canklecat

Yup, that's something I've considered when mounting lights or a camera on my helmet. Especially after a helmet saved my noggin in 2018 when I was hit by a car. That was one of the rare occasions I didn't have a camera on my bike or helmet. On the one hand, the settlement with the insurance company would have been a slam dunk with video evidence. OTOH, it might have increased the injury risk. I still have chronic pain from the shoulder and neck injuries and it's been almost two years ago.

So usually I mount cameras on my bike. I now have two, front and rear. There are still blind spots, even with ultra-wide angle lenses on those cameras.

One solution might be a breakaway mount, using magnets or a fragile material. But that increases the risk of an unintentionally dislodged accessory endangering someone else or dropping into our own path. I would have dismissed that concern a few years ago, but I've lost count of the number of times I've had to dodge dropped objects in large group rides -- cell phones, taillights, headlights. Usually it's from inadequate mounts (those makeshift rubber band mounts for flashlights are the worst; Two-Fish mounting blocks are a much better solution; fumbling with phones to take selfies while riding (I've noticed several folks have mounted knobby doodads on their phones to grip them better one-handed), or trying to clip taillights onto the waistband of pants, pockets, backs of shirts, etc., instead of a more secure mount.

And a couple of years ago I dropped my own water bottle into my drivetrain once and into my wheel another time. No crash either time but the scuffed and scarred bottles remind me to not get fancy, and use better cages. I have several retired bottle cages that either didn't hold bottles securely over moderate bumps, or were so tight and non-adjustable it was difficult to insert bottles while riding without looking down.

So I'd be wary of a homebrewed breakaway mount for helmet lights and cameras, unless it was thoroughly tested.

bpcyclist

Maybe something like the interface between a ski boot and binding? Or a clipless pedal?

cyccommute 

I don't think it's as big a deal as you make it out to be. I've crashed...and bashed my head pretty good...with a light attached. The mount broke very easily. I use Marwi type mounts like this

IMGP1301 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

and that is probably the light mount I broke. The rails of the mount broke off during the impact. In fact, I hit hard enough that all three lights broke off the bike. One of them didn't break all the way off so I could limp home on one light.

Payton1221

Sorry for not uploading a photo, but I just bought this Rock Bros helmet with rechargeable lights on the front and rear: https://www.amazon.com/Quannaus-ROCK...a-818932775513

I thought I was getting it for a steal for $63 from some website but the link above is for Amazon for $59 including shipping.

veganbikes

Most importantly are lights on the bike and if I am regularly riding a bike especially at night I would spend money and get a Dynamo set up. I currently have two set ups one on my Co-Motion touring bike and another on my Single Speed/Fixed Gear RandoCross FunTime Machine and will be adding another two hopefully this year. The Co-Motion is running a SON dynamo with B+M IQ-X front light and Toplight Line Brake Plus (and a Sinewave Reactor for charging) and the SS/FG RCFTM is a Shutter Precision and Supernova E3 Pro front and E3 taillight and I swear by those set ups. Having a dynamo and not needing to charge lights and being able to have light at all times is excellent and I can always supplement with my various USB lights as well.


I think helmet lights are handy for mountain biking where you need to look around and see things but not as needed for road riding. People need to see where your bike is going and if your set up on the bike isn't bright having more lights on something that is not in a fixed position where the bike is pointed is not as helpful. Certainly more lights isn't a bad thing but make sure those first lights are bright, have a good beam pattern and are reliable. Then add other lights like helmet lights. The integrated stuff I don't much go for as a helmet is a one time use item that I should replace every 3-5 years or if I am in a crash or if I drop it. If I was going with helmet lights I would go Light and Motion as they make excellent lights that are bright durable and made in the USA (or at least were) and the VIS 360 is an excellent option.

In terms of reflective stuff, I think it is cool. However the only way it works is if you are lucky enough to have someone else's light shine on you. That is not acceptable for me as the only source of safety but if something else comes with reflectivity I don't complain so long as I have bright lights on the bike because that is what people see more often than not.

