[Closed] What do you actually ride with more than 500 lumens?

'Need' doesn't come in to it, nowadays it seems to be a light race akin to the arms race of years gone by 😕

I am just about to buy a 1000 lumen light as I don't ride the same trails regularly and the ay-ups actually hold back the speed a fair bit.

I use a L&M Seca 1400 on my commute and at 40+ mph down a 20% country road with the likelihood of deer, badgers and other assorted wildlife jumping out in front of me I can assure you 1400 lumens isn't enough.

bored GW?

Magic shine "900" lumen on my helmat and bars. Wide gravel roads to forest single track.

Because lights are cheap and still not as bright as the midday sun.

Cool, you ride with your little single light and leave us to run our bar/helmet over-the-top combo's.

Did 20 miles last night in the Chilterns - Bars (Exposure Toro) Helmet (Exposure Joystick)

you seem angry GW 😥

need a hug? 😀

Your mum 🙂

Perhaps in ideal conditions 500 lumens is reasonable. However in sideways rain down narrow tracks where there are many hidden roots and various nasties i want as much light as man can create.

i'm still using my 800 lupine wilmas which were state of the art 2 yrs ago, dont think i'll ever change em unless they fail. Like all things there will always be sheep who fall for the 'next best thing' hype....its how the world works, actual need does not come into the equation.

anyway, i'm off to completely change my drive train to D12 cause cav uses it and the posters are great, and my 8months old SRAM is now out of flavour

its the added benefit of being able to roast rabbits by just looking at them 😈

in sideways rain down narrow tracks where there are many hidden roots and various nasties i want as much light as man can create.

ton - yes, but honestly curious
phil - WTF would make you think that? were you scared by what you read? coz i'm not ****ing hugging you.
rich - no longer have one

i'm with you GW! my hope 2LED give me plenty of light. in fact, part of the fun about night riding for me is that it is dark - i don't want to try and replicate daytime thanks!

I only ride at night because I can't ride in the day. Ergo I am trying to simulate the sun. More light the better - if I could bottle a thermonuclear explosion and dangle it from my bars in a jam jar I would. Then i'd buy a second to attach to my head.

700 lumens of Exposure Toro with spot beam Ayups on my helmet is plenty bright enough for me although a bit more spread from the Toro would be nice. I only turn the helmet light on if there's no-one in front of me as I find the reflected light from anything close is enough to dull my night vision.

Because I'm old and my eyesight isn't as good as it once was. 😐

Perhaps in ideal conditions 500 lumens is reasonable. However in sideways rain down narrow tracks where there are many hidden roots and various nasties i want as much light as man can create.

I'm with yesiamtom on this one, quite often a bastid at medium setting on the bars is enough.
Last night, in the driving rain, an older bastid on the bars on full (say 600ish) and a newer one on the lid (say 900ish) just wasn't enough to really let it go on the downhills. I found myself hanging back more than I would have in daylight. 🙁
This is not normally the case.
Wearing glasses doesn't help either 🙁

your loss GW, i'm a good hugger.

its an arms race like cupra said

500 is fine for me on my lid when Im on my own - but when all your mates have 6 packs and Toros etc you cant see a thing in your shadow - which means you have to let them by - which is just not on

I go for the "brightest light I can get for 30 quid" approach.

Worked out quite well. Wear a torch on my head for looking at stuff

2800 lumens here 😀 (FullBeam Night Nemisis) on the bars. Hope Vision 1 on the helmet (not really required, but always good to have a back up!)
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If I'm racing 24hrs I want every advantage I can get! THe Hope on it's own is fine for comuting purposes.

know what you mean winterfold (partly why I started the thread)
group riding I'll often just switch mine off completely and ride their light til I reach a section I know I'll get away ahead easily. but I often night ride locally with no lights at all (I hate wearing a helmet, and bar mounts are pointless)

It's a case of the blinding leading the blind (says he with an 800 lumen bar light...)

Dancake +1

I've just got an email saying my cheapie head torch has been despatched and my 1300 cree torch should be on it's way too, all for £26 quid in total. 8)

I mustn't have made it very clear 🙄 but my original question was...

