A bicycle light by Sofirn

  • Approval according to RVLR, StVZO etc.
  • Bottom ‘follow me home’ mule light to lighten up the surroundings, activated for a minute after headlight switched off
  • right/green and left/red position light. I want this on all bikes to know their heading. Really
  • magnetic charger with wall mount

I agree with having a simple bike specific UI and NOT anduril. It needs to be basically foolproof. Riding a bike a night and just the possibility of somehow getting into a high frequency strobe party mode is very annoying and potentially dangerous in a bad spot.

A turbo for short burst is ok, but the other modes need to have stabilized output.

And yes, compliance with stvzo etc. standards is also very important. Not just dropping some names in the specs, but real compliance.

No. There are many (very expensive) bicycle lights with very good throw and illumination. You can’t work with lenses or covers. The only way to get the cutoff is by using a proper reflector and the LED pointing inside.

Here are two examples from the Lupine SL AX:

probably right that the UI should be simple

i like 1 click on
then 1 click changes mode, ascending, no blinkies
blinkies are 2 clicks
starting on low, no memory
off is long click
with a very fast response time

something i would also want is a blinky that does not use full power when the LED is on
it;s annoying to just want a ‘beacon’ in day time, but it uses half the power of turbo
usually they use what seems like full power but 50% duty cycle
15% would be enough

wle

i don;t really think a half second of bright is going to be bothering cars all that much

wle

1500 would need at least 2 leds, and 4 18650s - not unusual, but required here…

wle

for me, i am a long time user of cheap led 4x18650 bike lights, which have always been cool/blue/with purple fringe, at best, and CRI really doesn;t excite me

i;m happy enough just to have any bright cheap light that lasts 3-4 hours over 700 lumens
and lasts over 4 years, costs under $35

(compared to incandescent+nicad, anything modern is WAY better)

wle

Anduril would work fine, never had a accidental strobe party either.
Have even more time to press a button while you mount it to the bike.
Just a basic ui will work for everyone. well…

I agree with the people asking for warmer high CRI emitters, 3000K-4000K range should help to reduce obnoxious glare by cutting the blue content. If we go for STVZO compliance, then there will be no blinkies. I’d be fine with loosing strobes. It does not belong on a light that you see with. I would certainly prefer optics like one of the higher end Busch&Muller lights. Incorporating a STZO compliant cutoff would be good, but incorporating effective optics would be better.

I also want to mention, headlight performance isn’t measured by lumens. In the STVZO guidance, it’s at least partly measured by lux. The B&M lights put out comparatively little light, but because the light is so well controlled you see more. This video does a very superficial comparison. I’d love something like the Ixon IQ Premium’s optics paired with a warm 3000K-3500K 90 CRI emitter. If you want a good headlight, don’t chase lumens focus on optics. Add in user replaceable 18650 or 21700 or even AA or AAA NiMH cells, and I’d be set. Having something like a modd’ed Anduril with ramping would further make this light one of a kind on the market.

I further wanted to mention, in the video when he compares running two IQ Premium lights vs one, the main thing I see is increased foreground light. That’s not so helpful in trying to see far. Just an anecdotal observation, and it doesn’t necessarily mean two lights are worse then one.

There is definitely a market for a design for this application. When I get time I’ll have a look at this thread and make some contributions.

For now check out my Sofirn SP36 implementation: eScootNow Stonker eScooter Headlight Series

  • It needs to have a decent mount that fits standard modern road bike bars unlike the majority of bike lights that aren’t even designed to fit to a typical bike. I’ve had to go and make my own mounts since most are far too small.
  • High CRI (at least 90)
  • Tint around 4000K
  • Anduril - 2H is nice to quickly dim the lights for oncoming drivers and a quick double tap is great for blinding oncoming drivers who refuse to dip their lights. There is one road I frequently ride on and at least 50% of drivers come right at me with their high beams until I blast them in the face with an SBT90.2 I carry in my pocket or do the same with my bar mounted SP36 BLF
  • Not excessively floody like the Fenix BC30 V2 where I can’t see far enough ahead but still with a good side light
  • Beam profile that does not blind oncoming road users unless I want it to
  • Bar mounted switch like the BC30 V2, but all features need to be available without the use of the switch too
  • Powered by 2X 21700 that are easily removable
  • Built in USB C-C charging with power bank feature. Needs to support fast charging around 4A+ (temperature permitting). Don’t need to worry about wearing out the cells too fast if they can easily be replaced.
  • Simple display showing cell/battery voltage, and charge/discharge current.
  • Copper heat pipes and aluminum body, like a CPU or GPU heatsink with good attention paid to overall thermal performance
  • Optional removable 40mm or so fan that can be plugged in for riding on warm nights at high power settings (like trail riding)
  • IP65 or IP66
  • User serviceable - nothing glued down, replacement parts easily available including O rings and other consumable components
  • None of those typical sharp Sofirn cooling fins, Convoy gets it pretty right being slightly rounded as do Lumintop. If the bike is crashed and the light comes into contact with the body, injuries need to be minimized.
  • Stainless steel screws so unit can be disassembled easily (unlike all 3 of my SP36 which has screws made out of some sort of hard cheese that rounds off)
  • A general improvement on the overall build quality - Convoy lights just “feel” better than the Sofirns (I use my Sofirn lights more than my Convoys not not trying to rip on Sofirn, it’s just the finishing touches they don’t do so well).
1 Thank

