Reccomendations for Bike Light

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Tr4sHCr4fT

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
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21
a. it should be at least 2cm to fit my bike mount
b. 100lm or better at high with WIDE SPILL
c. 2-mode (hi-low) with at least 10 lux at low
d. Single AA (cuz you can get them everywhere even in travel)
e. side button would be nice, but not important
f. not relevant
g. should be able to omunt on bike fe with fenix bike light holder

Can someone give me an advice? Have the new DX 3W Cree Bike Light to drive at night, its ok to bee seen by others and it helps you dont drive into something on the ground but you cant drive fast. And the blink mode is useless. I need a light that must light at least 5m raod in front of me enough to see sharp objects in low at long runtime and it should have enough power on high to drive on pitch black bikeroads with lots of fauna around. hm?!
 
I think that almost any AA light will fit your needs. How much do you want to pay?
 
I could be wrong but I've just inlisted a Fenix pd3 for that job...fits perfect on my bike mount(from fenix as well) gl...:candle:
 
I used to use a Twofishes mount with a Fenix L2DQ5. Now use the same mount with a Surefire 6P/Malkoff M60 running 2 x RCR123's - much brighter combo but with a larger beam and brighter spill to give me a larger lit area - 230 lovely lumens!

On my mountain bike, I can run down some pretty rough tracks with plenty of jumps etc and it doesn't move at all! I find on the faster down hill runs - the more lumens the better!!!

James...
 
Last edited:
Heh... i forgotten to mention the max. price :laughing:

I know Fenix is superb Quality, but for now i would prefer something cheapo, best: DX ...or other shop with low shipping to Germany/EU. Wont be riding my bike tooo much at night, the days become longer now, etc...
 
Tr4sHCr4fT said:
a. it should be at least 2cm to fit my bike mount
b. 100lm or better at high with WIDE SPILL
c. 2-mode (hi-low) with at least 10 lux at low
d. Single AA (cuz you can get them everywhere even in travel)
e. side button would be nice, but not important
f. not relevant
g. should be able to omunt on bike fe with fenix bike light holder

Can someone give me an advice? Have the new DX 3W Cree Bike Light to drive at night, its ok to bee seen by others and it helps you dont drive into something on the ground but you cant drive fast. And the blink mode is useless. I need a light that must light at least 5m raod in front of me enough to see sharp objects in low at long runtime and it should have enough power on high to drive on pitch black bikeroads with lots of fauna around. hm?!
Click to expand...

Well my advice will pretty much ignore all your conditions :)

I know you think the ubiquity of AA cells is important, but 18650 is really where it's at. More power, more runtime, cheaper in the long run, better for the environment. I'm using DX TR-801s. One on the helmet with a BikeBlock, and two on the bars with LockBlocks. I have the single-mode ones, but they are also available in a 5-mode version.

I think most single AA lights are not putting out 100 lumens (maybe 70-80) and at that setting you're only gonna get about 30 minutes off alkaline.
 
Jeah... in know 18650 are beasts of runtime... but imagine im driving a camping tour over multiple days, and run out of batteries - i wont get them at most local stores ;)
 
I use my fenix e20 attached with the fenix bike attachment thing. At 109 lumens you'll certainly be seen and won't run into anything but it can't really cut through the shadows created by dim streetlights. I think 200-400 lumens is probably a better amount of light but I'm not aware of any way to get that much light for <$100. It's hard to beat 100 lumens for ~$50 (AA batteries too!).

For comparison a cateye 530 will cost you $60 and I'm pretty sure it's significantly dimmer than 100 lumens.
 
Though you don't like 18650's here's something that worked great for me:

Take one of these: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1918 and put them in a p60 drop in with the "bulged" side toward the led. For a lot of DX Drop-Ins it made a perfect press fit. If to big you can sand the edges, if to small you can put a narrow strip of double sided tape around the the edges. Tested both and worked quite nice.

Take a p60 host of choice (I like the WF-502B) and put it on your bike. You will want to have the projected "bar" going from left to right.

Generally those "bar" type of optics work great of bike lights. Due to the steep angle at which the light hits the ground.
 
I run three Fenix L2D Q5 (2AA) lights, one on the helmet and two using the Fenix bike mounts. Generally, for city riding--I just use one on the helmet as all three of them screaming along tends to disrupt the population. I find that the two on the bars can run on low to be seen with the one on the helmet in turbo mode to see with.

Another option is the single AA on the helmet with a 2AA on the bars for city riding. Out in the woods, all three running in turbo mode works very well...the more lumens the better. I carry spare Eneloops for the night rides out in the woods, for the city I keep some lithium AA cells in the pack.

One of these day I'll built a Lumisus quad emitter LED running at 3.2 amps from a DeWalt 36V drill battery. One of these days!
 
I would say BentHead is on the right track. I'm investing in the Fenix product line for my bike. I particularly like the PD30 with the 18650. However, if you want to use AA cells, I would go with the Fenix LD20...using the Twofish bike mounts from 4 Sevens.com (Fenix store) and one for your helmet (the twofish make two different mounts, one works on the handlebars and one for your helmet). Remember, it's your safety at issue here so invest in quality lighting equipment for your bike.
Good luck.:poke::D:grin2:
 
Spence said:
I would say BentHead is on the right track. I'm investing in the Fenix product line for my bike. I particularly like the PD30 with the 18650. However, if you want to use AA cells, I would go with the Fenix LD20...using the Twofish bike mounts from 4 Sevens.com (Fenix store) and one for your helmet (the twofish make two different mounts, one works on the handlebars and one for your helmet). Remember, it's your safety at issue here so invest in quality lighting equipment for your bike.
Good luck.:poke::D:grin2:
Click to expand...

PD30 can fit 18650's???:thinking:
 
I'm awaiting delivery of my Fenix PD30 and two 18650's, so I don't know for sure yet. However, the Fenix store emailed me advising me to use the RCR123 rechargeable batteries. I just assumed the 18650 would work, but I may be wrong.:shrug::thinking::mecry::ohgeez:Maybe someone else on the forum can verify it for us.
 
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