Hi

I have entered the Bear bones 200, and I am thinking about lights. My plan is to grab a few hours shut eye in the dead of night if required. However I will be doing a lot of cycling in the dark, to that end what lights will last the distance and give sufficient light? Any tips greatly received many thanks, Nick

I rode last year with just an Exposure Joystick + single cell piggyback. I didn't have excess light but it lasted the duration (didn't stop).

I'd go for burn time over power

It'll be dark between 7pm and 7am so I'd have enough battery life for that.

In terms of power, your eyes will adjust to the darkness and the riding will be generally non-technical so you wont need to much illumination. Also it will be just after the full moon, so if its a clear night you probably wont need lights at all

I'm an exposure user too. Well make and compact design, but not at the cheapest end of the market. Worth the investment, but depends on how much other night riding you do?

Did last year with an Exposure 6 pack so medium lasts 10 hrs with a very good spread.

The Diablo is a good balance between power/weight/run time. The Mk4 on has adjustable settings with so you can have the option of different high/medium/low options. I got a triple piggyback battery (from Smudge at mtb batteries) with a metre long cable so I can have it helmet mounted and the battery in my jersey.

You can get these cheaper direct from china/eBay but this one might be less likely to catch fire whilst charging!


http://www.7dayshop.com/7dayshop-bike-l ... 9xPWNyZWU=

Under 30 quid with a spare battery is pretty good.

This probably doesn't help much because of the extra stuff you need but anyway... I'll be using a Exposure Revo Dynamo light as the main light.

I'll also have a joystick on the helmet for the night hike-a-bike sections and because having a helmet light to flick on when you need it (getting food out for instance) is pretty handy generally.

All the chaps I ride with as well as myself use Magic shine type lights. While once thought to be too cheap to be any good, too many people have had very good experience with them. In my group nobody has had a failure. I went posh and bought from the UK magic shine supplier and went for the German battery upgrade. At least 8 hours with very good light. For the BB200 last year I carried a little extra battery but didn't need it in the end.

If you haven't used lights much before I recommend helmet mounting. The ability to see where ever your head is facing is great.

Worth noting that in extreme cold most batteries have reduced life. So if you test the time you get in August you need to take a chunk off this time in the event it is frosty in October.

greenmug wrote:All the chaps I ride with as well as myself use Magic shine type lights. While once thought to be too cheap to be any good, too many people have had very good experience with them. In my group nobody has had a failure. I went posh and bought from the UK magic shine supplier and went for the German battery upgrade. At least 8 hours with very good light. For the BB200 last year I carried a little extra battery but didn't need it in the end.

If you haven't used lights much before I recommend helmet mounting. The ability to see where ever your head is facing is great.

Worth noting that in extreme cold most batteries have reduced life. So if you test the time you get in August you need to take a chunk off this time in the event it is frosty in October.

I used a set of the original DX Magic Shines for last years race. Still use them now in some situations. I think they are great for evening rides and commuting. The ones I have though are not that great for riding through the night due to burn time. If you get spare batteries (as I had last year) and run them on low then they will get you through. I no longer have the spares though as I broke one.

Thanks for all the advice, I will have a better look one I get broadband back on

Thanks again

Nick

Everyone keeps mentioning head mounted lights, and I agree they're good, and if I had only one light that's where it would go. In fact this is my setup when commuting.

However off road, I think Ian mentioned this a while back and it made me think and then agree... when head mounted, objects don't have as much shadow produced or something, and off-roading, head light only I tend to "stumble" over stuff a bit more. Maybe it' because initially i'm used to having both lights and can spot a lot more including depth of objects when using bar and headlight mount - when racing flat out this is a must. When going to head only mount, I tend to trip over a bit more.

Reading that back, that only just makes sense, but there you go...!

BB200 last year, I had a Maxx-D (mk 2) and a diablo (mk 5) on my head, both normally in the 10 hour mode, though they were running in 3-10-24 mode and would swap between accordingly, but generally in the 10 hour mode when riding. Maxx-D was also acting as GPS charger.