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Went out tonight for first evening/night ride since May '14.
Was great to get back out but pretty weird too. Was on some familiar trails and some new ones for first time but I felt very cautious and was almost getting dropped by the other 3 riders - hoping it's just being rusty and that will change after a few more night-time runs.
I have Solarstorm lights on lid but I felt like I really wanted some bar mounted lights too - I felt if I was following the lit patch of ground I might get my head removed by some low hanging branches - my eyeballs must have been yo-yoing in my skull! A few were running both sets - it's got to be better than one surely. What do you use and will I get a bit quicker/less cautious with a few more rides/more light?
Practice helps, but I always preferna bar and lid combo, bar doing a wide beam job and lid doing the work.
I ride with lid and bars, works better IMO.
Also if you run only one set and they pack in it gets dark very quickly!
Also, watch a few episodes of Stranger Things beforehand, that'll sort you out.
Helmet lights pretty much mandatory for the FoD. Otherwise your light is pointing in one direction and the trail the other! Although it marks the end of summer :(, I love night riding this time of year, trails are in superb condition, it's warm, you get leaves and dust flying through the light beam.. fab. First couple of rides it definitely takes a while to recalibrate you head, but soon comes back.
Come Feb tho, I'm praying for BST!
+1 for a bar/helmet combo, 'lights' up the ruts/roots better.
I find that having the most powerful light on the helmet is the best, so have replaced a Joystick with a mega-Chinese lamp (and battery in Camelbak).
On the bars I've an old Exposure all-in-one.
Good lights will offer lenses with wide or spot angles, so you can ride a wide flood on the bars to generally light up the area and a spot on the helmet to see what you're looking at clearly, especially when turning your head, looking down into drops and bomb holes etc.
Riding in a group you're into lumens wars. It's less of an issue if you're at the back though. If you've got people behind and they're lights are brighter you end up in a shadow.
If you can run ones with green LEDs, the ground definition is supposedly better (not tried myself but Four4th do this option. I picked standard LEDs from them not really knowing the difference at the time. They're still excellent lights).
Solar storm on the bars and invest in a joystick for your lid.
So light you won't know it's there.
How do you guys carry your batteries on your bikes?
My Chinese Cree lights came with a bag with a velcro strap but it slides down the top tube during the ride which means the cables can sometimes get in the way.
Any obvious tips i'm missing?
How do you guys carry your batteries on your bikes?
Either all in ones (Exposure) or batteries that are small and strap on well - Using Ay-Up's on the bars. Never moved with a big wide velcro strap, either goes on the stem, on the bar or now on the top tube which is carbon and wider/flatter than Alu
I bought a replacement battery for my Solarstorm that had a rubberised (theoretically weatherproof) case and a watch strap style fit - that stopped the bag moving about. Used to be OK when my stem was long enough to hand the battery from it.
flood on bar, spot on lid for reasons others have already articulated. all the light off your lid gives you reduced/odd shadows = reduced depth percepetion.
How do you guys carry your batteries on your bikes?My Chinese Cree lights came with a bag with a velcro strap but it slides down the top tube during the ride which means the cables can sometimes get in the way.
Any obvious tips i'm missing?
Find a different spot for it OR
Additional velcro strap around it OR
Large zip tie fitted tight behind it.
Ah the Ay-up website is useful, I have been strapping mine to the top tube but they show it on the down tube.
On my Saracen Ariel this is where all the cables route so that should give it some traction I will give that a go.
Thanks!
i used to ride with light on bars and on my lid, ive since found that i prefer just the bar light and no lid light and also turn on lights only when i need them. i find the lid light distracting and it picks up dust and crap and gets in the way a bit.
Flood on bars, spot on lid. I tend to turn the lid light off on long, straight trails, but it's great for twisty singletrack.
PITA in the fog though.
i love these threads, they give me a chance to post things like this:
[img] 
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that's a 2D image, that our brains can instantly understand as 3D topograpy - because there are shadows.
using only a helmet light, you don't see the shadows behind all the bumps and roots and rocks, drops etc. it's harder to make sense of the trail ahead.
bar-mounted lights cast shadows you can see, so it's much easier for your brain to process the images into a 3D 'map'.
i use both, so i can see round corners.
I'll keep the Solarstorm lights for the bars.
Currently running on the lid with battery on there too - quiet weighty! (short lead).
What is a good helmet light to compliment it? Another cheap Chinese effort or something like a Joystick?
This will make you sell your lights and forget about "night riding" thing.Also, watch a few episodes of Stranger Things beforehand, that'll sort you out.
Bump for the evening crowd....any recommendations for lights?
Chinese and cheap...Cree...another set of Solarstorm...Exposure Joystick...other...
Steady on, Rascal, you weren't that slow - especially after a long time 'away'.
As I said during the ride itself, I always find riding 'into' darkness especially difficult. If I have to switch lights on [u]during[/u] a ride my brain seems to disbelieve what my eyes are telling it, so I feel like I'm doing a double-take all the time. This drags my vision back in towards the front wheel - a big 'no-no'.
It gets much easier when you start and end in the dark with light on.
As for lighting arrangements, I'd always try to go bar and lid. Stick a 'floody' light on the bars and a 'spotty' one on the lid. That way the bar light is like a scanning radar whilst the helmet light (that you can swivel independently of the bike) is like a focused beam. Also, only riding with a helmet light doesn't cast good shadows for your eyes to pick up the relief - if you think about it, the beam is pretty much in line with your eyes so any shadow cast will be out of view immediately behind the object. Bar lights are lower than your eyes, so you can see the elongated shadow.
One other piece of advice, please don't get lights brighter than mine, I don't want to ride in my own shadow if you are behind me!
Anyway, what's not to like? Razzing around the local woods and hills, acting like a kid, chatting shit and having a pint afterwards.
Mint.
£145 for the lumenator and lumen800 combo looks good to me:
[url= http://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/mountain-bike-lights/ ]MTBbatteries[/url]
I have the lumenator on my bars and run a solarstorm on the lid. I got lucky with my solarstorm as it seems to be a good'un, but as we all know, the Chinese stuff has variable quality and it can be pot luck.
The guy who runs mtbbatteries is a really nice bloke and the aftersales support he gives is excellent, and is comparatively local to us.
You pays your money and takes your choice. My history of Chinese lights is two out of three being good and one being a dud.
I cannibalised an old water bottle. Battery now sits in that with cable coming out the spout.
+1 for MTB batteries. Worth every penny, guy is a rider & v helpful.
Joystick is a perfect helmet light, it's small, easy to use, reliable, and has a few settings to adjust for runtime
Having said that, any 18650 torch mounted to your lid will be great, I use to ride with a torch like that and a Solarstorm X2 on my bars, was great
Have since upgraded to Nitefighter Bt40s on my bars and an Exposure Diablo on my lid