jyl

I'm curious what lights you have on your commuter bike and if any have ever been stolen.

On my winter commuter (fendered MTB with slicks) I have an old NightSun dual halogen light. Old-tech and heavy but lights up the road well. Also an old Petzl headband lamp, uses 3 AA batteries, mounted to my helmet. That is more of a "to be seen" light, pointed right at a driver it does get attention without being blinding. Plus white blinky in front and rear tailight on the bike, and red blinkies on my helmet.

On my summer commuter I have white and red blinkies, plus a NiteRider TriNewt headlight, supposed to be 500 lumens. Just as bright as the NightSun, a bit lighter. And the helmet lights.

I don't really think I "need" the NightSun or NiteRider, most of the time. Even when I ride in the dark, the streets are lit well enough and I know where the potholes etc are. But every now and then, it is raining hard and super dark, or I take a route that isn't lit, or I find myself in lots of traffic. Then I switch on these lights. Do you feel like you need 500 lumens to ride to work, or are you happy with a couple of blinkies?

I worry that someone will steal the NiteRider light, it has rubber strap mounts and is not hard to remove, though it takes long enough that I don't want to do it every time I get on and off the bike. Have you ever had a light stolen?

Cyclaholic

I mail ordered a couple of Cree XR-E T6 based flashlights, four 18650 Li-Ion batteries, and a charger, and a couple of brackets to attach the flashlights to my handlebars, all from manafont.com. I think I maybe spent $60 or $70. they're good for about 600 lumens OTF each so if i really want to crank out the photons I have about 1200 lumens available, but I never really need to go there.

On a reasonable setting I get about 6 hours run time from each light and I only use one at a time so I can go all week between recharges. I carry a spare pair of batteries with me just in case so I have quadruple redundancy.

I've been DIY-ing lights since forever and these days my current setup is easily the best bang for the buck I've ever found. You can't beat it in terms of lumens per dollar spent with any DIY setup of comparable weight and run time, and there's no dedicated bicycle lights on the market that matches it on a performance-cost comparison either.

lungimsam

NiteRider minewt.600.
600 lumens, almost as bright like a car headlight. Plenty bright.
Wireless.
Slide it off of handlebar mount, drop it in yer pocket, and walk away.
Only a pickpocket can steal it from you.

The Chemist

I've got a couple of 250 lumen (I think) flashlights powered by 18650 batteries. All my riding is city, so I don't need any more light than that. They're mounted on a handlebar extension that I just purchased that can be removed as a single piece and locked away in my trunk box. As far as the tail light goes, I've purchased but not yet received a super-bright double led tail light that has a thumbscrew mount and thus is easily removable.

MichaelW

For some strange reason, the only lights which never get stolen are dynamo-powered ones.

Mark Stone

MiNewt 600 is an awesome commuter light because it's completely self-contained so easy to remove and take with you when you lock the bike, so +1. It actually tests at about 450 lumens, but it is still very bright.

I use a NR 1500 Race model on the front with a Cygolite Hotshot in the rear. The 1500 is more of a hassle to remove from the bike to lock up, but the light's worth it. Also, I don't lock up daily like I used to have to do, just when I go shopping or something like that

dramiscram

I have two of these, very bright at a very good price
https://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...=STRK:MEAFB:IT

Brian Sharpe

I take mine off the bike if I'm leaving it unattended. My "see me" lights (used day and night) are a Planet Bike 2W LED front and superflash at the back. My real headlight for night time riding is a Cygolite Mitycross (I forget which model) that does a great job of lighting up dark bike paths and takes about 10 seconds to install & remove.

MNBikeCommuter

I apparently have the eyes of a cat. I've got a Dinotte 200L that cranks out 200 lumens, but I mostly run it at half power for 100 lumens. That's in a mix of street lights and no street lights over 23 miles. I've had no problems with cars from side streets seeing it and waiting at intersections for me to pass (along with oncoming cars waiting to turn left until I get by). Yeah, more lumens would be nice, but I don't feel like dealing with a heavier battery or recharging more often.

For the rear, I just splurged on a Dinotte 400L. It is BRIGHT. Unfortunately, I seem to now get less respect than with the old flasher. Is it too bright and motorists are buzzing me as a result?

sternzeit

I use a Serfas True 250. On the highest setting it's bright enough to light up reflective signs 1/4 mile down the road. The mount is easy to take off the handlebar when I get to work. I would have bought a MiNewt but the LBS had the Serfas in stock and it's a little cheaper than the MiNewt.

no1mad 

Currently one Trustfire flashlight up front rated at 510 lumens, and the rear has one B&M 4D Toplight, one Niterider Cherrybomb 0.5w, and as of today, two PBSF clones.