[b]what do you actually ride with more than 500 lumens?[/b]

I wasn't really after a boring list of numbers, mounting positions or brand names (silly me, as I am fully aware that's what the average semi-autistic STW dweller loves to collate and ponder over more than anything).
I genuinely wanted to know [b]Where/what do you ride?[/b] ie. is it local well known routes? trail centre scalextrix tracks? far afield unknown trails? super technical or fast DH tracks? or what?
but oh, well.. 😕

Can't stand helmet lights, so about 1800 lumens on the bars is about adequate. For now.

well done retard No 1 😛

My low power setup is 2500 lumens. That's OK. My high power setup is 5000.

I use the high power setup unless it's a dusk/dawn lap. More is simply better.

I only race at night (other than testing lights and the occasional snowy midwinter ride).

ride the same stuff I do the rest of the time (open downland and wooded singletrack) and, with a more powerful light, at the same speed.

As above I ride at night 'cos otherwise I couldn't ride midweek. It is different to day time even with lots of lumens but I've found it easier the more powerful my lamps have got.

thank you Wwaswas 😀

Well I was typing when you posted.
& riding fast fire roads to steep & tight single track now you ask.

I ride on the road with significantly more than 500, but I have pish night vision and wet roads soak up light big style.

To answer the exam question GW.... exactly the same stuff as I'd ride in daylight.
Local woods and cheeky, moorland singletrack, Calderdale tech, etc.

I often night ride locally with no lights at all

**swoon** 🙄

If you can night ride without lights maybe, just maybe, your eyesight is better than some/most/all. I call a really shit troll.

Not saying its right but my homebrew retina burners flashed to full power are the first lights I've had that manage to persuade the local merc/audi drivers that it may be worth dipping their lights to an on-coming cyclist.

same light output as you and whatever I want to ride
It is night time it should be night time it is part of the fun.
Never crashed due to not enough light but have done due to not enough skill
Cant imagine what 1500 lumens + does in fog just bouncing everywhere blinding you I assume

It's a bit like having sex with the light on,more fun...............Don't suppose you would know anything about that......... 8)

If you can night ride without lights maybe, just maybe, [s]your eyesight is better than some/most/all.[/s] [b]you just need to know your local trails very very well[/b]

I call a really shit troll.

In my experience not all lumens are equal!

Apparently I have 900 lumens, it is indeed very bright but I have no way of telling if I really do have that many lumens. They are just too fast to count individually!

As to what I ride: everything I ride in the day, just at night! I like to be able to see well.

I rode out of Torver last night in Cumbria. It was rocky slippery steppy, sloppy technical terrain followed by a fast decent through the quarries back down to Torver.

Having a bar and head mounted torch offers benefits of being better able to perceive depth of field. Also if it gets foggy, misty, rain etc a headtorch can be useless as its light refracts off the water droplets and stops you seeing anything.

I also had two spare sets in my bag for me and my riding buddies in the event of failure or breakage.

The more you can see the greater your confidence and the more fun you can have - simples.

GW in "I am better than you but I disguise it as a genuine question" SHOCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*looks forward to "al have a word with yourself you don't understand" reply*

Seriously I do look forward to seeing your "meek-and-polite-in-real-life-just-like-the-rest-of-us" real-life persona on an EL ride soon....

[i]500 is fine for me on my lid when Im on my own - but when all your mates have 6 packs and Toros etc you cant see a thing in your shadow - which means you have to let them by - which is just not on
[/i]

this +1

I ride twisty but not very technical singletrack, and riding into the eclipse caused by one of my mates' bar mounted lights, which also burns your butt if they are directly behind you, ceased to be acceptable.

So now about 500 on the lid and 1000-2000 on the bars

Does the OP have friends to ride with? If not this may not be an issue 😉

I kind of get GW's point though.

I used to ride my local trails (easy wooded singletrack and roads / lanes to and from) with a 5W and 10W Vistalite. Sure I couldn't ride as fast as in the daylight but I enjoyed the different challenge.

With newer brighter lights I can go a bit faster but the fun for me from riding at night is challenge of it. Its meant to be dark after all!

i never use full power. i always use bar mount too 🙂

gw= can deffo ride a bike!

