Commuting lights in 2024?

[Michael Morrissey]

Hi Everyone!

What is everyone using for commuting lights now? Does anyone have a newer bike light that they would recommend?

I'm still using a small collection of Knog lights that are almost 10 years old. The best Knog is the rear "Mid Cobber" which I like because it has great side visibility. 

https://us.knog.com/products/mid-cobber-rear-bike-light?srsltid=AfmBOorGX4I4f_iHFYweZh8Fla90pITwyr-LNcd4h0C12REsy3W46gb2

Unfortunately, the Knog lights use a lot of magnets and rubberbands to stay on to the bike, which are flimsy and heavy. Does anyone have recommendations for ones that use GoPro mounts or Garmin "quarter-twist" mounts?

Has anyone tried the laser bike lane feature of bike lights like this?

https://www.niterider.com/products/sentinel-250?srsltid=AfmBOoqN5bEUPvnHYnx6vZEhz9N7lztnbuobhGiZABn0b_1eJJyk7Iof

Has anyone tried the brake light built into this?

https://magicshine.com/products/seemee-300-smart-tail-light?srsltid=AfmBOoqhD2ONU3diO4qtDomju20xxwP2hcV-pmZzcH1HvA3IzZKvb48y

Otherwise, should I go to dynamo lights? Dynamo lights are so expensive and I wouldn't be able to switch them back and forth between my Rivendell, my backup bike, and my other beater bike.

Thank you!

Michael

[Eric Norris]

Michael:

I’ll chime in on the lasers—I think they’re a gimmick. I can’t imagine any motorist 1) seeing those lines on the pavement and 2) using them as guides to maintain space between bike and vehicle. You’re better off IMO investing in bright reflective gear and a decent (but not daylight bright) taillight. 

Lee Mitchell, a very well-known sag driver here in Northern California who spent decades and thousands of hours driving behind bicycles at night would tell you (he passed away a few years ago) that the most effective nighttime visibility gear is reflective ankle bands. I wear them whenever I ride at night, along with a RUSA-approved vest and a bright taillight (usually dynamo powered).

If you’re interested in a non-battery solution, I can recommend this taillight from Reelight: https://reelight.com/en-us/collections/battery-free-lights/products/nova 

I’ve had one on a bike for several years, and it’s always worked perfectly. The headlights aren’t very bright, and are best used for visibility. 

There’s also the Magic Light: https://www.magniclight.com/index.php/en/webshop/magnic-microlights

I’ve used these for years as well. The headlight isn’t quite bright enough for riding at speed, but they’re great as daytime running lights and the taillights are quite bright.

--Eric Norris
campyo...@me.com
Insta: @CampyOnlyGuy
YouTube: YouTube.com/CampyOnlyGuy 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/5f5afe84-ed08-4bd8-9308-47a1ef9292cen%40googlegroups.com.

[Will Boericke]

Daily new England commuter here.  I have dynamo setups on both my commuter bikes (one wears studs in the winter).  But you really need extra to stay alive out there.  After discarding a number of lights with built-in Li polymer batteries, I've moved to lights with removable batteries.  In the front I use the Lumintop B01 (takes a 21700 battery, lasts 2 weeks of 1.5 hrs. a day on a charge).  It's bright but doesn't have a good flashing mode.  In the rear, I use a super cheap $3 Aliexpress light that takes AAA (rechargeable).  I recharge those weekly.  It's kind of amazingly good.

If you are commuting every day, you need a dynamo setup at the minimum.  It will not do the job of keeping cars away from you but it will do the job of making it possible to commute in the dark.

Will near Boston

[Patrick Moore]

I used battery lights for years, but after I bought my first dynamo set up a resolutely abjured all battery lighting for other than very occasional use. I do have a couple of battery headlights and several rear lamps, blinking and steady, that I’ll use as backups to my dynamo lights, but for regular use dynamo lighting is really the cat’s pyjamas. There were at least 2 occasions when despite good planning I ended up riding home without my battery lights; once taping a $4 Walgreen’s flashlight to the underside of my left drop bar and the other time foolishly trying to make it home without lights in the deepening twilight — I bent the fork of my custom Riv on a curb.

A dynamo need not be too expensive, either. You can get inexpensive dynamo hubs from Peter White, tho’ these do require a wheel build; OTOH, I recently saw a couple of hubsets or wheelsets with front dynamos for quite low prices on this or the boblist and these do come up from time to time.

You can also use a bottle dynamo that runs off the tire sidewall or off the brake track on a rim. Peter White has a low-priced bottle that is said to be decent as to drag, and I am tempted to try one myself for a possible forthcoming beater, except that I already have a Sanyo BB dynamo; you can find these on eBay. These power modern LED headlights just fine.

Someone makes a tiny, very efficient modern bottle — everyone has heard of it, but I can’t place the name. It puts out less wattage than standard bottle or bb or hub dynamos but enough to power a modern LED headlight, at least sans tail light. What’s the name, for heaven’s sake?

