Just after a bit of advice.
Having completed the South Downs Way Randonee both this year and last year the challenge has faded slightly. (Only slightly mind, it's still a hell of a ride)

I've been looking at the Maxx 80 for next year, which as most of you will know is an 80 mile ride through the night.

I really fancy giving night riding a go. My problem is that having never actually done it before, I've noticed that none of the lights which look powerful enough to light the way seem to last very long.
I've been looking at the Exposure Maxx D and the Hope Vision 4 but neither of them appear to last longer than 3 to 4 hours. This seems fine for your average ride but how do you cope with 12 hours?

Have any of you done this ride and, if so, what lights are you using?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I have only done a little offroad night rides. I use Lumicycle halides and think a 12 w lamp is enough on a lot of terrain. So my advice would be to look for less power with more duration. A helmet light might be a good back up for very technical terrain. I'd guess though that an all night enduro will have mixed trails where lower powers will suffice at times.

Do you know anyone who would let you test their lamps? For a test loop go for a mix of small country lanes and some woodsy tracks unless you have a good local loop that you could try out. Again mix trail types. Don't just stick to singletrack trails.

For the strathpuffer Borrowed a night rider LED unit which lasted many hours used on a mix of settings. An expensive but superb unit

LEDs have a lower current draw per lumen than halogens and can be switched to lower outputs when the going is easy. This extends thir battery life remarkably

http://www.thebikechain.co.uk/store/product/21667/NiteRider-PRO-600-LED-System/

you do not need maxx power to ride

maxx D has 3 hr run time on MAXX – 900 lumens – except for those whos cocks seem to be in inverse proportion to the number of lumens they are packing.

you can ride comfortably on middle setting on maxx d all night – mine did 24 hours of strathpuffer without being changed or charged – joystick with a 3 cell back up on full belt all night – was still running at the finish too – thats at least 18hours of power there – might not have been as bright as at first but still plenty light !

love night riding – if you plan to do a fair bit – get good quality lights – DX etc are fine if your only planning to ride at night occasionally but id never rely on them as a sole light. – dons flame retardant boiler suits for the flaming

If you're going to ride 80 miles (and therefore taking it easy), and especially if you're doing it solo, it's surprising how little light you need to see perfectly.

Put it on a low setting and away you go.

Thanks for the advice.

I was under the impression I needed bucket loads of light to off road.
The Maxx80 is along the South Downs Way so the going is not particularly technical.

Unfortunately I don't know many mountain bikers and I don't know anyone who rides at night.
Still I might downgrade my search slightly and look at longevity rather than outright power.

I used a Light & Motion Seca 1400 for 24/12 – plenty bright enough on lowest setting and lasts 10 hours.

You could get a dynamo hub and a Supernova E3 Triple. Then no worries about battery life. http://www.supernova-lights.com/en/e3_triple.html

you can have longevity and power on tap one of my 7UPs will do 3.5 hours on hi 10 hours on medium and 50 hours on low .
that is the beauty of leds controlability

A Maxx D would be fine – just run it on a lower setting. I'm sure I read/heard somewhere that the Maxx on the lower setting is as bright as the next one down on its high setting (if that makes sense).

I've got a Lumicycle LED 3 wired to the water bottle battery from my old halogens and that'll do 9 hours on high, and 26 on low, which is still plenty to cycle with.

It's amazing as well how a small visible area can make "you" braver. I'm a real pansy but know I have ridden stuff in the dark with my Lumicycles that I'd think twice about in daylight. If you can't see it it can't scare you.

Mr Trout could be just the source of light you are looking for1

I knew that if I wanted some decent advice I could get it here.

It's good to know that the amount of light you need is not what I thought it was. I have to say though that I'm still leaning towards the MaxxD, particularly after reading trail_rat and ross980 – it seems to tick most of my boxes (light weight, no cables) and it'll last as long as I need once the novelty of having 960 lumens to light the way has worn off!

Roll on the dark evenings.

