Bike lights -- do any of us actually need one?

1. On public road is mandatory to have lights on bike. Front and rear.
2. Flash lights on public road are useless, because are blinding other road users. That’s why I use StVZO light and recommend other to do so.
Cyclists think opposite are welcome with my MJ872 with xpl-hi installed. Change of their attitude is instant.
Mike

In many (all?) states in the US front and rear lights are required for riding after dark.
It is a traffic ticket, at the Cops option, that will cost you money. Usually a warning depending on circumstances.
Out here in the middle of nowhere, there are roads without streetlamps a five minute bike ride away from home.
I’d want all the attention I could muster.
All the Best,
Jeff

The only bike light i need and got my attention is Okluma bike light proto...

Google it or visit their FB group

In a pinch that might work, but there’s also glare from any light not specifically designed for biking. You’d have to consult St Vizo, the patron saint of bicyclists.

Around here, though, the only “bike lights” are those retarded blinking white LEDs in front only used as marker lights, not for actual illumination. With the way these idiots around here drive, I’d deck out my bike with chicken-lights to make damned sure I’d be seen.

FWIW, I live in an urban area where lights are required. Where I thought the light was sweet was at 10% with the hot spot down so as not to blind anyone. Riding after midnight it was not an issue. On the bike trail it would have been at 1. At one point, on an empty street, I did put it up to 100. That was very much like a car with high beams on. Certainly would not have been good for oncoming traffic. Just because you can be a hazard with these lights doesn’t mean you have to be.

I purchased dedicated rechargeable bike lights, one front one rear. I used these instead of pulling something from the flashlight box. The kit came with the two lights and mounting hardware so it was fast and easy to get going for the night. The front light has been adjusted to shine out in front to see the terrain. It doesn’t put much light at all into oncoming eyes. The rear of course is just a marker beacon. Both have a red/white flash/no-flash option as well as intensity on the front one. Both have a side lens that a allows some light to be seen that way. I get about two hours out of a charge, which is longer than I care to ride so that’s enough.
All-in-all it works better than an attempt by me to rig up regular flashlights. That’s what I do at night. Not everybody does. The kit was around $15 I think.

Finding a suitable light setup for your riding habit can be tricky.

Need to strike a balance between weight, aerodynamic, runtime, output, UI, durability, and most importantly > cost.

FWIW, I should add that I’m 100% a city cyclist, hence my beam preferences. When you’re on less populated pathways, it makes sense to use the regular torch beam. The least urban bike ride I’ve had was an afternoon trip seven or eight years ago to the farm of one of my uncle’s friends, and even that was on a highway.

And since we’re talking about tail lights, hello Southland :innocent: I’m still using the bike light I got from your 2017 giveaway. It’s an excellent tail light, super noticeable even during the day. I keep it on flashing RGB mode whenever I’m out.

Excellent bike light with an outstanding mount. +1

i need one
i ride longer than 20 min, which is about the limit for 1 18650

i also don;t want to fiddle around tying a light on or whatever

i have a 4x18650 bike light on my bike all the time

i even use stobe or steady light in the day time

it;s just a $30 chinese amazon light but i love it and it works great
tint is fairly blue but i do not care
i am on my 2nd or 3rd one now, happy to buy another when the battery pack dies.

wle

Sadly, cops won’t even stop automobiles with clearly illegal lighting setups here, they’ll never care about bicycles.

It’s a better idea to be well-lit than to be underlit, as a bicyclist. But the way Americans drive I will continue to avoid bicycling at night near any motorways as much as possible.

Having an external battery pack can definitely increase brightness and runtime options, but single cell lights can also work for lots of people.

Lighting requirements vary a lot with speed and terrain. And I think there is additionally a relatively large range of acceptable brightness because of our eyes logarithmic sensitivity to light; even a 2x increase or decrease in brightness does not seem like a huge change.

Here is what works for me riding on curvy off-road trails in the woods of Ohio. My speed varies from roughly 5 to 20mph. You can read about my lights here. My handlebar light has a wide beam and about 6kcd. My helmet light has about 20kcd. I estimate my handlebar light is useful for illuminating a wide area up to 5m away which means the light puts about 240lux at that distance. And I estimate when I’m going fast I need to look 10m ahead on the trail and my helmet light puts about 200lux and illuminates a 6ft wide area at that distance.

According to this site:

200 lux is between a very dark day and an overcast day. Or about the level of lighting in a coffee break room or to do easy office work.

Lumintop B01 on the roadbike and xanes DL01 (or other torch with longer battery) on the mtb.

That said, I hardly ride in the dark nowadays.

I sure don’t understand this. Draining an 18650 in 20 min with any decent emitter these days would blind anyone near you. Don’t see how any bike light could use that much energy in an LED and not be way to bright to be used in the presence of others. I thought the sweet spot was around 10% on my C8 and that would last for at least 12 hours on a single 18650. Others say that just because it is a C8 with the throwy beam profile and hot spot of the HI make that unsafe for a bike light due to blinding. Seems to me that if the bright spot is kept on the road and the level is down in the 10% range again I don’t see how a bike light could be significantly different. What am I missing here?

the faster you ride, the more you need it really bright.

and if it is a real bike light, and has a decent pattern for riding, it can be bright without blinding

i’m not talking 10, more like 80 of max, 700 lumens or so

wle

I’ve cycled many thousand miles with the trusted Hope R4 lights for many years. It was pretty costly when it was purchased and proven the money spent is worthy.

I’m with the OP. Expensive bike-only lights with built-in batteries are not for me.

My commute is just over 18 miles (29 km) each way. Being able to carry a spare battery is an important feature for me, especially in the winter.

I ride mostly on paved multi-use trail, so beam pattern isn’t much of a concern.

I really like a Convoy s2+ with biscotti on the handlebars, and a rear-facing red Jaxman E2L on the saddle tube. If my supply of good 18650s every gets low, I plan to replace those with a Convoy S21a or a Sofirn IF25a on the front. Not sure about the red tail light in 21700, though.

one additional thing about a real bike light is, it will have a specific handlebar mount, it is not going to fall off

and you don;t have to fiddle with it, every time you want to use it

wle

I have good mounts for my flashlights that haven’t fallen off in thousands of miles of riding. What sort of fiddling are you referring to? I just turn my lights on before I ride.

2-Astrolux S42. Plus headlamp to look sideways. Or far away from the bike.

Cheers.