found your site searching for cycle lights. Trying to get back on the bike and want to do some after work rides. But I don't get home until late so even with summer nights, may likely be riding home in the dark. So want to get some good lights (I live in NY!!) to stay alive! :o)
Welcome to BLF, jallison. I ride with a non budget setup because I didn't know any better back in the day, so I won't be much help. But there are quite a few fellow cyclists here that will answer all your budget bike light questions. You may also want to use the search feature to pull up all the bike light threads already here.
Nice classic GT, BTW. :glasses: I sold truck loads of those in my day.
Welcome to BLF, jallison. Lot's of cyclists here, so hopefully you will get some good responses. Promise I'll chime in tomorrow (yawn). In the meantime, what type of bike? Urban, suburban or rural? Road, paved trail or gravel? Do you know anything about Li-Ion batteries or are you interested in AA format?
Thanks all. Getting back in the saddle slowly. Got some neck problems keeping me off the bike just now. But hopefully will square that away in the next few weeks and looking forward to getting on the bike more. Weekend warrior initially then hopefully those night rides along the LIE service road. Last time I road at night was back in the 1980's north of Burnley, Lancs with a budget front light from Halfords (UK) which pretty much only illuminated the top of my front tire. Never been so scared in my life.
Thanks for all the replies! I ride pretty well lit roads overall. But occassional stretches would have no street lighting. I see club riders just sticking to the LIE service road at night and might do the same. It is big, wide and 100% lit. OTH, cars on there are pretty much doing 50-60 so I would want to stand out.
Asot - thanks for posting these links for jallison, it's a great start. Those two threads cover a lot of ground and I would add another one: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/7657
If this pesky work didn't keep getting in the way, I'd be able to dig into one of my favorite subjects more.... We'll have to give you some impressions on various flashlights that work for cycling, both flood and spot, 18650 and the larger 26650 sized ones. Cehoward is the master of the 26650 cycling light, the rest of us are not worthy to even be mentioned in the same thread. :D
If your on lit urban roads I'd concentrate on the rear lights, IMO these are the most important for safety. You need to be seen from a wide angle which is the hardest part to achieve. I'd suggest several of the SF clones CEhoward has linked I the above post, I'm still waiting on mine but they look ideal.
For the fronts a blinkie would be beneficial in an urban setting but I can't really help there. For off road you want LUMENS, lots. I have just got a Roche F12 from CNQG (I'd buy from intl-outdoor tho), this has a great floody beam and in NW tint the terrain should render much better, 2 on the bars should be giving you over 1000lumens or even 600-800 on medium. Then go for a more spotty light on your lid, weight is a major issue here, if you can put up with a C8 it would be an excellent choice and there is no better C8 than the XinTD from intl-outdoor.