Lot of good ideas here. The throw vs flood is a tough balance because every rider is different. Myself, I prefer a floody light on the bars and a throwy one on my helmet (if trail riding). I would be very comfortable with a beam like the SP31Pro on either bars or helmet for road and paved pathways.

I know there is a big push towards absolute highest possible lumen output these days but I’ll tell you it isn’t necessary. Back when halogens were just being eclipsed by LED I rode a LOT of night miles with just a Fenix L1Tv2 on my helmet. My buddy used to ride trails with a PT EOS. No reason to suffer through that anymore, but a couple thousand lumens is PLENTY- remember most automtive headlight bulbs are rated around 1000-1500 lumens. You can see my profile picture of a Cateye Triple Shot bike light which I replaced the original Lux3 emitters with SSC P4 and upgraded from the frosted TIR to some khoated reflectors. It was AMAZING for tral riding compared to what everyone else was rocking back then! Honestly, I wouldn’t feel under-lighted with it these days, either.

I think Lumintop did a good job with their B01. It projects a well shaped beam for road and path riding. CCT is great. UI is a little wonky and output isn’t record setting. But its very functional.

Plenty of mounts off-the-shelf for the Sofirn SP36 series, just needs remote low/high beam switch and StVZO lens - done. The stage clamp quick-lock also holds up pretty well on my Stonker product. Shop Stonker eScooter Headlight Series by eScootNow

Not sure if the two ideas below are relevant, but I'd thought I'd throw them out just in case they are of interest.

  1. Advanced bicycle lights sometimes have sculpted beams, rather than the usual circular beams you get with regular flashlights. For a bicycle light that is level, a shaped beam typically sends it's beam straight ahead and down, with little or no part of the beam rising above the light. That helps to keep light out of peoples eyes.
  2. Good bicycle lights also have side "windows" that send some light out perpendicular to the direction of travel. Side light is a "be seen" feature. It allows folks to see you, even when you are not riding towards them.

[Edit:] Number 1 is addressed by the StVZO standards cited above: "StVZO LEDs are bike lights that comply with the safety standards developed by the German government. These lights feature a special lens that provides a floodlight that's leveled off so as not to intrude with oncoming traffic."

Source: https://ride.lezyne.com/collections/led-lights-stvzo

Thanks a lot. SP36 is my favorite light and I also looking for decent bike mount for it for long time.

Cheers, all the brackets I have on the “”Stonker product page”:https://escootnow.com.au/products/Stonker-Headlight-Series-by-eScootNow-p372579529” are sourced from Aliexpress. I have a pretty extensive holding of bolts, nuts, washers and T-gaskets depending on the mount and where the headlight is to be mounted. More details on the brackets are on the linked bracket product page. I’ve tried not to yabber on too much on the product page, but there are some additional application considerations amongst the various brackets. The type A bracket requires a bit of cloth tape (or similar) over the bar to make it’s positioning more firm and the thick rubber on the mount around the bar provides ability for the rider to adjust the mount as required without tooling. The type G bracket for example has no rubber, and is totally fixed. I prefer A as sometimes on open road riding with minimal oncoming traffic I like it facing up, but ideally StVZO lens would negate that requirement.

Thanks for explanation. Can you give to us more information about your bike light project https://escootnow.com.au/products/Stonker-eScooter-Fixed-Headlight-Series-by-eScootNow-p466806813

It is very cheap compared to Magicshine 8000. Also what are there specs of “XML-T6” and 8000 lumens? Here in BLF we associated XML-T6 with cheap chinese Cree fake leds.

I am still validating the specs of the fixed headlight series. The factory has advised the 8000 lumen offerings actually have 3 x XHP50 flood
2 x XP-L wide. The wide may be warmer. Yet to receive the protypes.

Thanks :slight_smile: . I really want to see future updates of that your bike light project.

I’ll be testing out my Sofirn IF25a this coming year.
I ride mostly road and gravel trails.