I’d like to start riding the trails after dark out behind my home. I run on them with a LED headlamp, but have nothing suitable for the mtb. Looking for suggestions please. Thx.
BTW, does the “Blair Witch” sensation ever go away in the woods at night? Every time I run in them after dark I’m spooked the whole time. Makes me run faster though!
Any of the top lighting companies will have good solutions. I’d stick with LEDs, the best are plenty bright. For mtb a helmet mount is what you want.
Now the bad news good lights are expensive, my exerience
Less than $200 - not good enough for trails unless you are very familiar and they aren’t technical.
$200 pretty good for most people for most trails
$400 should work for everything including fast riding on unfamilar trails
$600 up Dammit I want to turn night into day repel Vampires and do it all night long on a single charge.
Styrrell
Joe runs a regular Thursday night mountain bike ride on the trails of one of his quarry properties. They all use headamps. Although you could use both a bike light and a headlight, a good* helmet light is going to be the most important.* It lights up where YOU are going, not just where the handlebars are pointing. It lights up your bike if you need to stop and check anything, or need to check what critter is making that noise off the trail.
I’ve tried quite a few different companies for lights and my favorite is Light and Motion. I use the stella 180l (which is now the 200) and it is fine for mtb and road. My father has a Seca 400 and it has such a bright and wide pattern any level and speed of riding is OK. They even make a Seca 700 which has nearly double the light output, so somewhere in there you should have a light that will work for you.
I like the small battery and the great connector of the L&M’s. The charger is quick too, about 1.5hrs. Good luck and have fun with the night rides - E
Check out these two interactive images:
http://www.mtbr.com/beamcomparisoncrx.aspx
http://www.mtbr.com/trailbeamcomparisoncrx.aspx
Very cool and useful!
Take a look at the Light and Motion Seca series. Their Stella lights are great also. I recommend a handlebar and helmet light for best coverage, depth perception and looking around corners.
Love the Blair Witch sensation myself. Actually, one of the trails I run/ride is called “Blair Witch” just for this reason.
check out the lighting on backcountry.com…their Chainlove website has been recently having some sweet dieals on some of hte Light and Motion bike lights.
I have only used it a few times, but I have a Night Rider Enduro HID light. It is perpetually on sale at Performance Bike for $299, down from an alleged price of $450. It is super, super bright, and I have ridden on unfamiliar rocky trails without any problem. Last time I used it, my friend with a cheaper light had to go a lot slower than I did, simply because he could not see well.
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=23307&subcategory_ID=4320
Right now, you can get an additional $50 off, too (see main page at performancebike.com), so I think this is the best deal you will find on a bright light anywhere.
I really like my MiNewt.x2
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=24409&estore_ID=1998
I’ve had this one about a year and find its a good compromise of performance/price/bulk. Its plenty bright for all but the most technical stuff. The battery pack is easily strapped to the stem and isn’t noticeable when riding. Headlamps are nice because you can point them, but I find that having the light source close to my eyes makes it difficult to see if its dusty, snowing raining etc. Of course the ideal situation is both head and handlebar.
A friend of mine has the dual version and he doesn’t like it at all. It drains the battery much quicker and you have to run both lamps all the time.
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=24408&estore_ID=1998
Thanks everybody.
I have tried several systems over the years, found the Ay Up! lights to be the best by far. They use the brightest LED available, the CREE Q5, and are really popular with the 24hr mountain bike crowd. They even have a headband to use the light for running. The lights are available in kits as well to support multiple configurations.
Check them out at:
http://www.ayup.com.au/usa-shop-kits.html
and the headband
go to mtbr and then the forum on bike lighting. there are a bunch of diy lighting examples on there. I built a 400 lumen light for around $30 (battery cost seperate of about $40 NiMH AA’s). If you can solder and have a few tools, have fun ;-D
i’ve used the princeton tec switchback and am very impressed with it. My setup is the switchback 1 on the helmet and the 3 on the handlebar
i second the minewt x2, unless you are going to start racing, that should be enough light. If not, get another for the helmet later down the road.