I will attend Interbike on September 22 to see what is best in class for front-back light systems. If I don't see something better, then this is going on my commuter bike:[/img]

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DFL > DNF > DNS

I like the Niterider Lumina for a front light Tried a whole bunch of different bikes for riding at night, and when I got the Lumina it was like it was suddenly daylight again. For my back light I just use two blinking red ones. One on my seatpost, one on my backpack. Use several different generic brands. I would just recommend that you get one that is rechargeable via USB versus batteries.

Personally I don't think brand is so important ashore bright and where it is mounted. For brightness I like 500 lumens but part of my ride is on a multi-use trail with no lights I could go with 250 or so if it was all on roads with street lights. As for mounting I think helemet mounted is he only way to go, it lets you shine the light without turning the bike. Personally I use a light and motion light but I'm sure there are other perfectly good brands out there.

Ben

For urban, definitely something that has a proper beam pattern. I have a passionate hatred of riders with blinding lights.

I love my old Philips light but it is big and chunky. I like the look of the Ravemen PR1200 for new stuff

Those revolights are pretty cool, but not mainstream and kinda high end priced.


To the OP, go to your local Independent Bike Delear and look at their offerings.
Look for a headlight that is integrated( ie no cable going to a separate battery) and about 500 lumens plus. After that, you can hardly go wrong.
Pick a brand you like. Niterider is kinda Cadillac like. Cygolite, Serfas, Light and Motion and a few others offer nice product for a little less.
Pick a taillight for $20-30. I like the USB rechargeable ones.
For $100 you should be able to get a very bright headlight and a good taillight.

As previously mentioned, the brand is not as important as the lumens and.configuration.
What has worked well for me is a 400 lumen light on my handlebar, a 250 lumen light on my helmet, and a fairly conspicuous flashing red light on the tail.

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res, non verba

There's a guy who I see occasionally on my commute who uses those. Very cool, but seem pretty pricey and complex compared to regular lights, and I'm also not convinced that on their own they provide sufficient visibility since the lights are pretty low and therefore more easily obscured. I would add regular lights and/or a helmet light to these if that's what you go for.

Personally I use Exposure Diablo on the front, Exposure Blaze on the rear and an Exposure Link on the helmet for my commute. In darker months I add some cheap LED spoke lights for side-on visibility. Exposure are awesome for combination of battery life, lumens and build quality and I can thoroughly recommend them. But my commute is ~1 hour each way and includes some unlit roads where I need enough light to see by, not just be seen. For a 3.5 mile city commute then something cheaper would be fine.

If she's getting them to also be seen by motorists also check out Proviz apparel: https://www.provizsports.com/...reflect360-vest.html

My bike commute ends up at dawn/dusk during winter and I got one last year and it's great. Really makes you stand out. It plus lights and no reason for anyone not to see you.

Have been using cygolite 1100 lumen metro pro front and 150 pro hotshot rear. Both are usb charged. The steady pulse feature of the front light seems to really be noticed. I recently went from 550 lumens to 1100 lumens and motorist response has proportionally improved.

https://cygolite.com/product/

I have a few questions on light etiquette, especially riding multi-use trails where there is less concern about being visible for cars.

First, obviously you want to avoid blinding other riders by shinning a 1000+ lumen light in their face, but my eyes aren't the best, so what is a good setup for riding in the dark?

Second, I run a blinking light when it isn't too dark to require a steady to see. I figure even on multi-use trials it is important for people to see me coming, especially when the trial dips under a road or in and out of shade. Today I was politely asked if I could turn my light to steady mode. Is a blinking light more annoying to other riders? This was during the morning jsut as the sun was starting to ride, so still dark enough that most people had lights on, but you didn't need them to see the trail.

Blinking! Argh! Even worse than steady blinding lights.

The best setup is a light with a proper cut off beam pattern that resembles a car low beam. Unfortunately not many exist apart from dynamo lights from Europe. Philips saferide used to be the bomb a few years back. Even with "only" 270 lumens it puts out more than enough to light up a path without blinding anyone, due to a very sharp cutoff. I can hold mine at arms length and shine it at my nose and still see everything around without discomfort. Tilt it up a fraction and I can't see for a minute...

But sadly Philips got out of the game. Spanninga took over some of their optics, look for their Axendo models. And like I said above the Ravemen lights sound pretty clever too, with a remote button to switch from a cutoff beam to a "high beam". Busch and Mueller (B&M) do some also.

I can understand blinking lights are annoying in the dark, but are they really an issue when there is enough ambient light?

I assume that everyone's eyes are a little bit different, but I actually found that the steady lights where more irritating to my eyes. Something about how my eyes trained on the steadies and could ignore the blinkers once I had processed what they were. Perhaps the blinkers were just less bright.

Lumina is AWESOME.
Great for commuting, yet good enough to use for cx or MTB riding at night also.

Several guys I ride with use Lumina's as their go-to light for technical MTB night riding.
I like mine as an extra on the bars, and use a CREE LED headlamp as my main one off-road.

Planet Bike Superflash Turbo is a very bright and cheap R blinkie.

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float , hammer , and jog

You cannot beat the price and lumens on the Magicshine lights. My 10 year old BikeRay II crapped out this morning (luckily I run a helmet mounted light as well) and am looking to get this as my next bar mounted light.

https://magicshine.us/...00-front-bike-light/

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Contemplating a multi-sport comeback

This is one of the key reasons that I only use a helmet mounted light, I can control where it goes, when I am passing an approaching runner or cyclist I just turn my head away for a few seconds during the pass. Plus if I think that car isn't noticing me then I just look at the driver and they do. this is much easier than a handle bar mounted.

As mentioned I hate blinking lights on the path or road, I can see you with a solid light just fine without the blinking head light.

Ben

Thanks. I have the exact opposite impression for blinky vs solid lights during the day. I think they are both easier to notice and less irritating, but I can change my use if it is the opposite for the majority.

I've been using a diablo on my helmet and an 800 lumen exposure light on my bars. ok i usually only have the diablo on the medium setting as the battery life is short on high - but it is still a lot of light, and with the appropriate rear lighting i would be ok commuting. However, was on trails at night earlier in the week and really thought i could do with more light. My first ride this season where i started after dark - the clocks back thing - and the moon didn't come up till well after sunset so it was pretty dark and i wasn't used to riding in it yet - but i think i am going to add more light. Maybe one of those magicshine headlights that get released tomorrow.

any endurance mountain bikers here? How many lumens do you use for night rides?

Ive just discovered that by putting lights on my bike, I have extended my training to the dark ! I use my Gravel Bike and have had a NiteRider pro 2800 Enduro Remote mount front light mounted on the bars, and use the NiteRider Lumina OLED 900 on the Helmet.

When I need to see the trail, or road, I can turn the front on to 2800 lumens, and it is instant day. The light on the helmet lets me see what is next to the trails.

The rear light is a NiteRider Sentinel 150, a 150 lumen taillight.

NiteRider makes good equipment.

I just got this. Love it for running and riding

https://www.amazon.com/...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Noxgear Tracer 360.