Cycling UK Forum

I have pained over lights for many years, never really found a front I really like. For the rear I favour Smart over Cateye any day, they fit a chromed dish around the LEDs which makes for a more "full" red light like the old days of a bulb in silver dish, rather then the individual points of light from the individual LEDs in the Cateye.

I have a Cateye HL550 which is on the whole pretty useless on unlit country roads. For "being seen" I again use Smart.

So far the best I've come up with that falls within my budget is a 56 LED cheapo that I bought for a fiver direct from China. It's bright enough for people in the next town to know I'm coming ten minutes before I arrive, but no discernible beam as such. The other downside is it uses AAAs which last two commutes with all 56 LEDs burning

Lights make a huge difference.

I've used a Cateye 220 for a few years. It probably does a good enough job to be seen by (especially if combined with another backup light such as one of the Knogs) in street-lit towns, but almost useless in dark lanes. Not bright enough and very washed out.

My wife had a Cateye 530. This was much better and could do the job in dark lanes as long as you're not going too fast. The batteries didn't last very long, though, and the light itself fell apart fairly quickly.

That was replaced with a B&W Ixon IQ and not surprisingly it blows the other two out of the water. It's very bright and the rechargeable batteries last for ages even on full power. Even better is the beam pattern, which has a nice cut-off to prevent dazzling other people and focuses the light where you need it: down and to the sides.

I'd love to try a Schmidt Dynohub and fork-mounted light, but I'll wait until my front hub dies first. There's no point in recommending that set-up for Mick, though, since they're not Campag.

In the meantime I probably need to consider some lights for off-road. Then you don't have to worry quite so much about blinding other drivers - it's just a case of chucking out as much light as possible, as far as I can tell. However, even there design considerations such as beam pattern, battery longevity, clever electronics etc are becoming more important, finally.

Mick
must admit to riding at night recenly after a long break. However my riding is a mixture of country lanes and off road ex-railway track both unlit.
At the moment I am using a Hope One with rechargeable NiMn AA batteries this puts out a long thin beam, and an Airbike P7 Everlight SL with a lithium ion rechargable pack mounted on the crossbar this puts out a more powerful, more spread beam.
Must admit that I only use the airbike on the road, on its lowest setting it's more than adequate. Both light up the track light daylight when on full power.
Gaz

rbrian wrote:How about supplementing with an LED head torch? You can get a very bright 4 LED Petzl for about £30, and blindingly bright for a little more. It ought to help out with clipping in, seeing what gear you're in, and shining at drivers' eyes until they dip their lights.

40 lumens? my Ayups are something like 340 lumens or so. They have a UK shipping post again now, single light £155.

http://www.uk.ayup-lights.com/products/64/

One of my batteries died and I made one using a LiPo battery from ebay. Cost about £15. Works fine with their charger, which is a LiPo specific one.

I don't know what lumens means, all I know is I tried a few in a shop, and bought one with 4 LEDs, which I felt was plenty bright enough for use in dark campsite, and there were others much brighter - mine was only the second one from the bottom. I've never actually used it on the bike, my Cateye 530 is sufficient; but I've sometimes thought it would be a good idea. Some other brands were, frankly, a bit rubbish - claiming the same lumens, or maybe measuring in lux or watts or something equally confusing, which were less bright for the same price, and the £5 Tesco one I bought a few years ago flicked the LEDs on and off to save battery power, at just the right frequency to give me migraine.

I quite like cycling in the dark. In the country with no traffic you can immerse yourself in your own little bubble!

I find that I needed a light that illuminates some of the verge when I commute on unlit country roads though. Otherwise glare from oncoming vehicles washes out your light and vision and you can no longer easily judge the distance from the edge of the road.

I use a Cateye Triple Shot which is like a proper headlight. I managed to pick one up in a local shop under half price a few years back which is just as well as they are nearly £300 now I think. A bit bulky and the charger is a bit weird if it's not been charged in a while but illuminates the road perfectly. I usually have a small cateye flashing light on the bike as well as a backup but that's useless on unlit roads, fine for being seen but not for being able to see.

Mick F wrote:Perhaps I need a better front light - how about the EL530?

If you don't want to splash out for a B&M Ixon IQ (62 Euro delivered) then I've found the Trelock LS 730 (37 Euro delivered) to give a decent beam and adequate brightness for up to about 20mph on unlit roads.
HTH.

Thanks Squeaker,

That B+M Ixon IQ looks the business.
40 lux.

How does that compare to my Cateye EL320?
(Don't just say it brighter or better!)

