Cycling UK Forum

Any suggestions people?

I used to have one on an SKS rear mudguard, but looks like a zealous family member has chucked it (reasonably enough, if you could see my bike stuff in the garage...)

B&M seculite plus has been a favourite for years now.

I do object strongly to coughing up the thick end of £30 for one though; a few years back (when they were still quite a new design) I think I paid less than a fiver for one in a German supermarket, when they were about £20 here.

The 'secula' model is worth a look too. http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/Downloads/B&M_2013.pdf They also do a 4D-lite which has a little frame round it to make it knock-resistant, or a separate frame that fits round some of their lights; all such lights are a bit vulnerable to knocks ( spare lenses are available for the seculite/ seculite plus).

You can buy a standard (tungsten bulb) rear light for a couple of quid now; these are easily converted to LED (cost about £1 for parts if you do it DIY style), or an LED bulb (with built-in standlight circuit) can be added for about £10. This is a cheap way of getting a good rear light, with the feature that (provided you don't break the LED bulb or your nearest and dearest bins it... ), you can re-use the LED bulb so breakage of the (inexpensive) lamp housing is no big deal.

I think that mounting a dynamo light higher up on the mudguard (commonplace at one time) has a lot going for it (both knock- and visibility-wise); however suitable lights are not readily available, so a little improvisation is required here .

I keep thinking about taking one of these (which is designed to mount high up on the mudguard);



and sticking an LED inside it.

cheers

http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;n ... ;orderby=2

This one has a bright LED and includes a standlight, not bad for under 10 euros.

james01 wrote:http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;navigation=1;product=13286;page=1;menu=1400,1410,1411;mid=204,480;pgc=13108:13113;orderby=2

This one has a bright LED and includes a standlight, not bad for under 10 euros.

I'd love to see the beam pattern - I could pop one of those on each of my front mudguards

Brucey wrote:The 'secula' model is worth a look too. http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/Downloads/B&M_2013.pdf They also do a 4D-lite which has a little frame round it to make it knock-resistant, or a separate frame that fits round some of their lights; all such lights are a bit vulnerable to knocks ( spare lenses are available for the seculite/ seculite plus).

I use a Seculite with a frame round it on one bike. Don't rely completely on spare lens availability, as you can't get hold of the light spreading widget that clips round the LED itself. Obviously this will depend on whether you are looking when you knock the lens off, or whether you just loosen it and it falls off on some pothole down the road.
The other bike has a Secula on it. It has a much wider spread of light than the Seculite, which makes it much easier to check it's still working as all you've got to see is the ground somewhere in the region of the back wheel. This probably means it isn't as bright directly on axis, but that's a bit difficult to check on my own. The reflector bit is quite a lot smaller than the Seculite, and may not satisfy the legal requirement for a reflector. It's also quite a bit smaller, and has the appearance of being more resistant to being knocked.

I'm happy with both, and usually restrict using the battery Smart R1 that I also have fitted to daylight (fog/heavy rain) or an unusally busy road.
I'd probably prefer the Secula, apart from the reflector aspect (probably I'd fit one of Brucey's reflectors as well, currently relying on a Cateye AU100BS).

james01 wrote:http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;navigation=1;product=13286;page=1;menu=1400,1410,1411;mid=204,480;pgc=13108:13113;orderby=2

This one has a bright LED and includes a standlight, not bad for under 10 euros.

that does look like good value; any tech specs/ beamshots anywhere?

cheers

I can recommend the Spanninga Pixeo, less than £15 and "looks like a motorbike from behind" according to my sister. Comes with generous amount of lead and plugged straight into the back of my B&M front light.

andrew_s wrote:The other bike has a Secula on it. It has a much wider spread of light than the Seculite, which makes it much easier to check it's still working as all you've got to see is the ground somewhere in the region of the back wheel. This probably means it isn't as bright directly on axis,.....

I think the same amount of light from a smaller source (eg seculite) will look brighter close-up (higher luminosity?) but the same as the larger (spread out) source (eg secula) when viewed from slightly further away, like the distance of an approaching car. So the secula might be just as good(bright) or better on-axis. According to http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/verlichting/achterlampen/BM_secula/index_en.html the secula is more 'thirsty', taking 70mA.

Thus the secula might be more pleasant in group riding.

For a inherently? more 'wobbly' mudguard fitting I would especially prefer a wider beam anyway.

Thanks, all!

Will post once I've got it fitted.