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For riding in the dark at forest centre trails? How many lumens on the front. And do I need a back light if not on road? Would love some tried and tested
Recommendations
I run 1800lm on helmet (Evolva/Soonfire X8, £50 off of Amazon), 3000lm on bars (Magicshine RN 3000, £130-£150ish from Magicshine).
I did have another X8 on the bars before the RN3000, but 3000 is a lot more fun.
What is your budget? If it's money no object then you can't go wrong with Exposure, they're very good lights without cables and have great aftersales support.
I was quite happy riding at night with an 1800 lumen Bikehut all in one front light and 900 lumen Moon Vortex on my helmet. Did that did that for a few years.
I then fancied trying something brighter for steeper off piste stuff and got myself an Exposure Maxx D - massively better. I run it in reflex mode so it changes the intensity of light based in how fast it thinks you’re going. Love it.
I also changed my helmet light to an exposure Axis but I don’t think that change was as beneficial. I’d happily run the latest moon vortex instead and save the cash for the helmet light.
I dunno about money no object, certainly is for me!.
Joystick on the lid is enough for me, I only put a light on the bars cos I have other lights, the helmet light allows you to see where you're actually going as opposed to which way the bike is pointing.
Some folk prefer using two lights, each to their own, but a helmet light gets you started and is far better if you only have one.
We have 4 sets of lights in the house now.
- moon meteor pro (2000lm/£100) seems the best of the lot on the bars. Nice 'shape' of light and noticeably brighter than. Lighter, really useful settings. Solid on bars. Long battery time.
- Halfords Advanced 1600lm (£40, BNWT eBay buy). Works well, quite big and heavy compared to the moon. Clamp/mounts are crap. Not used it much yet.
- Chinese from Battery Boy on eBay (£60). Brightest of the lot but not the best light for some reason. Separated battery, overall heavy.
- Chinese random from eBay (£30 iirc). Ok, but poor runtime, flickers sometimes, I don't trust it recharging these days so have it visible when it is. Likely battery going in bin soon.
Got a joystick on my lid (older version, 1000 lumens) and a lumenator 18 on the bars (2200 lumens) - would prefer an all-in-one on the bars but this set-up does me fine, put the battery in a small frame bag behind the head set. Started with cheapie Chinese lights but was always worried about charging them, was cheap enough to see if I like night riding first before blowing the bank. Slowly upgraded to current set-up
Hope R8 on the bars, with the battery installed a tool keg in a bottle cage, gives great flood and a Gloworm X2 on the lid with the battery in my rucksack. The separate battery keeps the weight on the helmet down. I do think the old X2 could do with being a little brighter.
I am older and eyesight isn't great, so have to go big.
Exposure, mine are into their 7th year. Diablo on helmet and maxxd on the bars.
Some folk prefer using two lights, each to their own, but a helmet light gets you started and is far better if you only have one.
The advantage of having two lights - one bar, one helemt - is that you seem to get better depth perception. It's easier to tell the difference between a small step and a bloody great big one for example. Maybe less of an issue at trail centres, which tend to be quite groomed and predictable. Given the choice on an mtb, I'd rather have a helmet light, but ideally both with a big flood on the bars and a more focussed spot beam on the head.
is that you seem to get better depth perception. It’s easier to tell the difference between a small step and a bloody great big one for example
As I says, each to their own, but I've seen this quoted on here before, and I don't agree. A light on the bars at a shallower angle cannot give any view of how high a drop is, in fact the shadow cast is longer.
What's the name of the all in one lights,lookout like moon vertex, but had better runtime and brighter than a diablo? Name escapes me, but I was gonna sell diablo and get one last winter.
Vague, sorry!
All hail the Smart Lights! 😂
I have just replaced my Mk2 six-pack and Mk4 Diablo with an MTB Batteries Lumenator 20 and Lumen 800.
Being cable free was important when I was doing 24hr XC races but any ride now that involves a long night ride I have a framebag of some kind so I'm shifting a big lump of weight and bulk off the bars. I can also use both batteries to extend the runtime of a single light.
I definitely recommend a helmet light paired with bar lights for twisty singletrack, it's nice to be able to "look" around a corner before you turn your bars.
I'm considering an Exposure Fuse for the ebike. 1400lm
They do a 3300lm version, but its as expensive as a standard exposure lamp.
Worth bearing in mind that different e-bike supply different voltage/ampage to those lights
Eg: A Spesch bike will only power a Fuse to 880lm, when it's max is 1000lm's, maybe not loads but worth bearing in mind. They don't even seem to recommend running the Flex on it
After 16+ years of night riding, I stopped messing around with cheap and cheerful stuff and just bought the exposure lights (MaxxD & Joystick), I should have done years ago. By all means buy something cheap, to test out night riding but if you like it, just save up and buy an exposure.
Dual light setup are the way to go, you'd be daft not to run two, not only do they give you better depth perception, you can see round corners, especially useful this time of year with the undergrowth so high, but mainly because if one light fails, your not totally ****ed.