Night riding

[bobsinatra]

I am starting to go out in the evenings. When I hit the countryside, I am on unlit roads and my current front light isn't great.

My main concern is hitting a pothole and being sent flying.

Therefore I am looking to upgrade my front light.

I am looking at getting this one.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-amp...i76XxeYDpt8D-zqKl5L3iWGDZundPv2RoCWh0QAvD_BwE

If anyone has it or used a similar strength light, how did you find it and will it do the job?

With unlit roads, I may potentially need something a bit more powerful.

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers

BS

 

[mjr]

A light measured in lumens is probably crap (not all, but probably). Look for ones measured in lux to the German standard (StVZO, lens marked with K~ then a number) which usually means it will put light on the road evenly and not the sky or a single bright spot. I ride dark roads with 40 lux lights fine (I have a Nean, a Dansi and a Lidl one), but I think up to 120 is available (possibly B&M) - at a price.

Edit to add: if you really want Cateye, they make lux-measured lights for Germany with better lenses, such as the GVolt, but I don't know them because the UK mostly gets the cheaper crapper lenses which I guess must be more profitable.

 

[Scottish Scrutineer]

Here's a couple of B&M lights that are battery powered and have a good light output as MJR suggests

https://www.alpinetrek.co.uk/busch-...google_uk.1676771977.64825785483.325122157890

https://www.bikester.co.uk/bicycle-...MIhbbYiOv87AIVRuztCh21JgT3EAQYAiABEgKVX_D_BwE

I've used the premium on an overnight ride, powered by rechargeable AA batteries, lasted over 6 hrs.

 

[bobsinatra]

Thanks, much appreciated.

 

[Sharky]

By the time I retired and stopped commuting, the light I was using was a Cateye Volt 300. It was by far the best light I had ever had and more than adequate for dark unlit roads. I think the 300 is now obsolete, but there is a 400 with the same body. The cateye brackets are good and can be bought separately, good if you have more than one bike and compatible across the range.

Do you have an iPAD? There is an app you can download which compares beams - presume it includes their current range.

Worth having a secondary cheap battery front light as well for emergency.

 

[mjr]

The cateye brackets are good and can be bought separately, good if you have more than one bike and compatible across the range.

They have changed design over the years. I have three incompatible brackets in the shed, which is another reason I don't buy them any more. I prefer the replaceable lasso-style rubber gripping band mounts, which I use on the Dansi now, although they're fiddlier because you have to re-aim the light each time and you'd need a different one for oversize bars.

 

[freiston]

I have to echo the recommendation for StVZO lights. I have a cheap 4xAA Crivit 40 lux on my folding bike and it is capable for winding rough singletrack country lanes at similar speeds as I would ride those lanes in the daytime up to a point - somewhere between 15 and 20 mph maybe (but these are lanes that a lot of folk would avoid in a car - on better lanes, I would have no worries going faster if I could). Crivit are sold by Lidl but I got mine ([new unopened] front and rear set) from a seller on ebay for about £15 because I wanted an AA front light but, afaik, the current Lidl ones are USB rechargeable.

I have a B&M 80 lux dynamo light on my touring bike and it is very good.

As well as the brands already mentioned, Lezyne do StVZO front lamps too: https://ride.lezyne.com/collections/led-lights-stvzo

 

[si_c]

The StVZO lights are very consistently good, but there are alternatives out there which are good for riding dark country lanes - the lenses do tend to be weaker than the German approved lights, but they make up for this with overpowered lamps.

The Cateye volt lamps are reasonable - I've used the 1200 quite a bit and it's as good as my Fenix lamps. A lot of these lights are intended more for night riding on MTB trails - they flood a lot of the side of the road as well as just the bit you would want illuminated when on tarmac and they also have a lot of throw as well - the high lumen count effectively means that you can end up riding as if you had a car headlamp with you - this is great if riding faster.

