So this spring I wont be missing out on the 24hr comp up in Ontario and need to get some new stuff to get all mucky training.
I’ve been looking arround for a headlamp for night riding, (yea I’ve gone through archives) something decent but I really dont want to have to shell out hard for one. I’m looking at arround $100 (us) for headlamps but only seem to find lights for handelbar mounts in that price range. Does anyone know some good lights that might fit my needs.
Also is it a feasable option to mount a lamp inteaded for handelbar mount on a helmet?
there are a lot of headlamps for sale under $50 that would work very well. one of them i used for 24 hr mountainbiking back before uni’s took over my life. the the head lamps i’m refering to are intended for hiking/climbing/camping/etc and usually run on disposable batteries. this was handy for me having to do multiple night laps and not worrying about batteries draining because i had extra aa’s in my pack. i’ll post links of examples on next post.
by the way, they were plenty bright enough at mbiking speeds, so they will be fine for muni.
(rei.com description)
the above headlamp is what i have used. i think it’s great. you put it on your head and your helmet goes over the straps. i bought mine a couple of years ago. there may be better options now.
another rei.com link showing all the headlamps. go there and click on the useful “compare items” link.
I also have the same lights as recomeded by sofa which I rode in the same race last year. They are without a doubt awsome. In 2 continuous hours of riding they did not fade one bit. And with three settings, they should be able to accomadate any condition. I only rode with the medium setting and it was fine.
For something a bit cheaper (but not as nice) you could look at this Vistalite Deal at Supergo They’re NiCad, not NiMh and they’re only 5 Watts so they wouldn’t be bright enough for biking, but if you’re tight for cash they might do for uni. They’re $40US.
I use NiteRider Blowtorch 15W HID’s…they are as bright as a 40W halogen bulb.
They aren’t cheap but nobody on the trail will be making more white light
Plus I get about 3.5 hours on one charge!
well, i’ve never done any night rides, but i do do alot of hiking. I have a petzl tikka headlamp that is a very bright LED with a 1500 hour battery life. It costs around $40. Hope it’ll fit your needs.
How well does the HID work for muni riding? Is it too bright? I’ve been wondering if a HID light would be so bright that it washes out the trail. How wide of a beam does the HID light have?
For muni you generally have the light aimed a few feet in front of the wheel. With the light aimed so close in front of you I’ve been concerned that the HID would be too bright and wouldn’t have a wide enough beam. For biking the light is aimed much further out in front.
One of the things that has annoyed me with my halogen light is that the filament in the light bulb creates a wavy shadow in the middle of the light pattern. When the light is aimed right in front (as when used on a muni) that filament shadow can look like a trail feature and make it harder to see a bump or rut in the trail. HID lights don’t have a filament so they don’t cast a wavy filament shadow.
I have not tried a HID light on my muni so I don’t know how it would work. I’d like to know how well it would work for muni and on-road Coker riding before plunking down $400 for a light.
Another big advantage for the HID is the increased burn time. The HID lights have double the burn time of my halogen light. I’ve gone for some night rides where I completely drained my halogen light. I need more burn time.
I have the same setup except it’s the helmet type, called Storm, and it’s great if you can afford it:
>Extrtemely bright light.
>No lines or shadows in the light.
>Long burn time - 3- 4 hours
These advantages are very important to someone who works from 3:30 pm to midnight and rides to work on a Coker or a recumbent like I do.
The bad side:
<Expensive, although I got mine on eBay for $250.
<Replacment bulbs are not cheap, either.
<The helmet mount is way to far forward, this makes it seem heavy because it pulls the front of the helmet down. I adapted mine so that it sits on the top of the helmet where it’s no problem. I usually don’t even notice it.
I’ve heard that some mountain bkers say that they don’t have good depth vision with it - that it washes out the trail. I think that this is, at least partly, a personal perception thing, as I don’t have this problem. It may be different with the Blowtorch style, mounted on the bars and bkers are usually going faster.
It may be too bright for some people, but I think that it’s wide enough.
I was out tonight with a Vistalite 5 watt lamp mounted on my helmet,
it worked really well. It isn’t too bright for cycling on the road,
and gave me enough light to see when I was away from the streetlights.
I put the battery in a small rucksack, which also gave my somewhere to
fix a red LED lamp for the back light.
