Cycle lights

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

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Joined
10 Mar 2006
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Hi guys, wonder if you could help me.

I need to get some lights for riding when it’s dark. I got some lights from evans cycles in Bristol when I bought my bike from there a few weeks ago, some cat eye LED things for £30 – but they’re crap. Cycled back last night in the pitch black on an A-road and they were nowhere near up to the job. I really need some lights, front and back, that are suitable for riding on a road with no street lighting.

Can anybody advise me on what I should be looking at? It’ll need to be rechargeable in some way – I can see you can get properly rechargeable light sets, but rechargeable batteries would work I guess. Not sure how much I can afford, but I’d rather be safe on the road with less money than splatted with lots. ;)
 
The P4 LED based torches from DealExtreme.com offer top VFM. They use 18650 battery cells, so if you bought a charger and a few sets of batteries from DX you can rotate sets whilst charging etc. The downside of 18650 cells is you can't easily get them a cheap price in the UK, but delivery from DX is usually a week or so.

Review of the P4 here : http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/mountain_bike_lights_review_led.html

You might find the P4 would dazzle on-coming car drivers though.

Rear lights - plenty of info here:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/recommend-me-a-rear-led-light
 
Cheers chris. :cool:

I couldn't be bothered to faff about, so I've gone and ordered two lights, four batteries, two chargers and two nylon mounting straps.

I figure I can mount them both on my handle bars, and either use them both together when I'm on the road in total darkness, or just alternate between the two if the roads are lit. I got all that for about £70, which is pretty good considering a single Cateye light alone is £100. I’ve also paid for the express delivery so it should hopefully only be a couple of weeks before I can get them on the bike.

By the way, do you have to be wary of them when they're charging? By the sounds of it you can't just plug them in and forget about them.

I figure they should be bright enough for front lights, now for the rears!
 
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I was just about to order these when I found this.


It massive, it's basically a torch.

Might be ok mounted to helmet but I don't fancy that monstrosity on my handlebars :p

Also, the hour burn time puts me off slightly.
 
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I bought a clockwork set from Tesco Home last year for a tenner. The front light is the main unit which powers the back as well. Last about 25 - 30 minutes which is ample for me. My bargain last year. I've not seen them in stock since.
 
I was looking at that Platypus, but ordered what Chris recommended as I can get two of them, with all the trimmings, for £20 less.

I am going to be cycling down a 4 mile road without any street lighting so I figured the more lumens the better! Not really fussed about how big they are particularly, as long as I can see the road... yesterday was actually pretty scary. :o

I'll just have to see how it goes I guess and leave a follow-up on here, in case anybody else is interested in them.
 
I got the P7 torch from DealExtreme and I'm very pleased with it. It's very well built, incredibly bright and a very good price.

I might post a vid of it later, the light is very bright.
 
I believe in seeing as well as being seen so I have this and it's perfect on unlit A roads at 6.30am. I can't fault it at all, superb little light. I also have this for my rear light and it's a really bright light with a few good flashing variations to catch the eye of sleepy early morning drivers.
 
I'm thinking I need a better front light as i'd like to carry on riding into work as the days shorten, £50 max for me though, any more than that I reckon it would be cheaper to drive in :s
 
I use a Romisen RC-N3 Q5 II and an MG L-Mini II mounted to my bike with twofish bike mounts. Both rechargeable, as bright as my twin 10watt halogen cateyes that are now redundant and run for 3hrs and 2hrs on high respectively. Never found an offroad situation where I've wished for more light yet - but then maybe I've not been going fast enough :-)
 
Admiral Huddy said:
Blimmy.. You would really pay £89 a front light that a £15 light wouldn't do any less. I'd be scared of loosing the damn thing.
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£90 isn't a huge amount of money for a light that offers awfully good lighting. I doubt there is a £15 light that lights anywhere near as well.
 
Good thread this, exactly what i'm after too.

platypus said:
£90 isn't a huge amount of money for a light that offers awfully good lighting. I doubt there is a £15 light that lights anywhere near as well.
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In 2009 mate, £90 for a essentially a posh torch is a hell of a lot of money.
 
For general road biking Cateye are about the best. Trail riding in the dark I suspect will cost a fair bit. And dont forget buy high capacity rechargable batteries and a charger.
 
I've just bought a set of Cateye lights for cycling to work. Most of my route is well lit so didn't need anything spectacular. I bought these. £49.99 which to my mind is expensive but they work well.
 
platypus said:
£90 isn't a huge amount of money for a light that offers awfully good lighting. I doubt there is a £15 light that lights anywhere near as well.
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Light is light as long as you can see and be seen. I'm just thinking of loosing the things and/or or forgetting to take them off. Do you cycle daily?
 
Being able to see is as important as being seen. Half of my daily 24 mile commute is on an unlit B road with a 60mph limit. First and foremost, I want to be seen but I also want to see if there is any crap on the road in front as I don't want to be swerving out of the way of a deer/drain/broken glass/fallen tree branch at the last moment only to be placing myself in the way of an approaching car.

If all of your journey is along well lit streets then I can see the point of getting a cheaper, less powerful light, If your journey is along unlit roads in total blackout conditions then invest as much as you can in a good light, you won't regret it.
 
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