Hi All,

I have recently acquired my first road bike and as the shifts I do at work mean I do 90% of my riding in the dark I am looking for a self contained light that will light the road for 2-3 hours.
I am currently using my MTB lights with battery pack and have a budget of up to £170.
What do you use and what would you recommend?

Many thanks

Jay

No good?

Secondhand Exposure? I picked up an Enduro Maxx II recently for £80.

But for £170 you can take the dynohub route. Infinite burn time, and access to the German lights, which have proper road beams instead of scattergun beams that waste half their light dazzling drivers.

There are a couple of battery-powered German lights if you don’t fancy a dyno, though I’m not sure if any of them will go to 3 hours. But a dyno is one of life’s most wonderful things…

I can recommend these… http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cree-Q5-LED-bike-cycle-zoomable-twin-front-torch-head-light-set-FREE-back-light-/270884141119?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item3f11f3f83f

These are the same that Aldi were knocking out a while ago but the Aldi one used 3 AAA’s instead of the 18650’s the ebay ones use. I brought an extension so I could fit an 18650. Buy a good charger, the ultrafire one is highly recommended around these parts and splash out on the best batteries you can afford. I get around 2.5hrs on a single battery and carry a spare just in case.

Niterider Lumina 650: I use mine for road riding at night and it is excellent. Three power settings – 200, 400, 650. I’ve had around 2 hours on the 650 setting and much longer on the 400 setting.

The bonus is it is USB chargeable too.

I’m using a moon meteor along with a comet on the back, very much under budget, 200 lumens but a very good beam shape and spread. Battery life is good and its USB rechargeable which is a very nice feature to have when you see the battery meter turn red on the way into work!

Exposure

Moon xpower 500 – light, bright, usb chargeable and a replaceable battery. Under budget by a mile

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/lighting/bike-lights/rechargeable-lights/moon-xp-500-front-led-light.html 🙂

I use these for that exact job

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/lighting/bike-lights/rechargeable-lights/electron-terra-3-li-ion-front-led-light.html

Lezyene Macro drive bought in a set £80 ish, I use them for my riding 2-3 hours unlit roads. Front was bought as back up light for a Hope Vision 2 which it makes redundant.

Dealextreme P7 on low will do you a few hours and I’ve found it adequate for road riding.

dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo dynamo 😆

Exposure Strada from the USE outlet store

Well under budget, but I bought one of these a couple of months ago http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NiteRider-Lumina-500-Cordless-LED-Rechargeable-Front-Bike-Light-/360489281796?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item53eed5e904

Seems decent, so much better than an MTB style light.

Another vote for dynohub, but if you want “just lights”, I’d recommend the Philips SafeRide 80lux front light. It’s USB rechargeable, but has four AAs inside, so you can always swap batteries if you forget to recharge. As per the German lights, it’s a shaped beam and has low & high power settings. Borderline 3 hours on high, so unless your route is completely unlit, it should be fine. About €90 from the usual European bike shops; got mine from rose.de.