Faster than the speed of light...

redswr

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
60
Location
California
Hey everyone, i ride/race dirtbikes and was looking at a helmet light set up that would make it to where i actually have some time to react at 50/60mph in the middle of no where, i've seen lots of stuff dirtbike specific thats way outta my budget though. I was thinking about getting a 2AA MiniMag and using a TerraLux drop in (140Lumens) so i can take it off and use it around camp too but i don't know if that'll be anywhere near enough power. Right now i've just got a 12v/35w incodescent for a headlight but it shuts off if i wreck or stall (reason for wanting a helmet light). Thanks guys!
 

redswr

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
60
Location
California
$100 and the race i'm looking at doing next is from 10am to 10am so i'd say like 10 hours?
 

psychbeat

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
2,797
Location
SF norcal
I use a spark ST6 460NW paired with a dual XP-G bar light (p60 flashlight on a mount)
for downhill mountain biking. we hit some pretty big jumps at night and lots of tight
singletrack with berms and 10ft drops. I still would like a bit more power but ~500 on
the head and 500 on the bars works pretty well lumens wise. the spark fits on my fullface
helmet under the visor pretty well.

Id also consider the Magicshine bike light. that one has a strap or bar mount option and
a built in battery pack + charger. Id use one of these but I only like neutral tinted lights
and already have a bunch of 18650 lights.

plenty of options out there!
 

Gregozedobe

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 25, 2009
Messages
922
Location
Canberra, Australia
I'd be wary of mounting anything substantial to my helmet. Helmets aren't designed to protect your brain with a metal cylinder bolted to them.

If you have wrecked you have little influence over what is going to happen next, and if you have stalled then you aren't moving with much speed.

My suggestion is a bike light bolted to your handlebars - quite a few of them around, and with a biggish battery pack you can get decent illumination and run time.
 

flasherByNight

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 17, 2008
Messages
465
Excellent point, I've always thought it was extremely dangerous how the entire force of an impact (if on the flashlight) would be compressed into a very small surface

I'd be wary of mounting anything substantial to my helmet. Helmets aren't designed to protect your brain with a metal cylinder bolted to them.
 

psychbeat

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
2,797
Location
SF norcal
I'd be wary of mounting anything substantial to my helmet. Helmets aren't designed to protect your brain with a metal cylinder bolted to them.

If you have wrecked you have little influence over what is going to happen next, and if you have stalled then you aren't moving with much speed.

My suggestion is a bike light bolted to your handlebars - quite a few of them around, and with a biggish battery pack you can get decent illumination and run time.

Ive crashed with my light strapped on pretty bad a couple times and the light slipped off or wasnt really an issue.
1000s of people are riding bikes (moto and pedal) with lights on their helmets. A fullface helmet is pretty dang
thick and a small aluminum lamp is unlikely to make a difference IMHO - YMMV

also, a Head/Helmet light is better in turns - especially in tight turns as you need to see where you want to go
not always where the bars are pointed- especially with counter-steering!!

Tight trails at night are unrideable if you are really going for it (racing!!)
with only a barlight in my experience (Ive ridden a bit of moto too)
 

ifor powell

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 18, 2007
Messages
230
Location
Bristol UK
Nothing I know of fits the bill very well at that budget. Magicshine is your best bet but you will need multiple batterys for 10 hours on full power.

A decent homemade would be do-able at that that price, maxflex and the 7 up xpg board can put out a lot of light and should work off the bikes power if 12V. 6V would be too low though, but would probobly go directly into a magicshine if you patched one up. Although I would want to put a big capacitor across the input in either case. The major advantage you have is plenty of airflow so lots of good cooling withough needing too mach weight.
 
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