Aside, in the past I even used a couple of cheap old fashioned Union or Sanyo bottles; they weren’t nearly as bad as the caricatures;* rather like climbing a very slight grade or riding against a 10 mph wind — say a tooth bigger in back. You do have to align the roller properly with the tire or wheel, though.

* duck://player/9MAkl8tEsnA

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/5f5afe84-ed08-4bd8-9308-47a1ef9292cen%40googlegroups.com.

--

Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing services

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning,

But wouldst gabble like a thing most brutish,

I endowed thy purposes with words that made them known.

[Will Boericke]

Nuovo bottle dynamo is velogical or something like that.

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/vq7sd5v-dw4/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgu302jezAQ5xtTYLFxGRKuNC5Sna5F-EBB2scFWwTkazA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Patrick Moore]

That’s it; thanks.

https://www.velogical-engineering.com/dynamo/product-information/?lang=en

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAFwrbzqzPLcObXrdRdrh86EzVZ2RdTazrLSsXSUQaG4%3DyMH0CQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Peter Adler]

Reelights are awesome; I had them on my pack mule for years, until I accidentally smashed the headlight putting the front wheel into a bike rack (kind of an obvious risk for a QR/dropout-mounted light). Given that the induction system powers the light by moving spoke-mounted magnets past the induction coil in the light (the faster the wheels rotate, the brighter the lights), I took the two no-longer-used used lights off the front wheel and moved them to the rear wheel, doubling the number of magnets. Presto! Taillight's twice as bright. 

Reelight sells all the elements of their systems (mounting brackets, magnets etc) as separate items, in addition to the complete light kits. The problem for US buyers is that the Danish company doesn't appear to have a US distributor; although they have frequent sales/specials (20-30% discounts are common, and occasional 50% ones), the shipping to the US is brutal.

The lights (especially the headlights) are be-seen lights for well-lit urban areas, but every little bit helps. At some point, I'll swallow hard and pay the ruinous shipping for a new non-flash kit with disc mounting brackets to get away from my panniers and double/triple up on the magnets. Might even try mounting the old rear light with all the magnets I have and spinning it around, just to see how much juice the lights can handle.

On the larger issue: Generator/dynamo lights rule, full stop. No matter what the generator system. If you ride a lot at night, as I do, few things are more awful than having a battery light die on you just when you need it most. It's like there's a dybbuk somewhere waiting for cyclists to be in a dicey night situation, and draining their batteries out of malice, through dark sorcery.

Peter "let there be non-battery light" Adler

Berkeley, CA

[Piaw Na]

I'm the exception. I switched to battery lights from dynamo hubs/lights. I get flats more frequently at night than during the day, and ended up having to carry a battery light anyway to fix the flat. In which case I might as well just use the battery light all the time. Unlike other people I do not ever forget to charge my battery lights.

My preferred tail-light is the Garmin Varia Radar, which easily justifies its premium over regular lights by providing info about cars coming up behind me. This is especially useful when touring, letting me know it's safe to ride out into the lane to take pictures of my cycling companions.

My recommended headlight right now is the Energizer X400. (https://amzn.to/40eBalS). It is bright, unforgiving of people who forget to charge things (somehow people never seem to forget to charge their smartphones though!), water resistant, and the mount never fails. I buy them for my mother in law, my wife, my kids, etc. On sale you can get them for $16, but the regular price of $20 also doesn't sting.

[Armand Kizirian]

I find these very hard to beat, and use them in the daytime too. If a rear light can be too bright, this one is it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07545T4Y9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

[Tom M]

I have a Shutter Precision dynamos on a couple of bikes and a SON on my gravel bike; all are paired with Exposure Revo front light and Exposure Redeye rear light, which plugs into the Revo. The Exposure headlight has a stand light good for an hour or so after stopping. I got all these after I retired, but I like having daytime lights. When I ride at night, they're good. One other advantage, they aren't affected by cooler temperatures the way some battery lights are. When I commuted to work, I used Exposure Strada lights. Solid handlebar mounts.

Tom in Alexandria, VA

[Eric Norris]

I’ve written about this in the past, but let’s go again …. YES, taillights can be too bright. 

If you plan to be riding at night with others, and you expect another rider to be behind you, please don’t use a taillight that is to bright you can see if from a distance in the daytime. You’ll just end up blinding any rider behind you and making their ride less safe.

If you feel you *must* have a daylight-visible taillight, there are a few that offer day/night modes so you can crank down the brightness after dark. Here’s one that I’ve used and can recommend (if you’re OK with a USB-rechargeable light):

Thanks for reading my rant. Yes, YOU can help curb the taillight arms race!

--Eric Norris
campyo...@me.com
Insta: @CampyOnlyGuy
YouTube: YouTube.com/CampyOnlyGuy 

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c2ed43d9-bccd-4776-9ca5-b4819ba95ad4n%40googlegroups.com.

