Light for night riding that works

After doing a few weeks of casual research, I just bought a LED light
for night trail riding. The light I'm using is a 'HiFlux 200 B*ke
Light' (http://www.cygolite.com/light/products/14HiFlux200.htm) which I
bought from 'REI' (http://tinyurl.com/lzqgm) for $130 + tax. Cygolite
claims it is equivalent to a 10Watt Halogen in brightness, but I don't
have a halogen light to verify this. However, I done some preliminary
rides and the beam provides plenty of light for the trail.

For mounting on my stock Torker DX, I used a 1/2" x 1/8" x 3" piece of
aluminum, a hose clamp, and a few tie-wraps to mount the light to the
seat post. This arrangement could use a little improvement, but didn't
come loose after several UPDs onto asphalt. The battery is easy to
mount (if you have enough seat post length) using a water bottle cage
which is also attached to the frame with two hose clamps.

The beam is a little narrow, so I need to find a lens that can widen
the beam to 30 degrees or more. With the beam as-is, the center bright
spot has an annoying wobble side to side as I ride. I believe this
would be much less noticeable with a wider beam.

HERE'S THE SETUP:
[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/m...3640898443e76]

A CLOSER LOOK:
[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/m...175c4eae24060]

A ROUGH VIEW OF THE BEAM:
[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/m...175c4eae24060]


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aneedles

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I am curious about using frame mounted lights for muni. From night
biking I really prefer bar lights to helmet lights (depending slightly
on twistyness), because you get shadows and the like. My concern is
wether enough light gets to the trail given the different angles the
frame will be at between steep uphills, and in particular steep
downhills (leaning backwards so light points upwards, trail is going
downwards = not much light on trail). I suppose a wide beam helps
though.

Looks very good. Would like to hear how it goes for proper muni rides.


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johnhimsworth

Never argue with an idiot; they drag you down to their level and then
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Looks kool! but I also think the waddle of the uni would be
distracting and often not lighten needed areas. I bet it would be
great for mellow XC or road though.

My light has a helmut mount, but it also focuses most of the light in
one spot. Every time I hit the slightes bump or have to make any
correction the spot moves which is too distracting. The guy at my LBS
said they don't make a wider lense for my light, but might make a wider
bulb, he hasn't gotten back to me yet.

If that doesn't work I'll get a 12 wat bulb and/or tape a small piece
of alluminum foil to the inside center of the lense and maybee cover
the outer edge also. (My light sheds a fair amount of light outside the
needed area.)


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skilewis74
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johnhimsworth wrote:
I am curious about using frame mounted lights for muni. From night
biking I really prefer bar lights to helmet lights (depending slightly
on twistyness), because you get shadows and the like.



I found that the shadows produced from the low-mounted light made it
much easier to interpret the details of the trail. However, the shadows
could be a distraction for a rougher trail with more obstacles, such as
rocks, to negotiate. I have only tried it on relatively easy-going
terrain, which is probably what I intend to stick to for night riding
anyway.


johnhimsworth wrote:
My concern is wether enough light gets to the trail given the different
angles the frame will be at between steep uphills, and in particular
steep downhills (leaning backwards so light points upwards, trail is
going downwards = not much light on trail). I suppose a wide beam helps
though.



For rougher terrain, perhaps a combination of frame-mounted and
helmet-mounted lights would help.


johnhimsworth wrote:
Looks very good. Would like to hear how it goes for proper muni rides.



It may be awhile before I attempt a "proper muni ride" at night.


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aneedles

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
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skilewis74 wrote:
My light has a helmut mount, but it also focuses most of the light in
one spot. Every time I hit the slightes bump or have to make any
correction the spot moves which is too distracting. The guy at my LBS
said they don't make a wider lense for my light, but might make a wider
bulb, he hasn't gotten back to me yet.




I'm thinking there's probably a lens that could be attached (somehow)
to the front of the light that would do the trick ... I've just started
looking and it will probably require some experimentation. The problem
I've found with aluminum foil reflectors is that they tend to create
bright spots (and dark areas) which are very distracting for
interpreting trail details. I'm hoping for a wider beam with
smoooooooth light over the viewing area.

By the way, I'm finding that night riding is a blast! I actually
prefer it to day riding on those days where the daytime temperature it
too hot for comfortable riding. I think my ideal temperature for riding
is around 60 degrees F (16 deg C).


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aneedles

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
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