I can't compare those particular lights (or any other, really), but note that lux may be meaningless units for this purpose. The lux figure is probably a measure of the light received at a surface (the "illuminance"), which varies with the square of the distance. The lux number measured four metres from the lamp will be one-sixteenth the number measured at one metre.

Different manufacturers might measure the lux at the same distances, but I wouldn't count on it.

More meangingful units would be:

- lumens, which measures the total light emitted in all directions ("luminous flux")

- candelas, which measures the light emitted per steradian (a steradian is a unit of solid angle) ("luminous intensity")

Putting a relector behind a bulb, and a lens in front, so all the light is concentrated in a narrow beam won't change the number of lumens, but will change the number of candelas (increased within the beam, and decreased outside it).

squeaker wrote:

Mick F wrote:Perhaps I need a better front light - how about the EL530?

If you don't want to splash out for a B&M Ixon IQ (62 Euro delivered) then I've found the Trelock LS 730 (37 Euro delivered) to give a decent beam and adequate brightness for up to about 20mph on unlit roads.
HTH.

Assuming you eat a lot of carrots

I know of one rider who used to cover many country miles at night with a carbide lamp .... but the roads were presumably a lot less busy back then ...

I suppose my problem in accepting inadequate lighting is that I rode motorcycles for 10 years before switching to pedal power.

At the end of the day it's a sad fact that certain situations require people to spend maybe more than what they paid for their bikes to have adequate lighting.

As one trained in electronics, and also with disposable cash, I have set a certain balance. My "be seen" lights cost me £35 for the components and £25 for a battery that gives me maybe 4 hours run time and needs replacing once every 3 years. (I'm running something like 4 watts of LEDs front and back - equivalent to brake / reversing lights). I have evolved them over 23 years of suburban cycling and I won't set out with less. They're big, weird things that no other cyclist would want attached to their bike.

Seeing where you're going safely on unlit roads that may have unexpected obstacles or potholes is a very expensive business. I reckon nothing less than 10 watts of LED/(s) and good optics - or in my case, 12 watts of LEDs with a reasonable beam pattern when used together. I couldn't manage without a thumb-operated dip-switch either.

Mentioned elsewhere in forums but going to be first to state anyway; Magicshines from dealextreme are great from a lumins count (900 advertised), and good value for money at ~£62. Just a little circular in the beam with no side-spread, but fine for 20-25 mph along dark lanes. Beats my wifes cateye (EL320?) by a considerable margin. My order (they are Hong-Kong based) took 10 days to arrive last month, but can take longer according to demand (apparently).

Just be aware that the price for the Ixon IQ on Bike24 doesn't include the batteries or charger. That might be fine if you already have some at home.

We didn't, so we got the full set from Dotbike. The charger plugs straight into the light itself - no removing batteries to put into a separate charger. Nice and easy.

Also worth considering a fork crown mount, if it will fit your Mercian:

http://www.dotbike.com/ProductsP4119.as ... aign%3dDDI

That way the light will be more useful still (it's already excellent on the handlebars) and you free up space on the bars. Unfortunately I couldn't fit either of the options on two bikes, so handlebars it is for us.

No idea about lumens / lux etc, but I do recommend having a look at the Peter White Cycles articles, especially this one with lots of pictures of beam patterns and brightness:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp

and this one:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/plight.asp

Mick F wrote:That B+M Ixon IQ looks the business.
40 lux.

How does that compare to my Cateye EL320?
(Don't just say it brighter or better!)

Er, bit tricky to say, but this group test included the B&M IQ Fly (which IIRC is the dynamo equivalent of the Ixon IQ) and the Cateye Opticube (EL 410? -3x less total light output than the EL 320?). The numbers speak for themselves, but suffice to say that I find the Ixon IQ on 40 Lux more than adequate at speeds in excess of 30 mph, partly due to it's excellent beam pattern.

Mick F wrote:That B+M Ixon IQ looks the business.
40 lux.

I have the dynamo version of this and it's great. There are probably brighter lights avaiable but for on road riding it's great. I can go nearly as fast as in the light and the pleasant hum of my bottle dynamo is a constant companion! The one thing that's harder at night than in the day is seeing around corners.

Mick F wrote:That B+M Ixon IQ looks the business.

Everything I've read from you all, still backs this up.
£80 odd for the light, the batteries and charger is reasonable. I'm well aware that in order to get more light and a useful beam the price has to be exponentially increased.

Will I buy a set?
I don't know.

Do I NEED a set?
If I do, I will buy one.