[Cormac O'Keeffe]

+1 on Reelights - not too dear and easy to maintain

+1 on hub dynamo  - expensive, a bit complicated but super convenient
Knog are terrible. They look good but have little to no charge life and are always falling off

[Ryan Mulcahy]

I have lots of battery lights in the garage but I just got a dynamo and love it. I'm right outside Boston and half a year's riding is in the dark and cold - plus I actually like riding the boring suburbs at night, fewer cars, less noise, etc., and this makes it so much easier (and safer). I was worried about the drag but I don't feel it in the least. 

[Garth]

I can't comment on suitable night time headlights as I only use a AA powered Planet Bike light for daylight visability use. For a rear I use the same branded Superflash 65, it runs on 2 AAA batteries. I use a mix of alkaline and rechargeables(Sanyo Eneloop). The rear is terrific on blinky. PB service is very good also as one of my headlight mounts rattled from not fitting the light tight, so they sent me two replacements for N/C. 

[Peter White]

Patrick,

I used to sell the Dymotec bottle dynamos from Busch & Müller, but they were discontinued several years ago and they are now all gone.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgu302jezAQ5xtTYLFxGRKuNC5Sna5F-EBB2scFWwTkazA%40mail.gmail.com.

--

Peter White

[ascpgh]

Echoing many already posted, dyno hubs and hardwired LED shaped beam head lights and sane tail lights are the ticket. I've been commuting on mine for almost two decades. Before that I twiddled through a progression of strap-on, clamp on, battery burners and rechargeable Li-ion units, some passable as marker lights to other traffic, some OK at spotting the seasonal urban decay to avoid. 

The last form of that battery light dependency involved a homemade Gino-like fork mount just up from the tips for a second pot hole-spotting light while another on the bars provided the marker light function to oncoming traffic.

the PSA content: Surgery bright lights, if not shaped with a horizontal cut off and aimed right are diabolical and will lead to the opposite of your intention with them (worse if they flash after sunset). Overwhelming the eyes of traffic or other riders is not how to gain safety for yourself. The risk of one of them, blinded by your lights, bumping into you or hitting something else in the blindness caused by your lights then caroming into you is increased unless they can distance themselves from your lights. 

If you really want to be noticed, get a high-vis vest and lots of reflective tape to go with your prudent head and tail light. You cannot add IQ to the oncoming drivers but you can present too complex a puzzle for them to solve correctly. Make it simple for them and don't knowingly prod them to become emotional and opinionated while still in your proximity. How much do you adore unprovoked drivers who pull alongside you and yell?

Half or more of the negative interchanges with drivers are because of previous doofus riders and behaviors endured by those folks before coming upon me.. 

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

[Peter White]

The Velogical dynamos are not recommended for use with lights from Wilfried Schmidt Maschinenbau, Busch & Müller and Supernova. The Velogical can produce more power than current production headlights can handle. So if you power these lights with a Velogical and the headlight is damaged, the warrantee is void.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAFwrbzqzPLcObXrdRdrh86EzVZ2RdTazrLSsXSUQaG4%3DyMH0CQ%40mail.gmail.com.

--

Peter White

[Peter White]

Piaw,

A headlight that's bright enough to illuminate the road ahead would be far too bright for fixing a flat. Why not carry a Petzl for fixing flats or other mechanicals? Then you also have both hands free.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c77f9d2a-fd9d-48e4-be2c-7331325dd1fcn%40googlegroups.com.

--

Peter White

[mark hammer]

Agree with the Boston note above. I'm in Berlin, where it's dark half the year. Just about everyone rides with a dynamo here. Hard to buy a bike without one -- and I will always have one while I live here. So easy, no hassles...

[Max S]

Peter, which light units do you recommend for Velogical dynamos? 

- Max "asking for a friend who happens to have a couple of Velogical units waiting to go on bikes" in A2

[Piaw Na(藍俊彪)]

On Wed, Oct 23, 2024 at 6:30 AM Peter White <peter...@gmail.com> wrote:

Piaw,

A headlight that's bright enough to illuminate the road ahead would be far too bright for fixing a flat. Why not carry a Petzl for fixing flats or other mechanicals? Then you also have both hands free.

I dislike my Petzl headlamp. The battery dies at the slightest provocation, and it's just one more thing to carry. My X400 or Varia UT800 never has a problem, and I don't find it too bright when fixing a flat.

Piaw 

[John Dsvidson]

I use a Nino tail light, and a tactical flashlight on the front, both are VERY BRIGHT and easily switched between bikes. 

Yes I know I have to recharge them about once a week. No problem for the convince of swapping them

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/1ded31d0-e38c-421f-af28-607905d61464n%40googlegroups.com.

[Will Boericke]

Googled Nino and didn't find anything - does it still exist?  Always interested in better lights (and not getting run over).

Will