Run it at the lower setting, you can put it on maxx if your picking up speed on a descent. I actually prefer the torro to the maxx d, its a more focused spot beam and although apparently lower power for me seems more effective.

You can also get a piggyback cell.

I was going to put my maxx d on ebay as the nights close in, so we could do a deal if you want.

trail_rat and ross980 have valid points, I've been using one of mr Trouts LL model lights (which I recomend without reservation) for over a year and fine that most of the time I run it on low, the combination of an economical low + v hi performance high works best in real world conditions.

We do an all night summer ride round our way, 55 miles. Last time I used my DX light on low. Easily enough to see by, and it lasted all night on one charge, even though it's only menat to be a 5hr runtime on low. 🙂

You really don't need much light, but you DO need a backup, don't go with just one light!

I use AyUps for the StrathPuffer. No problems. That's 17-18 hours.

The batteries are light and change quickly.

I prefer them to the other commercial brands I have had (Hope and NiteRider)

Got an Exposure Enduro Maxx – does 10 hours easily on middle setting which is fine for even techy bits. Used it at several 24's with no problems.

On maxx it is a bit brighter but I think it is what your eyes get used to. If you initially ride on max setting then drop it down then you may struggle to adjust. Whereas just start off on medium and away you go!

I also have a joystick for back up, and if any problems happen on route, saves faffing about with the main light in your mouth etc.

Pff Maxxd this Lumi that… DX and a couple of batteries and off you go. Take another one as back up if you are worried. Cheap as chips

Heather's right…….. 🙂

No she's not, DX are fine if that's your budget, but exposure, hope, lupine etc are better.

This guy makes a good light that works with a dynohub or battery. I think he uses a dynohub for 24hr racing with a battery head touch.
http://www.cncdelite.com/

The Maxx is a lovely event, and hopefully will be a full moon and a clear night.

The first year I did it, I was on a Joystick with a three-cell battery "PiggyBack" pack (as part of a prize from BikeMagic) which could run for 12hrs on full, and an Enduro mk1 as a bar light. Most of the ride I just used the Joystick as a helmet light only using the bar light for the trickier sections or when it was a little misty at Firle Beacon.

You can hire a light (for £25 as I recall) instead of forking out for a full setup, and without a piggyback will run for 10hr (medium) and 24hrs (low).

I do use more light now, but was perfectly happy on that set up.

What about this?

Would this HID be anygood?

I'd much rather an LED to an HID. Similar levels of efficiency but the LED should be more reliable and long lasting.

When I had a fancy expensive light system (lumicycles), I used to have two batteries, and run on a pretty low power. I also used to ride significant distances with the lights off – if you're on top of a ridge and it's a clear moonlit night, you don't really need lights anyway.

Nowadays, I have a £40 torch from deal-extreme, which is jolly bright (easy bright enough to ride with), and I have a bunch of batteries for it. The batteries are very light and quick to change. Most of the time I run on medium, which has something like 3 hours runtime, or low on easy bits / uphills, with high saved for technical descents. It is nice just being able to buy an extra battery for £3 each, compared to the old lumicycle spare battery that cost me £80 back in the day.

Joe

There's loads of solutions to your challenge, but if you've not done night riding before, I'd recommend you hook up with a group that do this and see what it's like, what are the advantages/disadvantages of different lights etc etc. It should be possible to borrow some lights in the first instance for this either from the group or a lbs.

It makes a massive difference seeing the pro's and cons 1st hand.

I've done the MaXx a couple of times and recently broke the SDD singlespeed record, heading out at night and doing the first one way 101miles in 8hrs 35mins with a MaXx-D on mid (10hr) setting without ever fiddling with them, let alone turning them off or feeling I needed to put it onto the high power setting, that's enough speed (and, therefore, enough light) to normall see you finish in the top 3… if you've got the legs of course 😉

Of course, I am aware one can never have too much light!

I'm hoping to complete the event this year and will be running the same, a MaXx-D on 10hr setting and don't expect any disadvantage, specially at 80mile pace, through not using the brighter setting