staehpj1

I am getting into the hotter weather here in Tallahassee. I cope by riding early for my daily trail rides in the morning, but as the more relentless part of summer approaches I have been thinking back to the days I used to ride in the dark to beat the heat. I used to ride with a little low power light on the helmet. Something like the petzl headlamp that I also trail ran with. I rode trails that I knew by heart so I didn't feel I needed big powerful (and $$$) lights. I liked the challenge of riding with minimal lights and even switched it off when moonlight allowed. Moonlight rides were magical, but deep shade sections did require at least a minimal light. Also the moon had to be high enough in the sky so not too close to dawn or dusk.

Given that batteries and lights have advanced greatly in the few decades since then, I might take another look at possible options. I do remember that in those days I much preferred having a light that pointed where I looked, so a light on my helmet was more to my liking than one on the bike. I do wonder about whether mounting stuff on a helmet makes it less safe in a crash.

It looks like Smith suggests the Lights and Motion lights for my Forefront 2 helmet. The VIS Pro 1000 Trail Headlight at 1000 lumens (3 times as much as the petzl) is a lot more light than anything I have used before. It is fairly expensive, but seems like it is worth it if it is the right light for the usage.

Any thoughts or recommendations on riding lights for trail riding at night?

prj71

One of these for the handlebar...

https://www.fenixlighting.com/produc...-v2-bike-light

https://www.fenixlighting.com/produc...nix-bike-light

Put this on the helmet. Cateye is one of the few that give you a helmet mount with the light.

https://www.cateye.com/intl/products...ts/HL-EL084RC/

One on the handlebar...one on the helmet...Because your handlebar isn't always pointed where you are looking.

staehpj1

When I experimented with trail riding with lights in the past I just used a helmet mounted light and didn't bother with one on the bike. In any case why not use one of the fenex lights you link to on the helmet? That is where I think I'd want the higher powered light if I were to run lights in both places. Also the burst power would seem to be more useful there as long as the switch was on the handlebar. The remote switch on the handlebar looks like a nice feature in general for a helmet mounted light.

2old

My wife and I have been using Lezyne 1,000 lumen lights (about $100) for several years, and they've been more than adequate for late night adventures. We added 400 lumen Cateye helmet lights for some rides, but they're just icing on the cake.

prj71

Too heavy.

staehpj1

Ah, okay. It looks like 6-7 ounces of difference including the batteries. I may still give it a try and see how it is. I can handlebar mount it if it is too much. That is if I decide to go with that model.

staehpj1

I was considering ordering a Cateye and it appears that they no longer include the helmet mount except with one model and that one is dedicated to helmet use and doesn't include the handlebar mount. That is the AMPP800 that seems to come with one mount or the other. The only one that was listed as coming with the helmet mount was listed as out of stock.

On the other side of the issue my Smith Forefront 2 helmet seems like some mounting hardware might not work because the koroyd would prevent the strap threading through. As a result I figured using the Smith mount was probably a good idea and ordered it (they were down to 2 on hand so I grabbed one).

So now that I have the Smith mount on order, will most of the lights that are helmet compatible work with it even if they are supplied as handlebar mounted? Can I for example get a handlbar mount Cateye AMPP800 and expect it to fit on the Smith mount kit? The Lights and Motion lights VIS Pro 1000 Trail Headlight would be a safe bet for fitting since Smith suggests the brand for their mount. It sounds like a good match based on the specs, but the reviews were not that great.

Edit to add that I like that the Smith mount should peel off if snagged on a branch or vine. Since there is a lot of low hanging stuff here that is a common-ish occurance and getting ripped off the bike by the helmet isn't fun. The helmet is designed to accomodate the mount.

prj71

If the Smith Helmet light mount is like a handlebar then the Cateye handlebar mount should work on it. Otherwise just order both Cateye items. The one thing I like about the Cateye helmet mount is that it's low profile.

And if you decide to order the Fenix Light...it's too heavy and unccomfortable to be used as a helmet light. For mountain bike trail use it's always better to have a bar mount and helmet mount for the reason that your bars aren't always pointed where you are looking and vice versa.

https://www.amazon.com/CAT-EYE-AMPP4...16&sr=8-7&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/CAT-EYE-53418...0ARI5YAG&psc=1

staehpj1

It looks like it does work like a handlebar mount so it should fit cat eye and others.. Not sure the cat eye mount would be an option since the vent holes are blocked with the honeycomb stuff.

I wound up ordering a Magicshine Allty 1500. It is only about 1/2 ounce more than the cateye 400 lumen model so I figure it should be fine on the helmet. I used to use just a helmet light as an only light and was happy with that way back when. I do have an old viewpoint that is probably 300 lumens. I can start off with the Magicshine and the viewpoint in either position and experiment and upgrade the viewpoint if I decide I want a handlebar light and a helmet light and the old viewpoint isn't adequate.

rumrunn6

I do like having both a light on my helmet & a light on the bars. for off road riding, I've read a wider beam pattern, I guess for the bars light, is preferable. meaning wider than one would use in road traffic. I often read how ppl prefer a narrow beam pattern for the helmet light

fwiw -
this is 1 head on the bars & 1 on my helmet. brighter light on helmet (old camera)

this is 2 heads on the bars & 1 on my helmet (new camera)

more light is especially useful if you want to capture video. nothing new here, other than reflective snow helps a lot w/ visibility

