Night Riding

[Aggie_Ama]

I went for a night ride last night borrowing a friend's light and totally loved it. Now I want my own lights, any suggestions? I love the Ay Up lights but they are pretty pricey. I want to do after work riding but have this crazy idea that one day a 24 hour might be on my radar!

[Becky]

It's been a couple of years since I bought lights, so my comments are more general.

I like NiteRider and have had good results with both their products and their customer service. I like LED lights for their durability, light output, and battery life. On the MTB, I like running two lights: one on the bars and one on the helmet. Consider the weight of any light that you're thinking about mounting on your helmet. My TriNewt rocks, but it's nearly a pound and uncomfortable to wear on my head. I have a lighter one for my helmet.

Good lights cost money. I've probably got over $500 in my current set-up. For specific reviews and current product suggestions, I'd head over to forums.mtbr.com.

Night riding is a blast- I wish that there were more places that allowed it here!

[jessmarimba]

NiteRider has also been strongly suggested to me. Repeatedly.

I don't have good lights yet though...maybe Santa is thinking of me?

[Cato]

I run a TriNewt LED on the bars and a Light & Motion HID on the helmet. My night vision sucks and two lights gives my vision some depth. Plus you can't see around corners with a bar light!

I've heard good things in the past about MagicShine lights, they're LED's, have great output and very affordable. Unfortunately they've had some problems with the battery packs and are on hold until they get replacement models.

[crazycanuck]

Ayups are awesome & worth the $!

[SheFly]

If you're just getting into it, the NiteRider MiNewts are a good investment. I have the double beam version (MiNewt 700 - these go for about $170-ish), and like them a lot.

That said, if you are riding ANYTHING TECHNICAL, these lights are not enough (although I have used them for night time cross rides on fire roads and moderately rocky/rooty trails). For technical riding, I prefer my NiteRider HID. This thing will BLIND you, and provides A LOT of light. It is also pricey - around the $300-$400 mark.

Night riding is fun, and the only way I can ride through the winter months...

SheFly

[LyndaW]

Another +1 for Ay Ups. They are small, light, bright and reliable. The batteries especially are the smallest, lightest and easiest to manage out of all the lights I have. If you have a 24 hour solo race on your radar Ay Ups will work nicely for that.

[Aggie_Ama]

After pricing other options I really am wanting the Ay-Ups. They are insane how bright they are and the people I know that have them have used other brands. So now I need to save or hit the lottery, the pack I want is about $450. :cool:

[MyRubyE]

I have the niterider as well. For road riding it's great and friends who use it for trail riding also mention it works well for them. They prefer the helmet mounts. I purchased the 150 lumens bar mount. For trail riding I woul go with higher lumens. The Cateye also makes trail lights.

[oz rider]

I rode a few hours a night through winter with AyUps. Awesome. Could you start with the smaller kit and add to it as funds permit? There's a sale on at the moment too. ;-)

[Purehoney]

Led lights are the way to go. Just make sure you are serious about night riding because it is somewhat expensive and you can always ride in the day without lights =)

[TsPoet]

Just a warning - inexpensive lights don't do it! I wasted a lot of money trying not to spend a lot of money. I ended up with Dinottes, which I really like. If I had it to do over, I'd probably get Ay-ups.

[tangentgirl]

I'm a fan of the planet bike lights. I have one of these on the front: http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodPB_3029.html -I like it because it slides off easily so I don't always have to have a light on my bike. I have this on the back: http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodPB_2008.html. I've had people tell me they can see be from waaaaaay back at night with that. Woohoo!

[Catrin]

I have the niterider as well. For road riding it's great and friends who use it for trail riding also mention it works well for them. They prefer the helmet mounts. I purchased the 150 lumens bar mount. For trail riding I would go with higher lumens. The Cateye also makes trail lights.

I am debating this very thing - would a helmet light be better for my country roads - or a handlebar mount? Both? My primary concern is being able to see where I am going - though of course it helps to BE seen - but I know that a lot of bike lights being sold are to help you to be seen by others - not necessarily for riding unlit country roads. I need to see potholes far enough away to do something about it...

