Road Cycling Essentials

arknor · 27 Oct 2013 at 18:59

Gribs said:
This years cheap Chinese light of choice is the solarstorm x2, it's a big step on from the xml-t6's that were popular last year as the beam pattern offers a good spread rather than just a bright hotspot.

oh they look pretty nice and only £25 from china might take a punt on one

Gribs · 27 Oct 2013 at 20:03

arknor said:
oh they look pretty nice and only £25 from china might take a punt on one

I spent slightly more and got one off ebay that was in the UK so it came in a couple of days rather than waiting the 3-4 weeks it seems to take them to come from Hong Kong / China.

arknor · 27 Oct 2013 at 20:22

Gribs said:
I spent slightly more and got one off ebay that was in the UK so it came in a couple of days rather than waiting the 3-4 weeks it seems to take them to come from Hong Kong / China.

It's this one right ?

How is the mounting? does it feel pretty secure without the light bouncing about? it seems they only attach with 2 rubber rings

Gribs · 27 Oct 2013 at 20:31

That's the one but I got it in black. It's just one rubber ring, it tends to slip a bit when used off road but is fine on the road. I've used similar mounted lights on my mountain bikes in the past and just used electrical tape on the bars to reduce this.

arknor · 27 Oct 2013 at 20:59

oh the one I was looking at had 2 different sized rubber rings in the picture.

does the bit underneath the light that touches the bar have any kind of rubber pad ?

Vonhelmet · 27 Oct 2013 at 22:02

Looks like Wall-E.

FrenchTart · 27 Oct 2013 at 22:18

Vonhelmet said:
Looks like Wall-E.

I was more thinking Johnny 5.

Gribs · 27 Oct 2013 at 22:24

arknor said:
oh the one I was looking at had 2 different sized rubber rings in the picture.

does the bit underneath the light that touches the bar have any kind of rubber pad ?

There's two rings for different diameter bars. There's a little pad on the light unit where it's next to the bars.

Vonhelmet · 27 Oct 2013 at 22:35

FrenchTart said:
I was more thinking Johnny 5.

That's what I originally posted, then I googled Johnny 5 and realised it looked more like Wall-E

arknor · 27 Oct 2013 at 22:38

Gribs said:
There's two rings for different diameter bars. There's a little pad on the light unit where it's next to the bars.

cool think I will get one ordered worth a try at that price! even if the battery is **** I would really only need it to last about 30-45mins during my ride as everywhere else has street lamps

platypus · 28 Oct 2013 at 07:28

Windy this morning..

Saytan · 28 Oct 2013 at 08:51

Ordered a Bryton 40T from GB cycles this morning. at £149 they're a lot cheaper than anywhere else.

Jonny69 · 28 Oct 2013 at 09:05

The Solarstorm X2 looks like a beast! 5000 lumens claimed though - that's over 25 times the output of a Fenix L2D - for real? What's the word on the street for front lights with the battery all in one unit? (X2 looks like the battery hangs on the frame)

daveski · 28 Oct 2013 at 09:59

Anyone have a difficult commute today? Mine was no worse than normal.

Arsey · 28 Oct 2013 at 10:01

daveski said:
Anyone have a difficult commute today? Mine was no worse than normal.

Same, it was fine. Had to walk down Whitehall as the police had blocked the road for this:

broona · 28 Oct 2013 at 10:26

Jonny69 said:
The Solarstorm X2 looks like a beast! 5000 lumens claimed though - that's over 25 times the output of a Fenix L2D - for real? What's the word on the street for front lights with the battery all in one unit? (X2 looks like the battery hangs on the frame)

Real world it's probably around 1200-1500 lumens, the Cree XM-L U2 has a maximum output of around 1000 lumens at 100% efficiency.

I have an older single Cree XM-L T6 which is rated at 1200 lumens, but is probably around 600 lumens, and it's still searingly bright!

I've just ordered a Solarstorm for £19 delivered from China as I'm in no hurry for it and would rather save a tenner or so in the process...

Arsey · 28 Oct 2013 at 10:27

broona said:
Real world it's probably around 1200-1500 lumens, the Cree XM-L U2 has a maximum output of around 1000 lumens at 100% efficiency.

I have an older single Cree XM-L T6 which is rated at 1200 lumens, but is probably around 600 lumens, and it's still searingly bright!

I've just ordered a Solarstorm for £19 delivered from China as I'm in no hurry for it and would rather save a tenner or so in the process...

What seller is that from?

broona · 28 Oct 2013 at 10:48

Arsey said:
What seller is that from?

happysmile999 lol!

[DOD]Asprilla · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:18

Arrived At Delivery Office - one of my favourite phrases....

arknor · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:19

some people on another forum were saying the solar storm battery charger and pack are junk , some people saying their UK charger started to get red hot after a few charges.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/solar-storm-x2-mid-term-report
so it's better to buy the head unit on it's own and get a battery pack and charger from the guy the first post linked to

brings the total cost to about 60 quid though but at least you know you have a good UK charger and a good battery pack and not some chinese crud that could burn your house down whilst charging

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