I'm using a Fenix BC30 at the moment (they've released a V2 this year) which gives me about an hour on full brightness (1200lm) or 3 hours on a lower brightness (500lm) both of which are great for riding on unlit roads or trails. If riding on a lit road you don't need more than a 200lm lamp. The reason I use this lamp over the Cateye or equivalent Lezyne lamps (of which I have a couple of the lower powered units) is that it's powered by 18650 batteries, so I can carry a couple of spares and swap them out easily enough if needed - if you run out on a USB charged unit you're pretty screwed.

If I was riding a lot more in the dark - commuting for example - then I'd be using my dynamo light setup. It's got the German optics mentioned above and never needs charging. Which is perfect.

In terms of the light that you've mentioned above - I think it will be fine for what you want, especially at full brightness it should illuminate the road perfectly well, but I'd expect to significantly reduce the battery life once the temperature drops below 10° as they operate less well in cold temperatures.

 

[freiston]

The StVZO lights are very consistently good, but there are alternatives out there which are good for riding dark country lanes - the lenses do tend to be weaker than the German approved lights, but they make up for this with overpowered lamps...

(my bold)

This is the problem - they are dazzlers if angled high enough to see ahead and if angled low enough to not dazzle other road users, they create near-distance bright spots so bright that they ruin your night-vision for anything beyond. In my experience, there is an overlap between these two scenarios - so you can have it low enough to create over-bright near-distance tarmac and still dazzle other road users - there is no sweet spot.

I'm a big fan of Fenix torches and as well as having a collection of my own and recommending them to friends, I have also given them as gifts to family. I bought a Fenix bike light (BT20) - described as having a shaped beam for cycling, utilising a part-fresnel lens. After the incandescent front lamps that I had previously used, it seemed marvellous but after a lot of testing and adjusting, I could not get it angled to give effective illumination without it being dazzling to others. I even made a long visor (like a cap peak) to overcome the problem but it wasn't really doing the job. I have to admit to suffering from confirmation bias, convincing myself that it was up to the job but in the end, I couldn't kid myself any longer and went for dynamo lighting with a B&M Lumotec IQ Cyo Premium T senso plus front headlamp (80 lux) - that was truly a revelation as to what can be achieved with good design as opposed to compensating poor design with overpowered lights.

 

[si_c]

(my bold)

This is the problem - they are dazzlers if angled high enough to see ahead and if angled low enough to not dazzle other road users, they create near-distance bright spots so bright that they ruin your night-vision for anything beyond. In my experience, there is an overlap between these two scenarios - so you can have it low enough to create over-bright near-distance tarmac and still dazzle other road users - there is no sweet spot.

I'm a big fan of Fenix torches and as well as having a collection of my own and recommending them to friends, I have also given them as gifts to family. I bought a Fenix bike light (BT20) - described as having a shaped beam for cycling, utilising a part-fresnel lens. After the incandescent front lamps that I had previously used, it seemed marvellous but after a lot of testing and adjusting, I could not get it angled to give effective illumination without it being dazzling to others. I even made a long visor (like a cap peak) to overcome the problem but it wasn't really doing the job. I have to admit to suffering from confirmation bias, convincing myself that it was up to the job but in the end, I couldn't kid myself any longer and went for dynamo lighting with a B&M Lumotec IQ Cyo Premium T senso plus front headlamp (80 lux) - that was truly a revelation as to what can be achieved with good design as opposed to compensating poor design with overpowered lights.

Agreed, there are some truly terrible lenses out there. The thing I like about the BC30 is that it has a proper hood as well as having some steps cut at the top of the lens to provide a cut off - it does work really well especially if not running at the full 1200lm - there's very little that can be done close up at that point, it's really intended for MTBing at night though at that power level. The benefit of it being such a high output lamp though is that you can get a full nights riding out of it in winter at 200lm output.

That being said I am with you in the dynamo camp - I've got a Supernova E3 triple main lamp and taillight and it's just fantastic.

