Cycling UK Forum

I'm going to fit an LED light to my new helmet. On my original one I've got a neat set up whereby I'm using a head mounted light. Its attached with the battery pack mounted on the rear of the helmet and the light (which can be angled to suit any situation) mounted on the front. It works great and was easily assembled using zip ties/cable ties.

I'm posting this as I'm looking for recommendations for a bicycle light that is constant but pulses with bright flashes which my current setup on my old helmet does not do. But as I'm describing my old setup it's occurring to me that I'm not going to be able to do much better with a bicycle light on my new helmet so I'm better off getting another better headlight and adapting it to fit my new bicycle helmet with the flashing mode described above!! :thinking:

So at the end of the day I'm posting this for 2 reasons. If anyone has got any recommendations for a head mounted light that has a constant LED combined with a pulsating LED I'd like to hear. And to recommend this kind of setup as it balances the weight between back and front nicely since the battery pack is often split from the light and linked by the power cable and inherently often a much longer battery life.

Sorry if all this sounds a bit garbled but hopefully you get the gist

I always have reservations about mounting anything on helmets.

All the testing was carried out without your attachment, whatever it is.
Anything mounted on the outside of the shell will only go one way in the case of an impact, in towards your brain, possibly.
If you wear a helmet for safety reasons you need to risk assess your addition of the external attachment.

Will it degrade the performance of the helmet ?
Warranty ?
How will the legal services view the use of an untested combination of products ?

Take care ...

I take your points but it may also save me from an accident in the first place since the light will be pointed in the direction I'm looking and I'm usually looking in the direction of traffic i.e. at crossroads, on roundabouts since cars coming on to these hotspots don't always see you if you've got handlebar lights day or night

Thanks for your concern though

RecumbentRide wrote:I take your points but it may also save me from an accident in the first place since the light will be pointed in the direction I'm looking and I'm usually looking in the direction of traffic i.e. at crossroads, on roundabouts since cars coming on to these hotspots don't always see you if you've got handlebar lights day or night

Thanks for your concern though

I'm assuming you are riding a traditional bike, rather than a recumbent, as indicated by your username:
As a driver I find head mounted lights - particularly if there are no other front lights - misleading and confusing, and not in a good way. The light moves in unpredictable directions, and isn't at a level where drivers are expecting to see vehicle lights - the effect is to remove the driver's attention from the task in hand for far too long, while working out W.T.F. that is/was.
If you insist on using one, and I think the above points about changing the dynamics of the lid are valid, please do also use a normal front light too.


You can easlily remove the Tapatalk spam using settings on YOUR phone

Insanely expensive, but an exposure joystick has just that function, constant beam punctuated by brighter flashes about every 2/3 of a second. The light clips into its helmet mount around the barrel, no separate battery pack and very secure, doesn't shift, even over very rocky terrain and a ball joint in the mount makes it angle adjustable, again it doesn't shift from the angle you set it at. I point mine downwards for road riding but it's really useful to stop people who are going to pull out on you.
It's really versatile, is small torch size and shape, very light, very robust full metal body. It clips on and off in a second, has loads of settings for brightness, programmed in groups of 3, so you get high mid low and the pulse mode at each level. In its lowest light mode which is still really bright you get in the region of 36 hours on a charge. My first one I got on sale from wiggle for £50 and was stolen. I found it so useful that I tired of waiting for a reduction again and shelled out full price of £113!
I do a lot of camping touring, and it's the ease of use and versatility combined with the battery life because of settings flexibility that is the deal maker for me. The beam pattern isn't amazing, a good fork crown mounted dyno headlamp is better in that regard, but as a helmet light and something that can be taken on and off the helmet in a second, put in pocket, hung in tent etc it is really great. It can also go plenty bright enough for fast road riding in pitch black, although bar mounted is better for that to bring out the relief of the road surface. I don't know how long the battery will last before it starts to degrade, a weakness with all non replaceable usb charged lights, so an expensive option, but so useful in my experience. I don't know but maybe their cheaper models have the same pulse function, and not have the higher brightness settings that are unecessary for road use.

I have one of those cree double led lights £10 of ebay as a back up light for off road use.
Two or three light levels and flashes.
Largish battery pack and dodgy charger but hasn't burnt the house down yet.
Bought a rounded mounting thing for the helmet so can mount on helmet or handle bar.
I think SJC sell them.

+1 for Exposure

I have the Link which is bidirectional and has many settings for flash/brightness. It also has a fuel guage which I love. It is a very light unit.

I use this on my helmet and also mount it on my velomobile to stop girlies killing me with their cars when I turn right at roundabouts.

The unit is also a very handy torch when camping or when fixing a mechanical in the dark or inside the velomobile.

millimole wrote:

RecumbentRide wrote:As a driver I find head mounted lights - particularly if there are no other front lights - misleading and confusing, and not in a good way. The light moves in unpredictable directions, and isn't at a level where drivers are expecting to see vehicle lights - the effect is to remove the driver's attention from the task in hand for far too long, while working out W.T.F. that is/was.

I promise not to do any 360 head spinning movements at junctions in future!!!

Don't know why but what you said you made this pop into my head.

Thanks guys will take a look at the exposure light. Do remember seeing this several years ago and it looked really neat. it's currently £111 on Wiggle though so still a bit steep for me TBH but it obviously is a decent light and has great ratings.

Most helmet mounted objects (Exposure, GoPro) have break off mounts that minimise effect on the helmet

To give you an idea of what I've got take a look at this Motion Vis 360

The only difference is I've concocted mine from a head mounted torch fitted to a helmet.