A well-lit bike is supplied with entrance, facet and rear lighting to make sure your visibility to motorists and pedestrians.
For commuting or driving after darkish—particularly on path rides which can be removed from ambient gentle sources—your entrance gentle must be a high-output lighting system so that you see nicely forward of you.
Excessive-output lighting methods: These often are rechargeable gentle methods that provide most illumination. They’re greater priced however a lot brighter than security lights, and so they aid you see the place you’re occurring the path or highway in almost all situations.
Entrance, facet and rear security lights: These assist motorists see you in dim gentle situations. The brightest ones additionally enhance your visibility within the daytime. Nevertheless, they’re not vivid sufficient that will help you see the place you’re going for many evening driving. The primary variations between security gentle fashions are in mounting choices, the variety of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and whether or not they use rechargeable or disposable batteries.
Evaluating Gentle Efficiency
All lights provided by REI use sturdy housings sealed with weatherproof gaskets. Rely on these lights to shine in any climate. What to think about:
LEDs: Power effectivity and sturdiness make LEDs the predominant gentle supply utilized in bike lights. They arrive in a variety of brightness ranges.
Lumens: A lumen is a unit of measurement that quantifies the quantity of sunshine falling on the article you need illuminated. Measured at a uniform distance, a lumen describes the sunshine depth of every lighting unit. Most gentle producers present a lumen ranking; that is proven on REI.com product pages.
Beam sample: When you commute on streets with streetlights, you could wish to select a entrance gentle with a narrow-focus beam. On darker roads or trails, you’ll wish to go together with a wide-focus beam for higher peripheral imaginative and prescient. Beam patterns might be troublesome for customers to match; verify on-line product descriptions or ask an REI gross sales specialist for assist.
As a basic rule, greater worth equals greater gentle output.
Rechargeable Lighting Programs
Rechargeable methods function lithium ion batteries. They are often charged a whole bunch of occasions, making them a reasonable and environmentally sound various to disposable batteries.
In contrast to alkalines that dim slowly over battery life, most rechargeables ship constant gentle till their energy is exhausted. Due to this fact, most rechargeable lights have a “gas gauge” or low-battery warning. All rechargeables have an influence gentle to point that energy is offered.
Lithium ion batteries provide glorious energy for his or her weight, and they’re characterised by their future occasions. They’re simple to maintain charged as a result of they undergo no “reminiscence” results from being totally discharged.
Sustaining Your Battery System
Most rechargeable batteries are able to greater than 500 cost/discharge cycles. Self-contained items might be charged by way of an influence twine or USB charger.
When charging batteries, make certain you totally cost them, particularly earlier than storage, however don’t overcharge them. Most methods include sensible chargers that mechanically cease when the batteries are totally charged to forestall overcharging. As a result of inactive batteries lose their cost over time, plug in and cost your system earlier than each use.
Run Time and Battery Life
Battery life is dependent upon the sunshine’s battery kind, the facility of the system and the sort of LEDs within the gentle. The product pages on REI.com present comparative scores.
A flashing gentle emits an attention-grabbing pulse (both regular or random) that makes use of much less battery energy than a gradual beam. Most lights provide flashing and regular modes. It’s troublesome to see nicely with a flashing headlight at midnight, so save the flash mode of your headlight for daytime use.
Most rechargeable items have a number of settings. This allows you to swap between long-lasting, low-power gentle and vivid, high-intensity gentle that drains battery energy extra rapidly. Most methods let you choose from a variety of illumination ranges.
Headlights mount onto your handlebar, however many can mount onto your your helmet, too. For nighttime path driving, it is best to think about using each sorts. Beams of helmet-mounted lights might be directed by simply the flip of your head, so for those who’re utilizing just one gentle, you may discover a helmet-mounted gentle to be probably the most versatile.
Rear security lights might be mounted in your pack, pocket or seatpost. Some will also be mounted on the again of rear bike racks.
Facet security lights often mount on both spokes or frames. Spoke mounted lights are particularly seen as a result of they clearly present your wheels in movement.
Battery packs for high-output lights might be hooked up to your bike or—since many have dramatically decreased in measurement and weight—stowed in a pack. Fast-release {hardware} permits you to take your gentle with you when leaving your bike, particularly when the battery and light-weight are contained in a single unit.