Friday Night Ride To Whitstable. 19th Aug 2016

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Salty seadog

Space Cadet...(3rd Class...)
Ok got the lights sorted, got hold of another set of the leyzyne, macro front and micro rear, have served me well for a couple of years, not often used tbh but now I have matching sets and I like the rubber strap mount system and have spares at home so it made too much sense not to. I was suprised really as they do not make them anymore but they do a grand job. £69 for the pair which is what I paid for the last lot.
 

frank9755

Cyclist
Location
West London
@Salty seadog: I was in the same boat as yourself when I signed up for Whitstable. After much digging around on here and t'other forum beloved of audaxers I went for the ixon iq premium. Shedloads of light, a beam pattern that shows the whole road and it runs off AAs so I can bring spares and not worry about burn time. Rose bikes delivered it in a couple of days.
Ixon IQ has a much better beam pattern but the Hope, and it's bracket, are far better built.
 
I would also like to add that Hope's customer service is second to none. They will repair a faulty light however old it is, without question or quibble.
FYI, Same can be said for Exposure. I have their dynamo light the Revo and think it's wonderful, the only negative being the lack of an on/off switch, which would be useful when entering train stations.
 

kimble

Veteran
Batteries are for wimps.

Dynamo lights without adequate switching can be easily augmented by ...a switch. Handlebar mounted weather-resistant latching switches can be readily obtained from a supplier of motorbike bits.
 

AlexB

Veteran
In the past battery lights outperformed dynamos so comprehensively that it was a no brainer to buy rechargeable battery lights, except they were so ridiculously expensive.
Now you can get a great dynamo light for a pretty reasonable sum so it's now down to how long you want the light to run...
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
Just an aside, but I rode some of the FNRttC route today. From Upchurch to the other side of Sittingbourne I took another route.
upload_2016-9-11_19-17-26.png

Basically I looped along the coast, then through Iwade. There's a bit of uphill near the apex of that but nothing of Basser Hill proportions. The coastal bit is quite pleasant. Then I looped round the East of Sittingbourne on the Swale Way, which is a fast road with a good surface. It's all industrial units so it's not very pretty. OK, it's plain ugly. At the end of the Swale way it's easy to join the main FNRttC route on Tonge road by going down Mulberry Way, Gt Easthall way (shared use path) and Oak Road. I say "very easy" but you can see from the picture that, being an idiot, I made a total hash of it.

It's 12.2 km long with 54m climb with maximum gradient 4.6%, compared with the more direct Fridays route which is 8.8 km with 85m climb and maximum gradient 9.4%.

Just thought that people like @Trickedem who organise rides here, or @User13710 who has publicly stated a dislike of Basser Hill might be interested
 
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