#1
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Offroad Light
I went out for an offroad night ride last week and my pal had some
horrendously expensive Lupine Edison 5: http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/Lupine_Edison_5.html This light was pretty well like a card headlight and lit up the trail fantastically. (I inadvertently got in front of him at one slightly awkward and steep part and could see pretty well nothing but my shadow.) I would like to get a similar type of light as it does open up far more cycling opportunities during the winter darkness. My budget is far more modest though, The Blackburn System X3 Single Lightset seems like a decent enough light: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/M...x?ModelID=9205 and if I can get it picked up in the US from www.rei.com then I can get it for £70 rather than £120: http://www.rei.com/product/48016710.htm Is anyone familiar with the chargers for these lights? I am wondering if they are multi-voltage DC adapters or would be more country specific than just the plug? Cheers Noel |
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#2
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Offroad Light
For any other DIY-type people out there you can go a long way with a
£3 3W LED from say Rapid, one of their 90p lenses (or a £5 one from RS), three NiCds/NIMHs, a battery box and a few other bits of plastic and metal to house and heatsink it. Jon |
#3
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Offroad Light
Noel wrote on 06/11/2006 08:27 +0100:
I went out for an offroad night ride last week and my pal had some horrendously expensive Lupine Edison 5: http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/Lupine_Edison_5.html This light was pretty well like a card headlight and lit up the trail fantastically. (I inadvertently got in front of him at one slightly awkward and steep part and could see pretty well nothing but my shadow.) I would like to get a similar type of light as it does open up far more cycling opportunities during the winter darkness. My budget is far more modest though, The Blackburn System X3 Single Lightset seems like a decent enough light: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/M...x?ModelID=9205 and if I can get it picked up in the US from www.rei.com then I can get it for £70 rather than £120: http://www.rei.com/product/48016710.htm Is anyone familiar with the chargers for these lights? I am wondering if they are multi-voltage DC adapters or would be more country specific than just the plug? The Blackburn light (a Luxeon LED) will not come anywhere close to the Lupine and will be marginal for trail use. You need to look for a HID lamp or just a plain old halogen lamp. Have a look at the Niterider site which has good pictures illustrating the comparative illumination of the different products. http://www.niterider.com/bike.shtml The Blackburn will be similar to the MiNewt single while the Lupine will be a brighter version of the Firestorm (£360 from Wiggle). Compare those though with the Classic (£200 from Wiggle) which is as bright but with a different colour temperature. The main drawback of the halogen compared to the HID is the run time which is just over an hour (vs 4hrs) on full beam. The MiNewt Dual isn't bad and is quite cheap but also has a short run time on full power (£135 from Wiggle) -- Tony "Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory." - Leonardo da Vinci |
#4
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Offroad Light
In article sbitoff
Noel wrote: I went out for an offroad night ride last week and my pal had some horrendously expensive Lupine Edison 5: http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/Lupine_Edison_5.html This light was pretty well like a card headlight and lit up the trail fantastically. (I inadvertently got in front of him at one slightly awkward and steep part and could see pretty well nothing but my shadow.) I would like to get a similar type of light as it does open up far more cycling opportunities during the winter darkness. My budget is far more modest though, Depending on the sort of off-roading you do, might you be better off with a light attached to your head (I'm avoiding the h word) which would put the light only where you need it[1] rather than lighting up the countryside? [1] Plus whatever ineffective light you have ATM to put a glow around your front wheel. |
#5
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Offroad Light
Rob Morley wrote: In article sbitoff Noel wrote: I went out for an offroad night ride last week and my pal had some horrendously expensive Lupine Edison 5: http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/Lupine_Edison_5.html This light was pretty well like a card headlight and lit up the trail fantastically. (I inadvertently got in front of him at one slightly awkward and steep part and could see pretty well nothing but my shadow.) I would like to get a similar type of light as it does open up far more cycling opportunities during the winter darkness. My budget is far more modest though, Depending on the sort of off-roading you do, might you be better off with a light attached to your head (I'm avoiding the h word) which would put the light only where you need it[1] rather than lighting up the countryside? [1] Plus whatever ineffective light you have ATM to put a glow around your front wheel. A helmet light may work fine as a secondary source, but I wouldn't recommend using one as your only light. Using only a helmet mounted light mucks up your depth of field and can make navigating rocky/rough/dusty trails more difficult. A helmet light does help in twisty sections and that's why I ride with two HIDs, one on the bars and one on the helmet (1). Laters, Marz (1) yes a helmet, while I may contest the statisical and actual usefulness of helmets when on the road, I've never met anyone who questions helmet use when mtbing. |
#6
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Offroad Light
Noel wrote: I went out for an offroad night ride last week and my pal had some horrendously expensive Lupine Edison 5: http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/Lupine_Edison_5.html This light was pretty well like a card headlight and lit up the trail fantastically. (I inadvertently got in front of him at one slightly awkward and steep part and could see pretty well nothing but my shadow.) I would like to get a similar type of light as it does open up far more cycling opportunities during the winter darkness. My budget is far more modest though, The Blackburn System X3 Single Lightset seems like a decent enough light: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/M...x?ModelID=9205 and if I can get it picked up in the US from www.rei.com then I can get it for £70 rather than £120: http://www.rei.com/product/48016710.htm Is anyone familiar with the chargers for these lights? I am wondering if they are multi-voltage DC adapters or would be more country specific than just the plug? Cheers Noel The Blackburn chargers are multi voltage and come with a bunch of plug adapters. I've got an X6 and found it good, meeting the spec for burn time. My daughter got one and found the burn time 1 hour less, so took it back to LBS. Ultimate Sports/Madison who distribute could not replace the abttery then, so she assumed it was a known problem. Got another set mail order and had the same problem, so sent that one back as well. Just beware about this, though it may not affect the X3, single light unit. |
#7
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Offroad Light
On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:55:21 +0000, Pete Whelan wrote:
I've got an X6 and found it good, meeting the spec for burn time. My daughter got one and found the burn time 1 hour less, so took it back to LBS. Ultimate Sports/Madison who distribute could not replace the abttery then, so she assumed it was a known problem. Got another set mail order and had the same problem, so sent that one back as well. Just beware about this, though it may not affect the X3, single light unit. Thanks for all the comments. I have plumbed for the X6 in fact so thanks for the heads up (!) on the potential run time issue. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when the lights arrive, but looking at the pics I don't think you can configure them to have the spot on the helmet and the flood on the handlebars without a second battery pack or extension cable? Cheers Noel |
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