I'm tempted to say no, you need lot and lots of light. But I think my (lots of people on here) view is tanted because we have all become Lum junkies. I current run a troutelight LL (which is fantasticly bright), so I'm deffiantly in that bracket. But looking back to when I first got a joystick and I was running a 10W halagon on my bars, I couldn't believe at the time how good it was and pretty well just used the joystick with the other as backup (until the lum addiction really kicked it). I've rode trail centers with just the joystick and have seen people ride them with less light. So I would say yes you can (just a bit slower), that said I would always have a back up, even if its just a tesco LED. IMO