Jedi made a point of telling me during our skills session that GW from the forum is a force to be reckoned with on a bike.

EDIT - speak of the devil!

you just need to know your local trails very very well

I know my local roads very well, there's less to crash into and I'd still not even contemplate going for a ride without lights (and it's nowt to do with fear of being run over!).

I do agree that it's become an 'arms race', and everyone used to manage just fine on Vista Lites as above (I know I did), but to say that people don't need lights at all if you know your trails is just daft IMO. Again, if you can get away with it then your eyesight is obviously superior.

last night is was GT black, other times it's innerleithen.
Big, fast descents need as much light as you can get, and a lot of that on your head for corners, but in particular filling in the darkness of drops.

Combination of lights last night was ~6500 lumens between 2 of us, that was about enough. Seriously, it's the first time I haven't backed off the speed due to lack of light.

Al. your inferioriy issues are not any of my concern. 😉
you'd have found me just as honest and straight to the point if you'd plucked up the courage to speak to me about anything on either ride we've done together. We've (WM) been out night riding locally Monday and Tues this week and I'm heading out again tonight (as I won't get a chance to ride anything much over the w/e) to Carberry (prob on my todd as it happens) you're welcome to join me if you fancy it?

cheers Tony, you still got the 10W bar light rule for your shore?
Ps. I've completely forgotten what dates you said you're up? 😳

~6500 lumens between 2 of us, that was about enough

****ing hell! I use 20W + 12W halogens and a 100-lumen (or whatever it is) commuting LED for riding GT, Pentlands etc. Can't see much, but it's [b]enough[/b] to ride at my normal speed. I once got caught out at Innerleithen when I was out later than expected, and rode down the bottom bit of Make or Break with a Tesco torch ziptied to my helmet. It was great! And before you say it, I'm a shite rider...

So I concur with GW 🙂

yeah, i prefer low light levels for the shore as it casts wierd shadows otherwise.
6th-9th nov i think 🙂

ok , I admit it, 6500 lumens was insane.
Sometimes I like all the light I can get as a daytime replacement ride, othertimes I ride everything I can with no lights.
I think my best night ride last winter was unintentionally coming off Pykestone hill into Peebles in the dark. We got to the top at sundown a bit later than expected and decided not to put lights on.

Seriously, it's the first time I haven't backed off the speed due to lack of light.

I know my local roads very well, there's less to crash into and I'd still not even contemplate going for a ride without lights (and it's nowt to do with fear of being run over!).

but to say that people don't need lights at all if you know your trails is just daft IMO

6th-9th nov i think

I'll no doubt ask you again, my memory for trails is great dates not so much 😳

[i]can see how folk can justify maybe 500-700 lumens on their head but come on?[/i]

Who do I have to justify my overuse of lumens to and why?

Ooh....riding lords love-in? 😛

GW I'd hate to think you'd waste your time on my inferiority issues, which are clearly many, unlike yours, which don't exist.

My point was you could help yourself by re-phrasing your questions. My rates are reasonable.

Anyway why not BATTLE on the IL enduro? I'm racing the climbs only 😛

why don't I just give you my log-in details? 🙄
I'll be heading over for 6-6.30ish, if you're coming please don't bring a ****ing cross bike.

❓

I don't get out as much as I like and have a really bad memory, so riding in the dark is out of the question for me. I've just upgraded my Ay-Ups to compete in the lighting wars but if I'm out on my own I'll probably just use the helmet on its own. Last night at GT I rode with somebody elses helmet mounted light and missed the bar mounted light, that may just have been down to different beam patterns. To answer your question, last night I rode a trail I hadn't ridden for probably 3 years so I needed all the help I could get, which was probably 'only' 800-900 lumens. I'll make sure I take plenty light to Carberry even if it's only so you don't run me over.

I am riding with a 700ish hmebrew light on my head and a 500 ish on the bars.

Just my usual pentlands rides so anything from open moorland to twisty woodland

Bar light is best in rain / fog (less dazzle) helmet light in twisties.

