BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

As a random side note, the bluish-white beam will happen with most lights as they are all LED or some form of HID light. That spectrum of light is closer to natural sunglight, despite the bluish appearance at times, and is ultimately easier on the eyes too.

On cars with HID's, proper HID's in their intended projectors, can be much brighter and less harmful to other drivers. The ones that have issues are DIY plug in bulbs that have hot spots. The street racer wannabees with the bright blue lights are the problems. They also see less when they are very blue or purple.

/rant

Anyway, I just got a Rav X light that is mounted with a built in silicone band and is easily removeable and it is OK, but I think something with a faster blink is the way to go. Thick has them, and other lights, might be worth a trip. I also know REI has many lights and they are pretty good with not only returns if you don't like it, but also checking the stuff out in the store.

Well... if you really want to inspect your purchase, don't buy it online. I don't mean this to be harsh, but retail outlets exist for a reason.

That said. Peter White has the best website about headlights that I have ever seen. Limited to the ones that he sells, mind you.

You could do worse than the PlanetBike Blaze/Superflash combination - it's a 1W LED headlight and a taillight for <$50. And they also sell a bracket that will mount the taillight to your rack. I know I've seen the lights in several local stores, maybe not the bracket. Planet Bike also makes a 5 LED taillight that includes the rack bracket.

I fully support lights on both the helmet and the bike. Also, white reflective tape on both the front and rear.

I use the PlanetBike Blaze generator headlight (though I don't completely recommend that particular model), and some kind of $100 200-lumen battery-powered thing on the helmet. It is plenty of light.

I've got a Princeton Tec EOS bike light that is great. http://www.princetontec.com/index.php?q=eos-bike

I think it's around $60, and it's nice and bright. Probably not enough for a pitch black trail, but definitely good for street riding. And its blink mode is a slow blink, instead of a strobe, which I find less distracting.

For blinkies, you might look into some of the Knog lights. They attach with built in rubber straps.

I picked up a huge taillight at the Trek warehouse sale for $10 and it usually goes for $25. This is the brightest taillight I have been able to find! It has 10 LEDs in it and came with a few different mounting brackets. One is much smaller and gives you the option of mounting it in the rear triangle on a seat or chain stay. You could proably also use it on a bike rack. It’s not available on line anymore but they might still have some at the Trek store.

http://store.trekbikes.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1536&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C4%2C15%2C478%2C480&iProductID=1536

I really like the Planet Bike Superflash blinky light on the rear. The mounting clip may not be what you're looking for, but it's a good enough light that it might be worth the effort to make it work. The thing is very bright and you shouldn't be mistaken for something other than a bike. I haven't had one fail, despite lots of fenderless riding in the rain.

As for the front, I really like the NiteRider Mininewt 250 cordless. It is self-contained, chargeable with a USB port, reasonably priced, serviceable (I think), easily removed, lightweight, and kicks out decent light for the money. You won't blind anyone with it, but you'll see the road and be seen.

Up front I have a Planet Bike Blaze 2W, and in the back I have the Portland Design Works Radbot 1000 which I'm told is even more prominent than the PB-SupaFlash. I'm very pleased with both. Good luck!

Regarding blinkies, I prefer having 2 or even 3 multiple inexpensive ($10 Planet Bike or such) on the seat post, backpack, belt, wherever, to a single one. Batteries die, things break, I like redundancy.

ejwme has some pretty awesome pedal lights.

On front I have a $20 Blackburn led light, gets around town fine, it's the good bright LED (1 watt?), even the unlighted Jail Trail.

I'm a fan of Cyolite for headlights. I've used the MiliOn 200 for daily commuting for over a year, and it's worked out great. I recently added the ExpilioOn 250 (I think), which is very similar. Both can be be mounted to your helmet or handlebars easily. The batteries are USB-rechargeable and last for several hours at the highest setting.

I've good experience with their customer service too. On my first light, the bracket that attaches to the main body of the light started to come loose. Cygolite sent out a replacement light, and allowed me to keep my current light while I waited for it to arrive. The new light has a redesigned bracket, so I don't see this being a problem in the future.

For a taillight, SuperFlash is a safe option. They have a distinctive flash pattern which I find to me more noticeable than some of the steady blinking taillights.

http://www.cygolite.com/products/index.html

I'm pretty happy with my Planet Bike lights, front and rear... They are inexpensive and pretty bright.

I also recently snagged some reflective tape and decals for my rims and spokes, white for the front wheel and red for the rear. It really helps with that side visibility.

EDIT: maybe you can find a velcro strap that you can attach to your helmet or other areas in lieu of the more permanent zip tie?

Performance's Viewpoint Flashpoint (their version of the Planet Bike Superflash) is also great, and can usually be had for under $20.

My headlight is a Niterider Minewt 250--it's fantastic, and online is just over $100. It charges via USB, but a charge lasts for quite awhile.

For a helmet mounted blinkie, I am a huge fan of my Blackburn fleas just because they are so darned small and light. Granted, not AA, but I have a computer to charge them at pretty regularly.

This is my favorite pair of lights.

Rina, try to come to one of the group rides, if you can. One of the great things about them is seeing what equipment & accessories everyone else has, and after dark, you can see what works.

On last Friday's Flock ride, Kayla's headlight stood out from everyone else's. I was going to ask her, but she already posted the info above.

For myself, on my main ride, I second the Planet Bike headlight. I have a CatEye red blinky on my helmet. If I know I'm going to be out after dark I add a clip-on blinky to my shirt collar.

@lyle that Planet Bike rack mounting bracket is easily the best $5 or whatever it was I've ever spent! I had been clipping it on my belt or onto my saddle bag, neither of which were very effective.

My headlight also came with a helmet mount. I don't use it, but Nick did on Crush the Commonwealth and it worked well. The handlebar mount is kind of hard to get tight, but once you do, it's not going anywhere...I don't have oversized bars, but I do have cross levers, which made it kind of difficult to find space, but it works just fine.

I'm also looking for a rear blinkie that can be securely mounted to a helmet. The Blackburn Flea 2.0 USB Rear seems to be the only one where people on the net specifically talk about helmet mounting. It's amazingly light and small (due to not using replaceable batteries), but not as bright as some of the others.

Does anyone have a PDW Radbot 1000, ViewPoint Flashpoint, or Blackburn Mars 4.0 that's helmet-mounted? If so, did it come with a suitable mount, or did you have to construct something? Is it difficult to get the light pointed at the right angle? Is the weight of the light noticeable?

Nick has a flashpoint on his helmet, held on by a zip tie.