[Closed] What do you actually ride with more than 500 lumens?

you just need to know your local trails very very well

I know my local roads very well, there's less to crash into and I'd still not even contemplate going for a ride without lights (and it's nowt to do with fear of being run over!).

I do agree that it's become an 'arms race', and everyone used to manage just fine on Vista Lites as above (I know I did), but to say that people don't need lights at all if you know your trails is just daft IMO. Again, if you can get away with it then your eyesight is obviously superior.

last night is was GT black, other times it's innerleithen.
Big, fast descents need as much light as you can get, and a lot of that on your head for corners, but in particular filling in the darkness of drops.

Combination of lights last night was ~6500 lumens between 2 of us, that was about enough. Seriously, it's the first time I haven't backed off the speed due to lack of light.

Al. your inferioriy issues are not any of my concern. 😉
you'd have found me just as honest and straight to the point if you'd plucked up the courage to speak to me about anything on either ride we've done together. We've (WM) been out night riding locally Monday and Tues this week and I'm heading out again tonight (as I won't get a chance to ride anything much over the w/e) to Carberry (prob on my todd as it happens) you're welcome to join me if you fancy it?

cheers Tony, you still got the 10W bar light rule for your shore?
Ps. I've completely forgotten what dates you said you're up? 😳

~6500 lumens between 2 of us, that was about enough

****ing hell! I use 20W + 12W halogens and a 100-lumen (or whatever it is) commuting LED for riding GT, Pentlands etc. Can't see much, but it's [b]enough[/b] to ride at my normal speed. I once got caught out at Innerleithen when I was out later than expected, and rode down the bottom bit of Make or Break with a Tesco torch ziptied to my helmet. It was great! And before you say it, I'm a shite rider...

So I concur with GW 🙂

yeah, i prefer low light levels for the shore as it casts wierd shadows otherwise.
6th-9th nov i think 🙂

ok , I admit it, 6500 lumens was insane.
Sometimes I like all the light I can get as a daytime replacement ride, othertimes I ride everything I can with no lights.
I think my best night ride last winter was unintentionally coming off Pykestone hill into Peebles in the dark. We got to the top at sundown a bit later than expected and decided not to put lights on.

Seriously, it's the first time I haven't backed off the speed due to lack of light.

I know my local roads very well, there's less to crash into and I'd still not even contemplate going for a ride without lights (and it's nowt to do with fear of being run over!).

but to say that people don't need lights at all if you know your trails is just daft IMO

6th-9th nov i think

I'll no doubt ask you again, my memory for trails is great dates not so much 😳

[i]can see how folk can justify maybe 500-700 lumens on their head but come on?[/i]

Who do I have to justify my overuse of lumens to and why?

Ooh....riding lords love-in? 😛

GW I'd hate to think you'd waste your time on my inferiority issues, which are clearly many, unlike yours, which don't exist.

My point was you could help yourself by re-phrasing your questions. My rates are reasonable.

Anyway why not BATTLE on the IL enduro? I'm racing the climbs only 😛

why don't I just give you my log-in details? 🙄
I'll be heading over for 6-6.30ish, if you're coming please don't bring a ****ing cross bike.

❓

I don't get out as much as I like and have a really bad memory, so riding in the dark is out of the question for me. I've just upgraded my Ay-Ups to compete in the lighting wars but if I'm out on my own I'll probably just use the helmet on its own. Last night at GT I rode with somebody elses helmet mounted light and missed the bar mounted light, that may just have been down to different beam patterns. To answer your question, last night I rode a trail I hadn't ridden for probably 3 years so I needed all the help I could get, which was probably 'only' 800-900 lumens. I'll make sure I take plenty light to Carberry even if it's only so you don't run me over.

I am riding with a 700ish hmebrew light on my head and a 500 ish on the bars.

Just my usual pentlands rides so anything from open moorland to twisty woodland

Bar light is best in rain / fog (less dazzle) helmet light in twisties.

Homebrew lights made for fun hence two. Sometimes I only use teh helmet light but I did find it not enough once at glentress - hard to get depth vision

Elephant, what do you have that's 5000?! I though 2800 was a lot! Or is that the total output of two or more lights?

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What?

Most of the time when I'm night riding, it's because I want to go for a ride and it's night, not because I want to go for a night ride. So I have stupendous amounts of light attached to make it less like a night ride. Whereas if I want to go for a night ride I turn the lights down.

I like lumen threads nearly as much as "what tyres for tuesday" threads.

Beam pattern is more important than lumen number I reckon, its all very well having 2000 lumens but if they are pointing 50m down the trail and its dark around your front wheel its only going to be benefiting your stw ego. I have 700 on the bars and a 300 torch on my head and that has been fine for me so far.

GW
you'd have found me just as honest and straight to the point

Indeed. Slightly less "forthright" in real life tho

bigjim - Member

..... if they are pointing 50m down the trail and its dark around your front wheel .....

Errmmmm - I like to see at least 50 m down the trail and rarely look at the ground under my front wheel

IIRC they are around 500lumens (someone clever will no doubt confirm/correct)

yep that's about right 450-500 lumens

It's funny when hids first came out people questioned why so much light, but for me they were all about run time. They were an equivalent of 30-40W halogen setup (very common in those days, lumicycle being particularly prominent) but only drew 10W from the battery. Li-ion took batteries the next step over NiMH in terms of capacity to size ratio and combined with hids were a killer package.

