Bike Lights

zebee
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby zebee » Mon Jul 30, 2018 7:35 pm

My German dynamo lights do very well because of the optics. The floodlight on the electric bike is very antisocial and has to be aimed practically downwards because of the overspill.

Pity there's no where on the trike to fit a dynamo anymore. I suppose I should hunt down the B&M battery ones.

madmacca
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby madmacca » Mon Jul 30, 2018 9:56 pm

MattyK wrote:280 lumens is fine IF you have decent optics.
700 is excessive. Usually wasted on blinding other people, or aimed so low that it inhibits your own view.

Insert my annual winter rant about bad optics here.
700 is indeed more than necessary for most road usage. Except for fast night descents, when you want every lumen you've got.

Ideally, you want a 700+ lumen capable light, that is turned down to half power until the road pitches downwards.

Noviss
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby Noviss » Tue Jul 31, 2018 6:41 pm

+1 on the Lifeline 700 lumens. It was cheap (around $60 from memory) and I have never had to run it above the second level of brightness (of which there are three). Just finished my second year of winter commuting with it.

It can take up to 5-6 hours to reach full charge so you need to plan your rides. I usually plug it in to the PC when I get into work and its charged by early afternoon.

Scintilla
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby Scintilla » Tue Jul 31, 2018 7:27 pm

zebee wrote:My German dynamo lights do very well because of the optics. The floodlight on the electric bike is very antisocial and has to be aimed practically downwards because of the overspill.

Pity there's no where on the trike to fit a dynamo anymore. I suppose I should hunt down the B&M battery ones.
Nowhere?

https://nabendynamo.de/en/products/hub- ... or-trikes/

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kb
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby kb » Wed Aug 01, 2018 8:09 am

Noviss wrote:+1 on the Lifeline 700 lumens. It was cheap (around $60 from memory) and I have never had to run it above the second level of brightness (of which there are three). Just finished my second year of winter commuting with it.

It can take up to 5-6 hours to reach full charge so you need to plan your rides. I usually plug it in to the PC when I get into work and its charged by early afternoon.
Cheap’s good. The Strada gets 24 hours in its 2nd level of brightness though, so cuts down planning a bit :-)
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Paul B
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby Paul B » Tue Aug 07, 2018 2:25 pm

Holy Nuclear Blast Batman.... pass me the industrial strength eye protection unit.
Another vote for the Knog Blinder. After using a Serfas Thunderbolt rear light for several years I decided it was time for something new. The Knog is super bright. Not a massive difference to the Serfas but enough to notice. The Blinder is square and it’s position on the seat post leaves plenty of room to mount the Serfas below it as a backup for the times when I may run the battery down on the Blinder. I’ll probably end up getting a second Knog for that purpose. $50.... bargain 8)
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zebee
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby zebee » Tue Aug 07, 2018 10:02 pm

Scintilla wrote:
zebee wrote:My German dynamo lights do very well because of the optics. The floodlight on the electric bike is very antisocial and has to be aimed practically downwards because of the overspill.

Pity there's no where on the trike to fit a dynamo anymore. I suppose I should hunt down the B&M battery ones.
Nowhere?
Nope. Motor in the rear wheel and drum brakes in both front wheels.

I used to have a spoke dynamo in the rear, but nowhere to fit the bits that go on the wheel as the motor gets in the way .

There is a german rim dynamo but they say they have no mount for non-round tubing and the trike's tubes are squarish or ovalish.

Zebee

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DavidS
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby DavidS » Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:30 pm

I need new front lights for my bikes, I run the same lights on the front of both bikes, then I have a back up if I need it.

Looking at the Serfas E-Lume 900 or 500.

Anyone tried these?

DS
Allegro T1, Auren Swift :)

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Mububban
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby Mububban » Thu Aug 09, 2018 12:14 pm

GCN review/promo of the new Bontrager lights. Very compact and tidy I must say:

When you are driving your car, you are not stuck IN traffic - you ARE the traffic!!!

duncanm
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby duncanm » Thu Aug 09, 2018 4:40 pm

Mububban wrote:GCN review/promo of the new Bontrager lights. Very compact and tidy I must say:

really, 'compact' ? They look clunky and anything with a USB socket and a rubber bung is prone to water ingress

bontrager city
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knog blinder
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ValleyForge
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby ValleyForge » Thu Aug 09, 2018 5:09 pm

zebee wrote:...I suppose I should hunt down the B&M battery ones.
Very happy with the B&M tail lights I got for the kids. Not cheap, but given they had gone through the third set of cheapies, I went for quality.

Bit silly of me as they have always had Ay-Ups on the front. Which have never had an issue.
Ha ha ha! Cookies on dowels.

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familyguy
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby familyguy » Thu Aug 30, 2018 9:19 am

For anyone who was interested, the Ravemen review is up on the front page:
https://www.bicycles.net.au/2018/08/rav ... in-review/

Jim

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MattyK
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby MattyK » Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:52 am

Cheers Jim. It would be interesting to see those beam patterns compared to something else. Happy to volunteer my Philips Saferide for comparison.

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familyguy
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby familyguy » Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:16 pm

I might set something up to get some beam comparo's.

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Mulger bill
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby Mulger bill » Fri Aug 31, 2018 9:29 pm

Nice write up Jim, I concur with everything you've said for the 1200.

