Bright Battery Headlights

On Aug 28, 11:04 am, Dan O wrote:
On Aug 27, 4:54 pm, Andre Jute wrote:



On Aug 27, 10:57 pm, Dan O wrote:

On Aug 27, 2:27 pm, Andre Jute wrote:

On Aug 27, 9:02 pm, Dan O wrote:

On Aug 27, 9:25 am, Kristian M Zoerhoff
wrote:

On 2010-08-27, Jay Beattie wrote:

In my annual quest for a new headlight, I found this duo:

http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.a...ight+&+Motion+...

Seems reasonably priced, and $.30 below MSRP!

Is there anything on the market that is a real bang for the buck in
the super-bright LED category. I don't need really long run times,
but I do need a good mount, sturdy wiring and reliability. No
dynamos, please. -- Jay Beattie.

B&M Ixon IQ Speed. I bought mine directly from Peter White, and looooooove
it. Super bright, easy mount to the handlebars, and won't blind oncoming
traffic unless you specifically aim it to.

He also has a bunch of photos of various dynamo and battery beams at
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp if you want to compare.

Thanks for the endorsement. I had the Inoled 10+ and battery pack on
my short list of bike things to buy with the next $200 burning a hole
in my pocket, but if Peter say's it's "undoubtedly the best road
headlight available for the money", and you are so highly satisfied
with yours... I'm going to revise my wish list.

(I only know that my current, Planet Bike 1-watt, headlight is way
better than no light at all, but not "super-bright".)

Perhaps it is time for you to look into a hub dynamo and a Cyo and
give up charging all those batteries. It's what I would do for an
extra margin of security if I commuted your distances. You don't have
to buy the spendy SON hub dynamo; the better Shimano ones are as good
(I have SON and two kinds of Shimano hub dynamos and they're all
fine).

High quality and serviceability of the load bearing parts are the
critical criteria in wheel hubs.

The more expensive Shimano hub dynamos have Ultegra level bearings.
The Shimanos may be serviceable; certainly the Paul Lange netsite in
Germany had service instructions (in English) the last time I looked.
The SON has to go back to the factory if it breaks or wears out.
Generally speaking, it seems to be accepted that a Shimano dynamo hub
will last at least 40,000 miles but a SON will make 100K easily. At
that point the price difference becomes roundabout nil. How long
before you notch up a 100K miles?

Thanks, Andre - I do appreciate the benefit of your experience,
research, and thinking about this, but...

I spend a lot of time servicing my bike. Most of that time,
obviously, is spent on wheels and drivetrain. I'm not about to add
tremendous complexity to the service procedure of a wheel (maybe even
to the point of being altogether infeasible, as you suggest it may be
with the better SON), just so it can be heavier and harder to turn.

I've already covered my own needs and perspectives WRT generator
lighting in this forum. I *would* like to try generator lighting
someday, but would not go for the low end, so it will have to wait for
now. Meanwhile, battery lighting works well for me (and I imagine
always will in some applications).

I was planning to rebuild both hubs on commuter before September:

http://www.bta4bikes.org/btablog/wp-...9topriders.pdf

http://www.bta4bikes.org/docs/2008_B...8TopRiders.pdf

I took off both wheels. Took out the skewers and dustcaps, spun each
wheel and listened. They both feel like butter. I put the front
wheel in the truing stand spun it. Maybe a mm off. I don't think
either axle needs a thing. The rear wheel has a new hub with only a
couple thousand miles on it. The front hub has been washed out and
repacked once in like 15000 miles or so. It still feels like butter.

Dropping the front wheel is a matter of opening the front brake,
opening the quick release, loosening it for the lips, and dropping the
wheel. Pretty simple. I like that.

I took the headlight off the handlebar on my way in the house and
dumped out the batteries. Later on my way out I'll grab two fresh
batteries by the charger right outside the garage door, install them
in the light as I walk to the bike, then slide the headlight back on
the handlebar mount. Pretty simple. I could go days on a set of
batteries, but usually put in fresh every other day anyway.

The $50 light is readily transferred to any bike. I am so asking
Santa for an IQ Speed.

On Aug 28, 2:10*pm, Dan O wrote:
On Aug 28, 8:21 am, Frank Krygowski wrote:

snip



Assuming we're talking road use (not mountain biking), whether a beam
pattern is "good" seems to depend partly on the knowledge of the
person judging. *I rode with one guy whose definition of "good" was
"blinds opposing traffic." *Personally, I'd like...

Frank, here's an example of something sort of irritating (a weak
example, but... ):

Above, you say that "good" seems to depend on the *knowledge* of the
person. *Now we can all agree that blinding opposing traffic is bad,
but the remark about "knowledge" came before that example. and was
more general. *The way it reads - especially in the larger context of
many posts on various subjects involving opinion and presented as
expertise - is that if people like something other than what you think
is "good", they must be dumb.

(No offense.)

sigh Wow.

I'm still puzzling over the fact that when I write something like the
above, which was not intended to be offensive in any way, I get a bad
review from you. When others start entire threads as deliberate, rude
insults and do all they can to make those insults and rudeness persist
for weeks, they get no such feedback. Why the double standard?

- Frank Krygowski

On Aug 28, 2:21 pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Aug 28, 2:10 pm, Dan O wrote:



On Aug 28, 8:21 am, Frank Krygowski wrote:

snip

Assuming we're talking road use (not mountain biking), whether a beam
pattern is "good" seems to depend partly on the knowledge of the
person judging. I rode with one guy whose definition of "good" was
"blinds opposing traffic." Personally, I'd like...

Frank, here's an example of something sort of irritating (a weak
example, but... ):

Above, you say that "good" seems to depend on the *knowledge* of the
person. Now we can all agree that blinding opposing traffic is bad,
but the remark about "knowledge" came before that example. and was
more general. The way it reads - especially in the larger context of
many posts on various subjects involving opinion and presented as
expertise - is that if people like something other than what you think
is "good", they must be dumb.

(No offense.)

sigh Wow.

I'm still puzzling over the fact that when I write something like the
above, which was not intended to be offensive in any way, I get a bad
review from you. When others start entire threads as deliberate, rude
insults and do all they can to make those insults and rudeness persist
for weeks, they get no such feedback. Why the double standard?


Oh, sorry man - you've misunderstood my intentions. You I respect.
It's just that I don't want to feed the trolls.

On 27/08/10 10:07 PM, Jay Beattie wrote:

snip

Yes, and as he says:

"If you're going to brave busy streets at night in the rain you'd be
well advised to use the brightest light you can get. But quite
frankly, better advise would be to find a quieter route in those
situations."

I guess that advice works in some limited situations. Ironically it's
the less busy streets that often need the brighter lights.