I do agree that 500 lumens is enough light for me although I've just bought the (claimed) 1000lumen magicshine 🙄 but having said that if it was a choice between a 500 lumen light and a 1000 lumen light at the same price I'd probably go for the 1000 lumen 😳 to be honest I didn't look for a 500 lumen light at £15 do they exist?

I can't be arsed to read all that but 500 lumens is fine until you've got someone behind you with a 1000 lumen light.

What do you actually ride with more than 500 lumens?

Road.

'I'm with GW on this one' shocker. 😆

As per jam bo's comment above: I suppose in total i have 500 or so lumens between bars and helmet and that seems fine, particularly if 350 of them is from my lovely heavy old-skool (5 years old! the horror!) L&M solo halogen on my helmet, I like the yellowness of it if no one else's lights are brighter than or interfering with it.

I borrow mrs j's fancy lights and ride with more than 500l if I am required to enter the 'arms race' of people behind me with much brighter lights, only really because you need something to fill your own shadow cast by the latest exposure coke-can-on-bars behind you. (they are almost always Exposure round our way for some reason -is that the same everywhere?) So for me that will be enduro races and the local club night ride because there are usually a dozen or so folk out on that, and sometimes I manage not to end up at the back!

Beaten to it by simondbarnes.

Road riding where the light gets spread over a wide area and the speeds are much higher, I'd quite like to have lots of power thanks.

The trails I ride are littered with obstacles. There's roots, puddles, old guys on wee bikes with no lights on, jumps, balding homosexuals in streams, mud, trees, wannabe germans hiding in old bunkers, rocks, bears, you name it. Thats why I've bought a second magicshite!

How many lumens is the deal extreme, and tesco AA light?

Somewhere between 4 and 8 thousand I think.

absolutely PMSL Mike!!! 😆

Get you 2 Chuckle Brothers!

Errmmmm - I like to see at least 50 m down the trail and rarely look at the ground under my front wheel

That might be why I was much quicker than you on Black Hill last wednesday night 😛

You like to see at least 50m down the trail?? Round our way you can't see anything like that far down the trail, what with all the corners, undulations, old blokes riding without lights, big floaty heided blokes wearing gardening gloves on day glo lumps of steel and the like. I guess you might want see that far if you are going down exponential hill at warp factor 5 whilst trying to keep your hair out your eyes.

Oh - saucer of cream for bigjim

😆

Hope that hasn't ruined my chances of getting out for a ride with the WM? I'll bring home brew 😉

No danger! I'm looking into re stocking my homebrew soon too. Got a 160 pint capacity at the moment but might have the chance to buy another 40 pint barrel soon.

Riding wi the Massif you need a big light cause of the shadow from the sex pests big heed 😆

Wish they would switch the lighthouses on again, used to get 5 big arcs of light which would light up Yellowcraigs beach at night, you had to wait about 10 secs between the 5 floods though... 🙂

Yoda, plenty storage room in my man cave for that big keg if your struggling for space 😉

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Is better.

Night riding for me is about being able to ride during autumn, winter and Spring. More light = faster and more fun. End of.

Sand in your vagina again GW?

Have 1000 on the bars an 300 on the head. If you are riding Whites Level in the dark and driving rain and you want to get down in one piece then you need more than 500. You can get down with this amount of light, sure, but it is faster and more fun with more lumens....... 🙂

GW's bike yesterday:

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Just before riding all the better trails in the locale, better than you.

Good thread this.

On my tod offroad 500 lumens on a helmet light is loads and my eyesight is not great. I don't want to see as much as I do in the day - night riding IMO is a different vibe.

But... If you ride in a group then your shadow becomes an issue so you need more power even if you don't want it else you are just looking at your own dark outline.

On the road in Winter - we all have big lights on full chat - if for no other reason than it completely freaks out cars who think it's a combine or tank squadron 🙂

Funnily enough the first time I met GW was at the top of spooky wood. He was on what looked like a small girls bike, it was just getting dark and he had no lights. We offered him to follow us down and as I remember he ended up overtaking us and riding off into the semi-darkenss. You'll probably not remember it GW but it stuck in my mind. I think I was with Sanny.

[i]He was on what looked like a small girls bike, it was just getting dark and he had no lights.[/i]

The sort of 'random odd bloke in the woods' meetings that solo nightride fears are made of - hence the eye searing lights I use. By the time they've got some night vision back I'm gone. 😉

doug_basqueMTB.com - Member

Funnily enough the first time I met GW was at the top of spooky wood. He was on what looked like a small girls bike, it was just getting dark and he had no lights. We offered him to follow us down and as I remember he ended up overtaking us and riding off into the semi-darkenss. You'll probably not remember it GW but it stuck in my mind. I think I was with Sanny.

Ha ha, I was sure it looked like a girls bike. I remember wondering whether to let you go or to edge in front, and then you were pretty much gone.

Ha Ha GW rides a girlz biek.

Would like to come night riding fella. Email me?