Homebrew lights made for fun hence two. Sometimes I only use teh helmet light but I did find it not enough once at glentress - hard to get depth vision

Elephant, what do you have that's 5000?! I though 2800 was a lot! Or is that the total output of two or more lights?

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What?

Most of the time when I'm night riding, it's because I want to go for a ride and it's night, not because I want to go for a night ride. So I have stupendous amounts of light attached to make it less like a night ride. Whereas if I want to go for a night ride I turn the lights down.

I like lumen threads nearly as much as "what tyres for tuesday" threads.

Beam pattern is more important than lumen number I reckon, its all very well having 2000 lumens but if they are pointing 50m down the trail and its dark around your front wheel its only going to be benefiting your stw ego. I have 700 on the bars and a 300 torch on my head and that has been fine for me so far.

GW
you'd have found me just as honest and straight to the point

Indeed. Slightly less "forthright" in real life tho

bigjim - Member

..... if they are pointing 50m down the trail and its dark around your front wheel .....

Errmmmm - I like to see at least 50 m down the trail and rarely look at the ground under my front wheel

IIRC they are around 500lumens (someone clever will no doubt confirm/correct)

yep that's about right 450-500 lumens

It's funny when hids first came out people questioned why so much light, but for me they were all about run time. They were an equivalent of 30-40W halogen setup (very common in those days, lumicycle being particularly prominent) but only drew 10W from the battery. Li-ion took batteries the next step over NiMH in terms of capacity to size ratio and combined with hids were a killer package.

I do agree that 500 lumens is enough light for me although I've just bought the (claimed) 1000lumen magicshine 🙄 but having said that if it was a choice between a 500 lumen light and a 1000 lumen light at the same price I'd probably go for the 1000 lumen 😳 to be honest I didn't look for a 500 lumen light at £15 do they exist?

I can't be arsed to read all that but 500 lumens is fine until you've got someone behind you with a 1000 lumen light.

What do you actually ride with more than 500 lumens?

Road.

'I'm with GW on this one' shocker. 😆

As per jam bo's comment above: I suppose in total i have 500 or so lumens between bars and helmet and that seems fine, particularly if 350 of them is from my lovely heavy old-skool (5 years old! the horror!) L&M solo halogen on my helmet, I like the yellowness of it if no one else's lights are brighter than or interfering with it.

I borrow mrs j's fancy lights and ride with more than 500l if I am required to enter the 'arms race' of people behind me with much brighter lights, only really because you need something to fill your own shadow cast by the latest exposure coke-can-on-bars behind you. (they are almost always Exposure round our way for some reason -is that the same everywhere?) So for me that will be enduro races and the local club night ride because there are usually a dozen or so folk out on that, and sometimes I manage not to end up at the back!

Beaten to it by simondbarnes.

Road riding where the light gets spread over a wide area and the speeds are much higher, I'd quite like to have lots of power thanks.

The trails I ride are littered with obstacles. There's roots, puddles, old guys on wee bikes with no lights on, jumps, balding homosexuals in streams, mud, trees, wannabe germans hiding in old bunkers, rocks, bears, you name it. Thats why I've bought a second magicshite!

How many lumens is the deal extreme, and tesco AA light?

Somewhere between 4 and 8 thousand I think.

absolutely PMSL Mike!!! 😆

Get you 2 Chuckle Brothers!

Errmmmm - I like to see at least 50 m down the trail and rarely look at the ground under my front wheel

That might be why I was much quicker than you on Black Hill last wednesday night 😛

You like to see at least 50m down the trail?? Round our way you can't see anything like that far down the trail, what with all the corners, undulations, old blokes riding without lights, big floaty heided blokes wearing gardening gloves on day glo lumps of steel and the like. I guess you might want see that far if you are going down exponential hill at warp factor 5 whilst trying to keep your hair out your eyes.

Oh - saucer of cream for bigjim

😆

Hope that hasn't ruined my chances of getting out for a ride with the WM? I'll bring home brew 😉

No danger! I'm looking into re stocking my homebrew soon too. Got a 160 pint capacity at the moment but might have the chance to buy another 40 pint barrel soon.