Not done with the rear yet, but getting another light for the front is priority now.

Ray R

Magicshine 1400 and 1600, L&M Arc Li-Ion on the bars. Magicshine 900 on the helmet. DiNotte L200 and L140A under the Nitto front rack to illuminate the shadow cast by the Ostrich handlebar bag. To the rear: DiNotte L200R, Cygolite Hotshot, PDW Radbot 1000, blue xenon emergency strobe, DIY 12 volt 3 LED red emergency vehicle strobe powered by a 9.6 V/1600 mAh remote control toy battery, various red blinkies.

Nothing could be too bright for my pre-dawn commute. I want drivers to think I might be a singularity at the center of the Milky Way rising above the horizon. Eat gamma rays, Earthling dogs! Drivers give a wide berth to objects they can't identify and whose size they are unsure of. Blue reflectors, blue strobe, coupled with the familiar red LED flash pattern of a police motorcycle also get their attention from a mile down the road. Cops have never bothered me about the lights. One even pulled up next to me at a signal and complimented me on the array, said he could see me from a mile away.

I keep my bike right behind my desk at work, so no one has a chance to start taking things off.

Mark Stone

That's what I call lit up! Your lighting is more expensive than any of my entire bikes!

bkrownd

I've got a pair of Cat Eye "1 Watt" luxeon (HL-EL500/530) headlights on the handlebar, and a "1 Watt" luxeon tail light that I made myself. I can take them off in 4 seconds, but I park inside.

spivonious

I haven't ridden in the dark yet, but I do like to turn on my lights when it's gray/raining. I have a pretty weak AA-powered light in the front aimed at the road about 10 feet in front of me and a red blinky on the back. If I were to ride in the dark, I'd definitely want a brighter headlight. I think I'd leave the red blinky alone. It's very noticeable in the dark. I also wear a hi-viz reflective vest.

I don't worry about anyone stealing the lights, but I'm in a low crime area and the lights are cheap.

Leisesturm

I don't know of a mass market headlight that doesn't have some kind of quick release mount for easy portability. I must admit I do not understand the love for tactical flashlights among the cycling community. The LED chips and the reflector housings are in many cases the exact same ones that make magic in MagicShines, Gemini's and their clones. With a flashlight you have to source your own lock block and it will not likely be of a quick release nature, and battery capacity is often as little as one cell.

600 lumens is NOT a car headlight. When you have an honest 1500 lumens OTF you can pat yourself on the back but only once because the average car has two of those 1500 lumen flamethrowers or the operator is looking at a ticket. JMO but the kind of light rack exhibited in post #12 just screams ***hole and will attract all kinds of the wrong attention. I don't care what the cops think of my setup... when was the last time you heard of an LEO doing a H and R on a commuter? A blinkie on the seatpost or rack and another (optional) on the back of a helmet is plenty and only a mentally defective driver would be ticked off by that kind of modest light output to the rear. More won't get you seen any better.

Some kind of flasher operating continuously up front is not a bad idea, that way you can cycle the intensity of your main light as needed for road conditions, maybe even turn it off altogether in some spots. I clearly need a lot more light than a lot of you but there is this: drivers don't get a choice as to how much headlight power they use. The DOT mandates the minimum, and the maximum as well, amount of light that is legal to use on U.S. roads. This amount is far in excess of anything yet discussed in light threads in this forum. Don't you deserve better? I mean... if you don't see something in the road one night it could be your collarbone or your neck that is broken. Why brag about how little light you run (post #12 notwithstanding)? I predict that headlight output for bicycle lights is soon to be mandated in much the way blinky and flasher use is mandated and helmets too in some states.

H

Burton

Ray, just curious - do you actually use all those lights at once? My own testing with lights with narrow beams is that adding more lights just makes the area illuminated brighter - not wider. At some point I personally found that brighter didn't help any more - the MORE I was looking for was a wider beam for more safety. What's been your experience? Looks like you're running about 5,000 lumens with the front lights if they're all on together. Did you offset the individual lights so the beams would cover a wider area?

cehowardGS

None have been stolen!

I run torches on all my bikes. The give up the big lums, they are cheap, and I can flip them right out the mount in 2 seconds.

My 26650 lights, in twofish lock block type mounts, I just pull the velcro strap back, and off with the light 4 seconds both lights are off.







On my 18650 lights, I used the U clamp. They hold the thinner lights nice and secure, and I can flipped them out in a second.