeit with no replaceable battery. Plenty bright for road use or light off-road use.

In my opinion, 100-200 lumens for light duty work, and 350+ for serious off-road use.

J

thesneaker · Sep 1, 2015

Re:

I think this would do the job

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=327917

Gruff · Sep 1, 2015

Re:

I have started to do a Thursday evening ride and got caught out witth no lights.
Put up a similar question to yours as i had no idea after looking on ebay and amazon.

Eventually bought one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X ... ge_o01_s00

Absolutely brilliant for the money!

Very bright,only used them on the lowest brightness and comes with a free rear light too

FSXStumpy · Sep 1, 2015

On my retrobike, I use my old Cateye Daylights lead/acid/halogen setup, with a pair of 10W bulbs...

For road work, I have a little 2.4W 4xAAA halogen Cateye light that does the job....

Gotta keep with the times...

J

KDM · Sep 1, 2015

Re:

I normally use cree dual lights

xerxes · Sep 1, 2015

Re:

Do you need to remove the lights quickly, if you need to leave the bike locked up outside a shop for a few minutes, for instance.

If so, I would look for something that doesn't have a separate battery pack and that does have a decent quick release mechanism. I have a Cateye Nano Shot Plus: http://road.cc/content/review/72875-cat ... ront-light, a bit pricey compared to some of the Ebay specials, but it is a good light, plenty bright enough on completely unlit roads, and clips on and off in seconds.

Road CC has a handy comparison doohickey here: http://road.cc/lights2012/index-wide.php

greencat · Sep 2, 2015

Re: Re:

Gruff":2wymh22r said:
I have started to do a Thursday evening ride and got caught out witth no lights.
Put up a similar question to yours as i had no idea after looking on ebay and amazon.

Eventually bought one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X ... ge_o01_s00

Absolutely brilliant for the money!

Very bright,only used them on the lowest brightness and comes with a free rear light too

I've got a couple of similar sets. Bear in mind that the battery pack has no water proofing whatsoever (the light seems fine though).

legrandefromage · Sep 2, 2015

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from= ... e&_sacat=0

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw= ... n&_sacat=0

All sorts for all budgets. Some will create daylight, others a useless narrow beam.

Commuting you'll want to see and be seen. Angle it it just below oncoming drivers' eye line and dont use a flashing front light. Twilight is worse for drivers to see but thats when fluorescent works at its best as thats when theres the most light at the correct wavelength for it to work.

Cavalier · Sep 2, 2015

I've always bought Cateye lights as you can easily buy extra mounting brackets to put on all your bikes (c'mon who on this site only has one bike??) allowing you to easily grab any bike you fancy without faffing about.
As far as I can tell Cateye haven't changed their mounts since the mid nineties (when I first started buying their lights) so you're unlikely to get caught out by some nonchalant design change.

Lights for my commute?

ant_8u

Devout Dirtbag

FSXStumpy

Retro Guru

thesneaker

Gruff

FSXStumpy

Retro Guru

KDM

Senior Retro Guru

xerxes

Old School Grand Master

greencat

Senior Retro Guru

legrandefromage

Cavalier

Retro Guru

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