OV9

Rich B wrote: ↑Tue Nov 09, 2021 7:29 pm

Ascender wrote: ↑Tue Nov 09, 2021 7:06 pm Looking to do a bit of mountain biking and gravel biking over the winter, what's the deal with lights these days as its been years and years since I've looked. Worth spending a bit of cash or just picking up something cheap and bright on eBay which will last a year or two?

i have a cheap Chinese set (magic shine with a separate battery pack) from a few years back, they’re more than adequate for night rides (offroad) - though these days the all in one units are just as good.

You don’t need to spend hundreds any more - Just a half decent handlebar one and a smaller helmet one do the job as well as the £300 sets of 10 years ago. Loads of vids on YouTube for what’s good…

Thanks @Rich B, I'll have a look today. I remember last time I did it the sets from companies like Hope were hundreds of pounds.

I have a Lezyne Micro 500XL front and Zecto Drive 80 rear; both USB rechargeable which is handy. But I don't tend to ride at night so my proper pitch black experience is limited to flashing the front one around Drakelow tunnels and it was brilliant for that - good beam pattern and distance. They're more for get-me-home use if I end up out later than planned and do that job perfectly.

Did watch Robrides' review on Youtube the other day and was surprised how differently lights perform: - I think I'd be buying the winner of that if I were riding on trails at night.

Meh, my old magic shine ones were about £60 when I got them about 8(?)years ago and they're more than bright enough for trail riding - to the point that I don't really use the brightest setting.

These are them - but there's way better modern all in one versions available for not much different money these days.

https://www.xxcycle.com/light-magicshin ... en,,en.php

On a side note, night rides on even your familiar trails are fucking brilliant. Not so much in the rain though...

Rich B wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:52 am Meh, my old magic shine ones were about £60 when I got them about 8(?)years ago and they're more than bright enough for trail riding - to the point that I don't really use the brightest setting.

These are them - but there's way better modern all in one versions available for not much different money these days.

https://www.xxcycle.com/light-magicshin ... en,,en.php

On a side note, night rides on even your familiar trails are fucking brilliant. Not so much in the rain though...

To be fair for £290 that magicshine is an utter monster with a huge battery too, easily outperformed the £400 exposure.

I wouldn't spend that kind of money either, my £30 4 LED Brite-R Vier outperforms the £26 Amazon 5 LED (have one of those too) easily and had a bigger battery to boot. It's a shame Brite-R have disappeared as they were really good VFM.

IME cheap LEDs are fine as markers for when you're riding on a road but for actually lighting a path when night riding it's worth spending a little more.

I wonder how well 10 of my Lezynes mounted on the handlebars would perform? £300 does seem mad, I agree. But there weren't many alternatives in that test and surely there are better value ones which aren't that much worse.

My thinking is that if you're riding at night, you want it to be fun and different, so there's no point in having a crazy £400 set up that just makes it seem like daytime. Even my £60 one on full brightness is more than I'd want. Odd thinking perhaps.

The secret is having two sources of light, one on the bike and one on the helmet. If you have just a helmet light then the holes (and shadows) will be hidden because the source of light is on the same line as your eyes. But neither source needs to be crazy bright.

If you want it to be fun and different, I wonder how effective these would be? Half the price of that Magicshine: https://nightfoxstore.com/products/nigh ... on-goggles

Rich B wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 12:15 pm

The secret is having two sources of light, one on the bike and one on the helmet. If you have just a helmet light then the holes (and shadows) will be hidden because the source of light is on the same line as your eyes. But neither source needs to be crazy bright.

This for sure, going out with only one after having both really brings home home much you benefit from having both.

My Chinese cheapies were ok but batteries were crap, quickly degraded to the point where I could only use high brightness on descents else they’d die on the way home after a 2 hour ride.

Exposure Maxx-D has been flawless, mid setting is bright enough and lasts two rides. Have a joystick for my helmet too. UK made, UK support. Love the all in one design, love the stem mount, love the hardwired rear light that plugs in so I have one less thing to charge. RRP is steep but they come up in sales through the year.

Loads of good “in between” options these days though. And the light you need depends a lot on who you ride with - solo can get away with surprisingly little (I used to use a 400 lumen Joystick on the bars) but when you’re with others you can be riding into your own shadow if they’re behind and brighter.

Indirectly funds the Sparrow family’s classic Porsche racing too

https://www.alamy.com/roger-sparrow-por ... 85611.html

simon_g wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 1:28 pm My Chinese cheapies were ok but batteries were crap, quickly degraded to the point where I could only use high brightness on descents else they’d die on the way home after a 2 hour ride.

Easily rectified with a battery holder (were about £15 from ebay) and a set of Genuine new Samsung or Panasonic 18650 Cells (about £20) from a reputable vaping supplier. Mine easily do 2 hours on full power consistently now.
The supplied packs from the cheap Chinese lights are all supplied with packs made from recycled laptop batteries, some of which are OK but most are on their last legs they never last long in runtime but quite a lot fail quickly due to one cell dying.

I messaged my mate about it too and I think he spent a few hundred quid on a set for his bars a while back. His view was...

Interestingly, the expensive Hope ones I bought have a much softer spread of light than the cheap ones.... what I mean is there are no hard edges or bright spots, just a nice even spread which is presumably down to careful tuning of the lenses and should give a more natural light. The cheap ones I find are amazing VFM but you definitely get hot spots and dim spots.

I've gone full middle aged man cliché and ordered a Specialized Levo.

You won't regret it - it's great fun - like being a kid again!

Delivery in 2023, yeah?
Nice one

Delivery on Sunday!

One of the reasons I've bought Specialized is that their supply is fairly reasonable compared to most of the others. I was looking at a Cube but what started off as a November delivery seems to be now creeping into next year.

Levos for the mother fucking win!

I love mine.

Having been out on a night ride this week I may revise my bike light suggestions a little... but not too much! One of my mates had a £400 exposure set (1800 lum head, 4000 lum bar) - which were amazing, until the headlight decided to give up.

I couldn't find my old helmet light so had to do without - wow, big mistake. Riding without a helmet light made twisty fast single track impossible - I had to follow someone else because I couldn't see around the corner until my handlebars were turned!

My old magicshine bar lights were ok - the indicator was red by the end of the 2h 15m ride, but they gave out enough light (1800 lum on full).

So I've been online and bought a new helmet light, I've liked magicshine - so I bought a 1500 lum unit, but then I noticed it was 20% off for Black Friday, so I bought a 2000 lum bar one that links into the ebike battery too...

My old bar one will no doubt get used as a spare if mates want to come and try it.

Today I finally managed to get out for a couple of hours on the Levo after being delayed by snow and the worst cold that I've ever had. The ride wasn't anything too exciting, just over to Clumber Park and back which is a mile or so on a disused railway line then farmland and woods. Obviously limited areas to test the bike but one thing that stood out is how quiet the motor is compared to the Yamaha I owned before. Hoping to get out again tomorrow and ride something a little more challenging.

Edit after a quick ride to check some tweaks - Another thing I've noticed is that there is slightly more resistance from the Brose motor than the Yamaha when the motor cuts at 15mph. They both have less than the Shimano though from my memory of riding a friend's bike. The Brose feels stronger on really steep climbs than both Yamaha and Shimano.