Didn't see it mentioned in the article but the remote button will if pressed and held give you max output from both emitters. It's come in handy at a couple of places on my commute notorious for side street pullouts.
...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
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familyguy
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby familyguy » Fri Aug 31, 2018 11:03 pm

Thanks MB. I thought I had mentioned it, perhaps unclearly, that it gives it the full welly when the button is held down. Its a nifty feature, like a high beam flash, I like it.

NhiTrac
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby NhiTrac » Sat Sep 01, 2018 9:32 am

Have also been using the Ravemen PR1200 over the current winter and it's one of the better lights I've used. The only thing that beats it in terms of beam pattern and light throw was the much more expensive Supernova Airstream 2s, which was in every way a better light.

Except battery reduced to about 45 mins (from 2hr 45 mins) after about 2.5/3 years then subsequently failed altogether. This happened to both units :(
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warthog1
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby warthog1 » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:14 am

Scintilla wrote:Dynohub system.

SON28 with B&M LED Luxos U or IQ-X headlight with road-focused optics. B&M Toplite Plus or Hermans H-Track for the tail-light.

Excellent lights that one can easily run night and day, with no messing about recharging batteries.
I went back to rechargeable cheapies from Aldi. I have 2 on the front and they crap on the luxos u from a great height for spread.
The cut off beam of the luxos U was p1ss poor on a kangaroo populated downhill section of my commute.
When descending on downhill corners I had no view to the inside of the corners.
I live in a rural centre and don't use shared paths.
I am over worrying about drivers going the other way.
They aren't that bad anyway and the ones who are going to be upset are going to be so because I am a cyclist on "their road" anyway.
Dogs are the best people :wink:

Scintilla
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby Scintilla » Sun Sep 02, 2018 2:27 pm

warthog1 wrote:The cut off beam of the luxos U was p1ss poor on a kangaroo populated downhill section of my commute.
When descending on downhill corners I had no view to the inside of the corners.
I live in a rural centre and don't use shared paths.
You can angle the Luxos U up as far as you like if the beam is not giving enough reach, you know? I have ridden many rural roads (including around Bendigo and Shepparton) for long hours at night with the Luxos U and never experienced the problems you worry about.

warthog1
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby warthog1 » Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:16 pm

Scintilla wrote:
warthog1 wrote:The cut off beam of the luxos U was p1ss poor on a kangaroo populated downhill section of my commute.
When descending on downhill corners I had no view to the inside of the corners.
I live in a rural centre and don't use shared paths.
You can angle the Luxos U up as far as you like if the beam is not giving enough reach, you know? I have ridden many rural roads (including around Bendigo and Shepparton) for long hours at night with the Luxos U and never experienced the problems you worry about.
The luxos has a very narrow beam. Spread is the problem.
One tree hill is the descent I am talking about specifically.
When I did run it I also had a Phillips saferide.
2 aldi cheapo rechargeables are almost as good I chit you not. Far superior to the frankly inadequate output of the luxos u by itself.
The luxos u is lying in a box in the shed.
Dogs are the best people :wink:

warthog1
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby warthog1 » Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:18 pm

madmacca wrote:
MattyK wrote:280 lumens is fine IF you have decent optics.
700 is excessive. Usually wasted on blinding other people, or aimed so low that it inhibits your own view.

Insert my annual winter rant about bad optics here.
700 is indeed more than necessary for most road usage. Except for fast night descents, when you want every lumen you've got.

Ideally, you want a 700+ lumen capable light, that is turned down to half power until the road pitches downwards.
Agreed. With broad spread.
Dogs are the best people :wink:

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familyguy
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby familyguy » Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:43 am

NhiTrac wrote:Have also been using the Ravemen PR1200 over the current winter and it's one of the better lights I've used. The only thing that beats it in terms of beam pattern and light throw was the much more expensive Supernova Airstream 2s, which was in every way a better light.

Except battery reduced to about 45 mins (from 2hr 45 mins) after about 2.5/3 years then subsequently failed altogether. This happened to both units :(
Both the PR1200 units or both the Airstream units?

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MattyK
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby MattyK » Mon Sep 03, 2018 11:58 am

PR1200 hasn't been on the market for 2.5 years...

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familyguy
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby familyguy » Mon Sep 03, 2018 2:03 pm

Fair point...

Scintilla
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Re: Bike Lights

Postby Scintilla » Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:31 pm

warthog1 wrote:The luxos has a very narrow beam. Spread is the problem.
:?: :?: :idea: :shock:
It would seem that you are talking about something rather different to the Busch & Muller Luxos U, which has one of the widest beams around. Certainly the widest of any dynohub beams on the market, except for the new B&M IQ-X. The light spreads across the whole road width easily.

Luxos U beam from Peter White Cycles - using a super-wide 16mm lens:
Image


Standard wide-angle 24mm lens:
Image
warthog1 wrote:Far superior to the frankly inadequate output of the luxos u by itself.
The luxos u is lying in a box in the shed.
Maybe you had the Luxos B, which does have lower output, and may lack the width ??? Can't recall.

Ah, here it is:
at low speed, where other headlights are still trying to illuminate the road at a distance (where, at 8 mph, do you care?) the Luxos U is using all of the available power of the more slowly turning hub dynamo to illuminate the road up close, where it matters at low speeds.

The less expensive Luxos B does not have this feature.
Not wider but better close-range illumination at lower speeds. Really not sure about your stated beam-width issue.

Yes, many cheaper battery lights nowadays have ridiculous output lumens. But they are still just battery powered with all the random loss of power that involves (inadequate for my uses), and their optics are shite - either blinding to oncoming drivers and riders, or you lower the beam to only see 5 metres ahead..... or both!

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