Awesome forum here. I need some help from the experts
Recently , I lost the AC stator coil on a nighttime dirtbike adventure and with it my motorcycles headlight. Fortunately I was carrying my Olight headlamp but it was just barely enough to ride safely through the night back to camp.
What I am looking for is a light that can act as a backup to my motorcycle headlamp and mount to my handlebars with a aftermarket mount. What’s important are
Long run time at medium or high setting
Relatively long throw for driving at speed
Some flood ability for illuminating the sides of the trail
Can be mounted to handlebars with a handlebar mount (think most lights qualify here )
I notice a lot of these lights have a ton of press and tests with their turbo settings but not much info on high and medium settings. While the turbo features are cool , I am looking for a light with strong SUSTAINED lighting. If I am 5 hours from camp , I want a light that can illuminate the trail safely and get me home.
You’re looking at 3 or 4 18650 to get 3-4 hours of usable light. Have you looked at the Convoy 4X18A (~1700 lumens for 200+ minutes), the Sofirn SP36 or Sofirn Q8
There was a time when I was a serious bicycle night rider, also rode motorcycles.
Consider looking into a bicycle headlight that uses a battery pack, generally 4 lithium ion that offer decent run time. Cree has many on offer. Plus they come with a headlamp strap for trail repairs, like flats at night. shudders
Run times will be posted in the ads.
Seemed to find that a decent HEADlight. XP-l/XM-l with 2/3/4 18650’s
in a pack on helmet or in a pack mounted on shoulder.
Gave a good directional beam of light where I was actually LOOKING.
With my 9 x led, (Q8 will do). mounted on front of bike to see where BIKE was going.
It’s so easy to carry a few spare battery’s in pack on bike. in hip pack,
Shoulder pack.
I find it easy to go the BEST output/size light for the job. Works the best.
Then. as said.
just carry a few extra battery’s to cover time span required.
They DON’T really weigh all that much Honest.
and it silly to restrict your light output. Just to keep weight/size down.
Lying in bed with broken leg. arm. Concussion is not a nice way to finish a ride cause you didn’t SEE, judge. Whatever. correctly. Through minimal lighting.
How many times have you come off your dirt/trail bike through misjudgement, speed.
lighting?.
We always reckoned if we not coming off. we not going as fast as we should be.
(On personal limits, B Grade riders.
This got me remembering a nightmare journey on my CCM 644……
I got a job years ago doing ‘for sale’ signs around Dorset and their office was in the middle of nowhere in a tiny village - it lasted a day… I’ll say no more about that bit…
Anyway, I got back from the slavery run at 8pm to the village. I’d rode in on my enduro - as many older people will know, enduro lights were, well a second, maybe third thought when making a dirt bike, and basically they were the bare minimum to allow road use at night. They were also VERY unreliable and gave almost no real light and had terrible reflectors, flickering on and off etc, no battery!
It was cold, drizzly thick soup like fog and pitch black as there were no road lights. I had to ride about 5 miles on narrow, rough and bendy country lanes with high hedges . Googles useless and worse wearing them than not, mainly because of roll offs!.
Was like riding into another dimension, or a scene out of a horror movie! I think I did about 10mph the whole way.
It literally nearly killed me with the stress of it. When I reached the main road and a light, I had to get off and recover for 10 mins lol! I guess it was the adrenaline.
I still had to ride another 10 miles, but it was on a proper lit road thankfully.
I guess it was the adrenaline.