RockBros stuff is usually a steal as in they usually steal someone else's design and make a cheap knockoff of it.

dualresponse

I've run lights on my bars and my head. Sometimes both at once. Both have their advantages. For most of my biking life, I've preferred the helmet mount, for the reasons stated by other poster's here, but lately, I've been running with lights on the bars with good success. There are a lot of fire roads nearby with washboard, (which even tightly helmet mounted) makes the light shake and causes neck/ eye fatigue. Things seem smoother on the bars. Also, if there is fog/ dew/dust/ mist, the handlebar light gives less reflected glare back into the rider's eyes. A lot of times, while riding with a helmet light, even dust particles will reflect light back at you and it will look like you are driving in a blizzard of snow, which for me causes eye strain.

The advantages of the helmet light, as mentioned, are the ability to look around corners, alert drivers, and aim the light at whatever needs to be illuminated (dropped chain, derailleur needing adjustment, attacking dog from the side, bear coming at you, etc).

ps- all those things have happened on our night rides.

The only thing I can add, is when I am using a light on the bar, and a light on the helmet at the same time, especially on singletrack, while awesome, sometimes the two points of light can compete with one another if the bar is pointing one way and the helmet pointing another. Overall, having two sources is good, but sometimes it can make it hard to know which light source to focus on.

The good news is that all most of the newfangled lights can mount on either the bars or the helmet, so there is no need to choose. Try both, see what works better for you.

sean.hwy

I am new to commuting so I could be wrong. I use a headlamp that uses two 18650 batteries. My logic was I want to be able to point my light at someone who is getting ready to pull out in front of me. Say they are at a 7-11 and getting ready to pull out. The light on the handle bars you can't really get their attention unless you are good at riding wheelies. ha-ha

I also use 3m spoke reflectors and blinky red light for the back.

Cyclist0100

I do a lot of city riding and just use lights on the bike (Bontrager Ion 200). These lights are great for night or daytime use, but they are strictly used for the purpose of being seen by traffic. If you need lights to see where you're going and to light the path/road/trail in front of you, they are not very good for that.

The Bontrager Ion Pro or Ion Elite are good bike-mounted solutions for "seeing" at night. I'm personally not a big fan of helmet-mounted lights. Just my personal preference.

Payton1221

My Rock Bros helmet finally arrived, and like many of the other posters, I love the helmet light!!! My dyno light works okay, but with the addition of my helmet light, I really don't need the strong light that I added to my handlebars.

subgrade

I'd say that if you don't go bombing down technical trails or fast descents on twisty roads, you can get away with as little as 100 lm. I have done rides on unlit country and forest roads at night (i.e. as close you can practically get to total darkness) with only my "to be seen" 120 lm light (Sigma Buster 100), and it was suficient for me to see up to speeds of 25km/h (30 km/h on road). The thing is, in near total darkness you actually don't need all that much light since your eyes adapt to it. More light is needed for dimly lit paths or situations of alternating lit and unlit stretches, where your eyes don't have enough time to adapt. The upside of powerful lights though is that you can run them for longer periods on lower setttings.

Heck, in my teenage years I even went night riding on light forest trails on a bike with archaic bottle dynamo+incandescent light where the only way to get some halfway decent amount of light in front of me was to go faster... those trails were familiar to me though, but we know how darkness can distort even the most familiar places.

alo

If I am riding mainly in the day time, but may be out after dark, I don't carry a head/helmet light. It is inconvenient to carry something you don't use most of the time. I use solar charging headlights on the bike. These are rated at 350 lumens. I normally have two headlights.

I have good lights which can be worn on the head. If I go out at night time, I sometimes use them. These have zoomable LED lights, to give a wider or narrower beam. They have two 18650 batteries on the back of the head, with a red light.




I can't find pictures of the lights worn on the head. The model I have may be obsolete. There are similar lights with multiple lights on the front.