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Headlight recommendation for night riding

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Headlight recommendation for night riding

Old 11-15-22, 11:59 PM
  #26  
Vinnems
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What are some US retailers who sell these B&M battery powered lights?
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Old 11-16-22, 03:21 AM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by Vinnems
What are some US retailers who sell these B&M battery powered lights?
Peter White is the USA distributor for B&M. A lot of retail stores buy from him but he sells to the public at retail rates.
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Old 11-16-22, 03:57 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by lyle.coop
Thanks for all the information guys.

I've boiled it down to 2 lights:
1.LEZYNE Macro Drive 1300XXL Bicycle Headlight $90
2. LEZYNE Super Drive 1600XXL Smart Bike Light $140

The strap can fit around aero bars. With the other lights I'd have to buy a special Garmin mount from Canyon and an adapter from the light manufacturer to use the GoPro slot. (The Garmin mount puts the Garmin on top and the GoPRo (or light) on the bottom).

Both lights use 3 bulbs.

Is 1300 lumens enough for pre-dawn city riding or should I go 1600 lumens? Again I'm only in the dark for about 1 hour.
1300 lumens is more than enough for night riding, in fact you will probably won't need to go any higher than the 800 lumen setting on that Lezyne.
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Old 11-17-22, 12:44 PM
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I'm tempted to fall back on "buy the best you can afford". meaning if the form factor isn't much different & if the price difference isn't a factor for you, then get the more powerful unit. but if I remember the links, 1 is twice the price. I just wouldn't want to buy a lower powered unit & then wind up buying the brighter one due to buyers remorse
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Old 11-18-22, 08:04 AM
  #30  
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I use the Specialized FLUX 1200 as a headlight. It gives a great and wide light. It does not have an external battery which I see as a pro. But that also means that battery time for the max effect is quite limited. But fulle effect is only needed in really bad conditions.
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Old 11-18-22, 01:23 PM
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Originally Posted by wannabe_me
I use the Specialized FLUX 1200 as a headlight. It gives a great and wide light. It does not have an external battery which I see as a pro. But that also means that battery time for the max effect is quite limited. But fulle effect is only needed in really bad conditions.
& you know, with lights like that, one can buy 2. when the 1st dies, turn the 2nd on
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Old 12-03-22, 06:43 PM
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Last edited by Buzzzz; 12-08-22 at 12:14 AM.
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Old 12-03-22, 07:37 PM
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With all the night riding I've racked up, I've run everything from square-battery camping lanterns to bottle generators to Wonder lights (and their oddball rectangular batteries) to Sanyo Dynapowers to VistaLites. But the high-lumen white LED revolution changed everything.

Being a cheap thrifty sort of person, I took a $5 Costco 200-lumen 3xAAA flashlight with a nice tight spot beam, replaced the internal battery holder with a wine cork with a screw in each end, drilled a small hole in the side of the light and ran power to those screws from a 4xAA pack, covered all the connections in NYK, and I've enjoyed bright reliable flicker-free illumination that lasts many hours. On my past several dusk-to-dawn rides, I've used a single set of 4xAA NiMH cells and had juice to spare at daylight. I've expanded this setup to nearly all my bikes at a cost less than one good rechargable system back in the 1990s.

I've read that a person's night vision drops by half every 13 years. So in a decade or so, I may need to upgrade to a 400-500 lumen flashlight on each bike. Just hope they're still $5 or so each.

Edit: What do I use for mounting this light? A pair of back-to-back conduit clamps bolted together. Not pretty, but very theft-resistant and durable, and allows adjustment in all axes.
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Old 12-03-22, 08:39 PM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by lyle.coop
I'm in the market for some bright headlights for rides that start before sunrise. I need lights that light up the road sufficiently to see all the potholes, etc.


Any recommendations?
Thanks
Urban. Fast. Potholes. Lots of light closes up your eyeballs. You need a lot of light. A puny 0.5 amp dynamo LED won't cut it

Look into the Lupine SL series battery powered lights, they have a lot of power in low beam and they also have a high beam. They make mounts for the Canyon cockpit. Low beam is StVO german standard......cutoff beam. High beam can also serve to melt winter ice in your path. Not cheap as is any good product made in a nonslave labor country.
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Old 12-04-22, 04:35 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by RCMoeur
Edit: What do I use for mounting this light? A pair of back-to-back conduit clamps bolted together. Not pretty, but very theft-resistant and durable, and allows adjustment in all axes.
they make flashlight mounts. google or amazon. haven't used one myself so can't make a recommendation. some are very thin & may bounce, others are more rigid & seem more secure
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Old 12-04-22, 08:07 PM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
they make flashlight mounts. google or amazon. haven't used one myself so can't make a recommendation. some are very thin & may bounce, others are more rigid & seem more secure
I did buy a set of these for evaluation:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


They certainly look a lot more civilized than the conduit clamps, allow 2-axis adjustment, and function quite acceptably, but don't offer the theft-resistance and rustic good looks of the less-expensive solution.
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Old 12-04-22, 08:10 PM
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Originally Posted by RCMoeur
I did buy a set of these for evaluation:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


They certainly look a lot more civilized than the conduit clamps, allow 2-axis adjustment, and function quite acceptably, but don't offer the theft-resistance and rustic good looks of the less-expensive solution.
looks nice and narrow and won't take up a lot of room on the bars. the quick release is nice too
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