[Becky]

I am debating this very thing - would a helmet light be better for my country roads - or a handlebar mount? Both? My primary concern is being able to see where I am going - though of course it helps to BE seen - but I know that a lot of bike lights being sold are to help you to be seen by others - not necessarily for riding unlit country roads. I need to see potholes far enough away to do something about it...

On-road, I find that a high-output bar-mount light is enough to see where I'm going. I don't fuss with a helmet-mount light unless I'm in singletrack.

Right now, I'm still using my ~500 lumen light for commuting. I won't switch to the ~100 lumen light until it's at least twilight or lighter when I leave in the morning. One of the downsides to being underlit is that I have to slow down in order to see things in time to react, and I don't like that option when I'm trying to get to work on time :eek:

Check out MTBR for lots of good light info: http://reviews.mtbr.com/blog/category/lights-shootout/

[sundial]

Aggie, I have been very pleased with my NiteRider MiNewt and MiNewt mini helmet light as well. The newer bike lights that are hitting the market now are cordless and are very bright. I don't know what your preference is regarding helmet lights but you may or may not need one with the new gen lights.

[Catrin]

Would you say a Stella 150 light would be more for "being seen" rather than for use on unlit roads? I don't want to find out the hard way that it isn't bright enough so figured this would be the best place to ask. Am considering selling it to help fund something more powerful.

Thank you for the links, I will explore the reviews tonight once the snow starts falling :eek: :(

[crazycanuck]

Catrin, if it were me, i'd still go with Ay-ups. The business owner dude's a mtn biker & supports Australia wide mtb events. He's come to our last 2 twelve hours & raced!

I can't see when I use handlebar mounts so I just do the helmet mount thing.

[Catrin]

You know that is what I want to do...and I'm checking with a LBS to see if Ay-Up will allow them to order from them. I want to use my store finance acct....

[trista]

I've been very happy w/ my Magicshine light. It is very bright and allows me to ride in pre-dawn blackness (mounted on my helmet). I use a couple flashing "be seen" lights on my handlebars (i think they are planet bike). They are sending me a replacement battery pack since the previous ones had a potential safety issue.

[withm]

Whatever you end up with, if having light is integral to your safety, or ability to get home, I'd suggest having a back up light as well. Could be lesser quality, less illumination, but batteries can and do go bad at the most inconvenient times. Think Murphy's Law. I would not want to be 5 miles from my home or car at 10pm without a working light.

[crazycanuck]

Catrin, you can only order them online www.ayup-lights.com

However....There may be another option..I'll have to talk to my dear about it..I could always send you one of our ayups to try out...

[sundial]

I can't see when I use handlebar mounts so I just do the helmet mount thing.

Plus helmet lights are handy when you have to stop for a mechanical issue of if you dropped something in the dirt.

[out_spokin']

Aggie, I haven't yet tried trail riding but my friends who do say if you can only afford one go with a great helmet mount, but for any real technical riding and/or trying to maintain speed it's really really worth it to go with a bar mount AND a helmet mount.

With two you can still "look where you want to go" with the helmet mount but the bar mount illuminates the trail where you're at.

I only commute on the road, and have been very happy with my Light & Motion Solo Logic MV. Also not cheap, but the customer support has been awesome over the years and even though they don't make that particular light I can still easily find replacement bulbs and other parts. I hear they and NiteRider are almost always found supporting the big 24 hour races. :cool:

[scarah]

I ride 24 hour races (teams and pairs) and use Ay Up lights, if you plan on riding anything technical then you really need both a helmet and bar light as the light from two different directions gives much better depth perception. Also on twisty single track, a bar mount won't necessarily be pointing at the track ahead if you're cornering so you can use your helmet light to scan ahead.

With Ay Up lights you can adjust the angle super easy so I angle my bar light down to a few meters in front of my wheel and the helmet light angled so it lights up a bit further away. The helmet light follows all your head movements so lights up what you instinctively look at but the bar light keeps a bit of light in front of your wheel for those pesky rocks that come out of nowhere at night.

With AyUps you can put the same light on either a bar or helmet mount so you can always switch the light over if you only buy one.

For street commuting or road riding I just use the bar light only, more than enough light.