 

[freiston]

Agreed, there are some truly terrible lenses out there. The thing I like about the BC30 is that it has a proper hood as well as having some steps cut at the top of the lens to provide a cut off - it does work really well especially if not running at the full 1200lm - there's very little that can be done close up at that point, it's really intended for MTBing at night though at that power level. The benefit of it being such a high output lamp though is that you can get a full nights riding out of it in winter at 200lm output.

That being said I am with you in the dynamo camp - I've got a Supernova E3 triple main lamp and taillight and it's just fantastic.

I have a terrible habit of forgetting that some people want lighting for off-road, off-path cycling. Here's a picture of my old BT20 with the visor that I made for it - it was a big improvement but unfortunately still not really suitable for cycling on public roads or even paths, tracks and towpaths.

 

[Lovacott]

Whatever you buy, buy two of them. I you only have one and it fails on a dark country lane, you're basically stuffed.

 

[Lovacott]

A light measured in lumens is probably crap (not all, but probably). Look for ones measured in lux to the German standard (StVZO, lens marked with K~ then a number) which usually means it will put light on the road evenly and not the sky or a single bright spot. I ride dark roads with 40 lux lights fine (I have a Nean, a Dansi and a Lidl one), but I think up to 120 is available (possibly B&M) - at a price.

Lux is basically the amount of light hitting the road, lumens is the amount of light projected from the source. But depending on the quality of focus and distribution with lumens measured lights, it's hard to correlate the two different values.

Comparing the lux v lumens lights I have, I reckon 3000 lumens equates to between 40 to 50 lux (but I stress that this is only when comparing the lights I have, side by side when on the bike).

My 30 lumen Nean dynamo front light is not quite enough for a country lane but it chucks out a pretty wide and even beam without dazzling oncoming traffic. The 3000 lux battery light lets me see everything in a narrow band but I have to dip it if anything is coming towards me.

Horses for courses.

 

[freiston]

Lux is basically the amount of light hitting the road, lumens is the amount of light projected from the source. But depending on the quality of focus and distribution with lumens measured lights, it's hard to correlate the two different values.

Comparing the lux v lumens lights I have, I reckon 3000 lumens equates to between 40 to 50 lux (but I stress that this is only when comparing the lights I have, side by side when on the bike).

My 30 lumen Nean dynamo front light is not quite enough for a country lane but it chucks out a pretty wide and even beam without dazzling oncoming traffic. The 3000 lux battery light lets me see everything in a narrow band but I have to dip it if anything is coming towards me.

Horses for courses.

I think what mjr was getting at is that lights with their output given in lux are likely to be StVZO - (because front light output for StVZO purposes is in lux - the minimal lighting value of the area 10m in front of the bike should be no less than 10 lux of light (10 lumens / m2)) ergo lights advertised with output in lumens (which for the reasons you stated above is not as meaningful) are not likely to be StVZO compliant and, imho, are more likely to be aiming for big numbers that make the buyer think they are getting something good.

It's hard to equate lux with lumens because they're not really the same thing. The numbers you give when equating them do seem a bit off the mark - that would make a 120 lux dynamo light have a lumens value of over 6000 - about five times brighter than a car front light halogen bulb!

 

[Lovacott]

I have a terrible habit of forgetting that some people want lighting for off-road, off-path cycling. Here's a picture of my old BT20 with the visor that I made for it - it was a big improvement but unfortunately still not really suitable for cycling on public roads or even paths, tracks and towpaths.

I've thought about a visor for the high powered lights, but I find that keeping them aimed down and left is plenty enough to prevent them dazzling oncoming cars.

Once I get back into populated areas with street lights, cars and pedestrians, I switch the high powered lights off and rely on the Nean dynamo light (enough for me to seen seen by others).

Until you actually try your local unlit lanes, you won't really know whether or not your lighting will be sufficient. Where I am, you not only have potholes, but you also get the occasional dangling bramble which is hard enough to see up ahead in good daylight. A dangling bramble is death by a thousand cuts.

It took me a good few weeks to get my lighting right, a lot of trial and error, but I am more than happy with it now.