Flexibility is the key to make any of these light suggestions a good commercial prospect.
The Fenix lights are good because they run on AA batteries but could do with being brighter and the TwoFish bar mounts aren’t as sturdy as a dedicated bike mount.
What would be perfection for me then?
Something that takes a number of AA batteries so the batteries can be used in other things and a dedicated charger isn’t required
Low, medium & high settings with low being bight enough to use on lit roads, medium being bright enough for low speed off road (fire road climbs) and high being bright enough for higher speed off road.
Needs to give a good spread of light close to the bike with a narrower beam penetrating further down the trail in high mode.
All this in a compact container with batteries side by side rather than in a line.
A good solid bar mount that actually clamps to the bar and could take a variety of torch style lights could be sold separately to people who are unhappy with TwoFish.
Ideally I’d want something like the HOPE Vision One but brighter and about half the price
i'm thinking way outside the box here and prob not doable but here's how my brain is thinking. Instead of a light system that you clip onto your bars or your helmet can something be designed where it is actually your handlebars. So.......... incorporated into your handlebars ( and a bit like how they have pieces of carbon showing into your cranks etc ) you have different lumens LED's(changeable as lights gets better) sat behind a reflector glass which runs flush with the rest of your handlebars( so the lights are within in your handlebars). Since you can run 3 or 4 either side of your stem you can have them at different angles/ beam lengths. The rechargeable batteries simply fit and connect into the end of each side of your handlebars and are held in by fashionable bar end plugs ( or similiar). A button either incorporated into the bar rider side or even a system similiar to how gripshift works so you dont have to leave your grips to change setting during road/offroad can toggle between flash/solid and low/medium/high beam ( left and right grip for gripshift system). The only downside would be weight of your bar but you would have that anyway with a light system on it. Plus sides are you can lights on your bike 365 days a year in case of being caught out, security would be high because no one would really expect a handlebar to be lights incorporated and everything would be like riding a normal bike so chances of breaking things in a crash are alot lower.
Is this possible??
[i]The rechargeable batteries simply fit and connect into the end of each side of your handlebars and are held in by fashionable bar end plugs[/i]
Nice idea, but would seem a bit of a faff to get the batteries out to charge them. Also how would you get them into for example a set of drop bars?
Dont think it would be much of a faff. The battery connector inside the bar would be spring loaded so the battery would sit a few mm outside the bars when not screwed in by the bar end plugs so would be easy to take out and put bcak in to charge. For drop bars, this could prove harder. Maybe run a 2 'AA' battery either side giving 4 batteries worth of power and carry spare batteries with you. Maybe a neat design where a stem/bar combo could be in place and the stem being hollowish between the steerer tube and bar clamp and the battery could fit in and connect in the middle of the stem. The stem would still be plenty strong enough anyway but the battery pack in the middle would give extra strength
smudge - MemberI'd like a 1,000 lumen+ helmet light with high/low light power.
A built in battery for an approx 2-3 hr bike ride on max.
The back of the light would have a connector that would allow charging through and more importingly an additional battery could be plugged into it that would just have a long lead from you're camelback.Oh, also maybe a couple of small or one red led on the back of the light.
Very much like the one trout was going to build before the bastid light came out?? 😀
800-1000 floody lumens on the bars, 5-600 spotty lumens on the lid, but nice and light if the battery pack is mounted on to the helmet!
Be nice to have 1 charger for all, and atleast 3 hour runtime for both lights, with high/medium/low settings!