Canker

More lumens is better since you can always turn it down. I started off with a pair of cheapo chinese lights that are probably 600-800ish lumens despite what they claim and they were ok. Now I'm rocking 2400 and 1600 much higher quality lights and while I don't run them at max output often it is nice on those high speed downhill sections to have the option.

staehpj1

Thanks for the videos. They were more like where I used to live and made me miss riding "up north". The snow in particular made me a little homesick for my old stomping grounds. We have nice technical trails here in Tallahassee, but no extended hills and definitely no snow. One thing about snow... I always found you could see your way in the dark pretty well even without a light if there was any ambient light at all, even starlight. So riding trails that I was familiar with at night without lights was fun in the snow.

staehpj1

If I still lived where I could bomb long steep downhills max power would be a bigger deal (man do I miss those long fast downhill runs). As it is when if I decide to buy a second light it can be a bigger splurge if I decide that makes sense.

staehpj1

FWIW, the Magicshine Allty 1500 arrived and I have not ridden with it yet, but it seems crazy bright. The Smith helmet bracket should be here today so I will probably try the light helmet mounted first. It has a low power very wide bean and a narrower bright one so i think that it may work fine with just one light on the helmet, but time will tell. The brighter beam has three settings that range from what looks like bright to super bright just testing itwithout actually riding.

BikeLite

Tour Divide racers used to use 200 lumen headlamps only for that race. You don't need massive lumens if you are not going fast.

zandoval 

When I could do night ridding I was a big, BIG fan of the helmet light. I still am. It could be from my early days in Speleology. So my recommendations would be a nice bright long throwing light on the helmet with a little of its light thrown at a wide angel at least 5 meters left and right. So maybe two lights on the helmet, that being a Spot and another Wide Angle.

I suffer with chronic vestibular problems so my propioception is dependent on my vision. I also use a dim light on my head tube to illuminate not the road but my front fork and tire and just a little of my down tube. This gives me visual feed back on the position and orientation of my bike and bars as I ride.

I know it sounds complicated but its what I had to do to stay on my bike.

Boy... I MISS MY NIGHT RIDES!

staehpj1

The smith bracket arrived and it seems like a good setup for my Forefront 2 helmet. My only concern is that the Magicshine Allty 1500 is kind of tall on top of the helmet and I'll have to be careful some of the places I ride since there tends to be low hanging stuff that could snag it.

rumrunn6

I always have grand plans for night rides come fall & winter but I’m lucky if I get 10 in. So what problems pop up wind up being less important than I initially anticipate. When I had my camera mounted to the top of my helmet I rigged a light mount to the front like a coal miner. So even tho a camera may not concern you, you might still find a front mount useful. But honestly it was a lot of work. Much easier to use a mount right out of the box and just duck under the branches. Just a heads up someone wrote about an alty mount that was not durable so just don’t drop the helmet on the light and remember to 🦆

staehpj1

I think I'll probably get plenty of use out of the light for early morning trail rides since I ride every morning. It is just a matter of how often I get up early enough to go out pre dawn and when will be is hotter than I prefer for riding later. Since I much prefer cool weather I will almost always choose earlier rides for 3/4 of the year.

After trying the light on one ride I have a few observations.

1. It is plenty bright for the speeds I am likely to acheive on the trails I usually ride. There are no fast downhills mostly slow twisty stuff.
2. I had kind of forgotten about how the closer to your eyes the light is the less the light picks up the contrast in the trail surface detail. Thinking back to my trail running days I remember that a hand held faashlight showed the trail surface detail way better than a headlamp. So the light being up so high on the helmet the way it is with the Magicshine Allty and the Smith bracket is a bit better in that regard than a lower mount in that regard. It is much worse than a light down on the handlebar for that though. Where I ride there are roots everywhere and they are a bit hard to see with a helmet light. A bar mounted light would probably have an advantage in that regard. A light mounted even lower skimming the ground might be even better.
3. I really liked the coverage of the beam and ability to point the light where I wanted to. The edges of the beam were wide enough to light the area I needed even when focusing of a detail to the side or out in the distance. I didn't miss having a second light to light the area I wasn't pointing the light at.
4. The 500 lumen setting was really enough to get by, but the 1000 lumen was kind of nice. I felt like the 1500 lumen setting was kind of overkill for where I was riding.
5. The worry about branches was somewhat mitigated by the fact that the branches were brightly lit reminding me to duck. They might be a much bigger problem if I leave the light mounted after it gets light. At that poing I'd either need to remind myself to duck or take the light off (it comes off of the smith mount easily).
6. Reaching up and switching modes is slightly awkward. I was tempted to go for a model that had a handlebar mounted remote. I don't think I'd really find it that useful though. I don't think I'll switch modes much and it isn't that difficult.

I may yet experiment with mounting the light on the bars or at least mounting my old light there as a second light.

10 Wheels

Top 1 Bike Lights for Night Riding - Magicshine Store

Kapusta

This is why I try to get as much of my short to mid-range light as I can from a wide flood on the bars. This is where most of my lumens are.

Helmet I use a smaller, more focused light for distance and around corners.

I use an Outbound Trail Evo bar light (I believe it is around 2,200 on high) and an 800 lumen helmet light (Cygolite Metro)

rumrunn6

yeah worth a try

rumrunn6

nice that they group pairs off lights, that complement each other, like 1 for bars 1 for helmet

https://magicshine.com/pages/how-to-choose