What lights?

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matty01

Active Member
Location
Plymouth
I just started commuting a 6 mile route to work but half of the journey is through country lanes, I leave at around 6 am which is fine at the moment but with the darker mornings and nights drawing in Im gunna need a good light to light up the road and equally important a bright rear light, what do you guys recommend? There so many on the market it's not so easy to choose :-)
 

The Eighth Man

Senior Member
I have a Hope Vision 1 and a Smart Laser 5 on the front and a Smart 1/2 watt on the back, plus a Skully and a Topeak helmet light on my helmet. The Hope lights up the road and the others hopefully make sure that people can see me, the Smart lamps are Mega bright you can see them from miles away.
 

defy-one

Guest
Is it the norm to have 2 lights on the front and rear. I have seen threads whereby people have one on solid and one flashing. Also some CC'ers saying they position one light on the offside seatstay???
 

Moodyman

Legendary Member
2 lights for me on both front and rear. Anything mid- range from Smart & Cateye will be good enough for the rear. For the front look at Hope or Magicshine. There are various Cree XML lense lights on Dealextreme. Their beams are not always suited to cycling so you may need to play round with sticky tape.
 

BlackPanther

Hyper-Fast Recumbent Riding Member.
Location
Doncaster.
I find that a Cree helmet mounted torch light, in conjunction with a bike mounted one is ideal. Helmet mounting means that you can direct the light towards potential smidsys, especially those about to pull out of side streets. Most torch lights that take the 18650 batteries are pretty good. 2xBlackburn 4.0 light on the rear of the bike, and another on the back of the helmet does me.

As for when to use light, mine are on all of the time, day,night, rain or shine. Highest setting during daylight is ideal, but mine are a bit too powerful on full during the darker mornings/evenings.
 

Nebulous

Guru
Location
Aberdeen
Is it the norm to have 2 lights on the front and rear. I have seen threads whereby people have one on solid and one flashing. Also some CC'ers saying they position one light on the offside seatstay???

If commuting it's good to have two sets. On the back your battery can go flat, or your light fall off, and you might not know. My commute was a relatively short one, in town, but I had two sets, one on flash and one solid. I also experimented with a headlamp. It made a difference for cars paying attention, but I never quite took to it.
 

Fran143

Über Member
Location
Ayrshire
I've got two on the front and two on the rear....just incase.
 

Miquel In De Rain

No Longer Posting
Actually three of my rear lights went dim at the same time and the magicshine rear failed...The main LED had blown but the outer LEDs were still working.Last week

Magicshine replaced but can still be used..
 

Gez73

Veteran
Two of the same cateye light on front of bike. One Topeak light on visor, very useful for roundabouts. Rear lights on rack and rack bag and a sigma rear recessed into back of helmet. I have but don't use very often or at least not yet this year a Topeak Headlux integrated front/backlight that fits on top of the helmet. I need lights to be seen as opposed to see so it depends on your needs and route. I started out with cheaper lights and upgraded as I went.
 
OP
OP
matty01

matty01

Active Member
Location
Plymouth
Thanks for the info guys I gunna look for 2 on the front and back I reckon, might try a head torch aswell that sounds like a cracking idea
 

daSmirnov

Well-Known Member
Location
Horsham, UK
How much do you wanna spend?

I've got Electron Terra 2s on the front - these are my standard daylight running lamps. About £80.
A Magicshine MJ808 on the front, night time/poor visibility light about £80 with the...
MJ818 on the rear - flashing in the day, steady at night.
In winter I also run with two Fibre Flares on the seat stays, about £40 for a pair.

The Terra 2s throw out enough light to tip-toe along at night along unlit roads not much faster than 20mph. But the MJ808 throws out enough light to really let you fly along.

Lot's of comments about the Terra 2s in the day, usually "wow they're bright", had one driver complain about the MJ818 - so he could definitely see me. And people are awe struck when they see the Terra 2s and MJ808 on at night. Only had other cyclists comment on the fibre flares though! :-(
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
I ride a similar amount on unlit roads at a simialr time of day .
On the front i use a cree torch with a flash mode as a look at me light for lit sections and for the unlit sections i have a magicshine light from dealextreme that is still going strong heading towards its 3rd winter.
The MS and cheaper xml t6 certainly throw out more than enough light to ride at full speed in the blackists parts of winter .
On the back i use a smart r2 ( smae as the rsp astrum ) on the seatpost and a standard smart flasher on each pannier bag .Combined with reflective bits on the back of the helmet,arm bands , on the pannier rack, on the bags and by the time it gets that dark a windproof with reflective piping i cant remember getting a close pass in winter.
I have had people at work comment that i could land an aeroplane with my set up :smile:
 
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