Jump to content
IGNORED

Night-riding lights


mack_turtle

Recommended Posts

Leave the lights at home, ride mid-pack, and don’t get dropped by the leaders. You save money, and strengthen your reflexes! [emoji14]

Sorry, I have nothing better to contribute to this. I run $20 Amazon special lights which, when they work, are totally fine for the R&I which is my only night ride…when they work. I have been on multiple rides where I’m riding along and poof my lights are dead. Riding mid-pack though means the rest of the ride is like riding WC during a rave, with strobes and sweeping spot beams.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/19/2020 at 11:52 AM, skinned elbows said:

I just bought a cheap $20 handlebar mount 800 lumens off Amazon seems a little spotty shining in backbyard but we'll see how it performs on trail ... probably combo it with a cheap headlight I have

Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk
 

I got something like this for my bar light:

https://www.amazon.com/Bright-Eyes-3-Pack-Clear-DIFFUSER/dp/B00RKP6GZG

It spreads the beam out.  Works nicely.  I still use more of spot on my helmet.  

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/19/2020 at 10:31 PM, TheX said:

I have proper lights, and have never actually used them. I do cycle the batteries and keep them healthy. I have to get off my ass and try this.

Peddlers is a good place to ride with lights. I've not ventured onto 1/4 notch with lights, not sure, yet, if I want to. But peddlers is fun with lights.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, bradtubgin said:

I got something like this for my bar light:

https://www.amazon.com/Bright-Eyes-3-Pack-Clear-DIFFUSER/dp/B00RKP6GZG

It spreads the beam out.  Works nicely.  I still use more of spot on my helmet.  

cool, I will have to look into after-market diffusers for some of my lights. I have one light that is a SPOT with very little diffusion and it's kind of a pain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, jcarneytx said:

Peddlers is a good place to ride with lights. I've not ventured onto 1/4 notch with lights, not sure, yet, if I want to. But peddlers is fun with lights.

Ive done DD with lights a couple times but not anymore , alone at least. 1/4 is fun,, for sure Rim. SN\Church is fun as hell. The tunnel of trees with the long downhills are awesome at night. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Cafeend said:

The tunnel of trees with the long downhills are awesome at night. 

If you keep your head up when riding these types of trails at night, you might see an owl swoop down and pace you.  I think they're looking for any critters you might scare up.  It's such a cool experience and by itself is worth the price of admission for night riding.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you keep your head up when riding these types of trails at night, you might see an owl swoop down and pace you.  I think they're looking for any critters you might scare up.  It's such a cool experience and by itself is worth the price of admission for night riding.
Yes! I haven't seen that this yr but in years past riding Picnic along the water I have.
The amount of deer and smaller critters with the eyes catching the light is also very cool as well.


Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Tree Magnet said:

If you keep your head up when riding these types of trails at night, you might see an owl swoop down and pace you.  I think they're looking for any critters you might scare up.  It's such a cool experience and by itself is worth the price of admission for night riding.

I have had this at WC on early morning dark rides. Totally cool experience. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Tree Magnet said:

If you keep your head up when riding these types of trails at night, you might see an owl swoop down and pace you.  I think they're looking for any critters you might scare up.  It's such a cool experience and by itself is worth the price of admission for night riding.

Last year I was leading a group and and owl swooped down at me.  About 5 seconds later either the same owl or another one swooped at me again and smacked the side of my head with it's wing.  It really startled me.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently decided - with hopes of perhaps pulling off an EB this year - to upgrade my lights, since the EB (for me, at least) starts and may end in the dark. Since I purchased my last set (Light & Motion / Magic Shine) both bulb technology and battery life have come a long way. I was able to replace both my helmet light and my bar light with products with built-in batteries -- no more cables!

Here's the headlight, uses a Go Pro mount on my POC: https://www.outboundlighting.com/hangover/ 100g weight, runtime > 100 min

Here's the bar light, mounts with a solid rubber strap:  https://lightandmotion.com/products/seca-comp-2000 216g weight, runtime of 90 min on high alone, way longer on med / low

Haven't tested them out on a night time ride yet, hope to do so once it cools off a little.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, TAF said:

Here's the bar light, mounts with a solid rubber strap:  

Both lights look like great options. Back when I got new lights last year the Hangover wasn't available. It is likely my next light though. 

Having lightweight self contained (no cables!) lights is spectacular. Combine that with built in helmet mounts (no straps!) and it's just excellent. 

Good luck with the strap mount on the L&M though. I've had several variations of strap mounting and they invariably bounce around. If it becomes a problem it looks like L&M sells a go-pro adapter for it, and go-pro handlebar clamp mounts are easy enough to find.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, Barry said:

Good luck with the strap mount on the L&M though. I've had several variations of strap mounting and they invariably bounce around. If it becomes a problem it looks like L&M sells a go-pro adapter for it, and go-pro handlebar clamp mounts are easy enough to find.

Maybe I don't bounce around as much as you do! The strap looks pretty beefy, but I checked the box and it also comes with a screw-in Go Pro fitting, which I could combine with a K-Edge bar mount I already have.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have had this at WC on early morning dark rides. Totally cool experience. 

Last winter I was riding at Walnut on a cold night and came up on an owl sitting on a branch about eye level as I rounded a corner. He looked at me and turned his head a full 360 degrees. Freaked me out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just did my first night ride tonight on the SATN.  No owls, but came across another group that said they saw a rattler on Bambi, kind of freaked us out,, so our avg speed increased after that.  Used a Niterider 900 on the bar, and a Amazon special 600 on the helmet.  Worked great, can't wait to go again.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got my Gloworm lites in the mail today.

 

Ended up going with a X2 for the bars and a CX, which is their self contained light, for my helmet.

 

Very impressed with the build quality of both lights and the multiple mounting options. I’ve got the CX mounted with a standard GoPro mount on my helmet and the X2 is bar mounted with a garmin quarter turn directly under the stem. The rise in my bars start right at the stem so the light is slightly tilted which annoys me. I have a stem spacer quarter turn mount for my Garmin Edge and I’ll be getting another one for my X2 to solve this issue. The wireless remote for the X2 is nifty. Definitely makes it easy to adjust the brightness. Unfortunately the CX is not wireless compatible but did come with a wired remote that I’ve placed on the side of my helmet and is easily to reach and has a very light touch when registering user inputs.

 

Took the lights out for a test ride this evening. There is a small wooded area in my neighborhood where I could get an idea of what it would be like out on the trails. Wow! I had the lights on their lowest setting and everything directly in front of me, to the sides and ~15m in front of me was perfectly illuminated. Switched the lights to the highest output and the area of illumination doubled. On the X2 I have the flood and wide angle lenses installed. On the CX I have both spot lenses installed. This seems to be a great combination. Looking forward to seeing how they perform out at Brushy this weekend. f28b59016a43b75d010145039f046f01.jpg

9f75baba8d07e7e48f218b1330fb2b74.jpg

66673e6c84d7b8203ae61adfb8bf3af4.jpg

aad7fa626c783dd931d11ceb4594f4f5.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

cool, I will have to look into after-market diffusers for some of my lights. I have one light that is a SPOT with very little diffusion and it's kind of a pain.

I’ve made a diy diffuser by cutting to size a sheet sized frenzel lens (the thin plastic magnifying sheets old people use to read their bills). I layer that over the stock lens and have also used glad press’n’seal wrap over the lens.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...