After reading the expensive light thread it reminded me of the early days….
I had a pair of ever ready lights,big bulky and usually fell off if you hit a bump…truly bad,prob about 1 lumen give or take…course I wasn’t getting gnarr in a trail centre either..

Then rechargeable lights came out,they were ace! Had a smart set first then cateye with the big tube battery’s and the light bracket that went loose at a critical juncture…I remember them only lasting. A season…

I remember having a set of 47W nightsun lights. Whatever happened to those guys.

Some sort of Cateye Octicube commuter light, we got caught out a bit, then a puncture and I ended up leading down the track by Nabs wood to Ladybower (or is that bit Derwent reservoir?)… Being followed by two mates with halogen Lumicycles, couldn’t see a flipping thing! Not a very long time before my AyUps arrived… Probably only 5 years ago?

For me this is over 20 years ago… 🙄

My first nigh ride was in 2009 ish, was at whiteways nr arundel. We started in the summer and I was advised to get a set of ayup lights.which I did and still use as they were fab and riding at night with Robbin was just fantastic.

Off road? I do enjoy a night ride but must admit I have no recollection of the first time. Plenty of memorable ones though. Looking forward to some still and quiet snowy woodland rides soon…

Had a set of Cat Eyes with a big lead acid battery and not very many watts. Hit a stump within the first 300 yards, went OTB and split my helmet. Went OTB twice more then my rear mech exploded so I had to SS my bike in the dark and limp home. It was fab! Bought Lumicycle halogens the next day and haven’t looked back. I love night riding.

50 Acre Wood, a lot of mud and 130 lumens of Cateye Triple Shot. Great fun. Apart from the mud.

age 13 following my mate through eathie woods with his 10w smart bought from grant who used to own the OP`s bikeshop

Marin Trail at CyB on a set of Lumicycle Halogens….

Also had a big set of ever readys. More like never readys. Useless! Fun was had regardless though.

Mate who rode was an electrical engineer at Black & Decker, & was a proper clever lad. He made us all lights that were basically made up of 2 dichroic 10w lamps, some waste pipe to house them, a simple on off switch, some wire & a couple of rechargable 12v drill batteries to power them.
Apart from lights he made himself one of those machines that divers use to whizz around underwater. he was one of the few people I’ve ever met who was really clever & practical & would’ve been good competition for Trout!

yes ..I remember the first nightrides, and still have my lights of the old days..
which makes me smile while reading the “expensive lights” thread..

can’t remember the exact ride, would have been 1993/4 riding round Bestwood Park in Nottingham. a pair of Vista lights, the 2.5watt? focusable ones, changed the bulbs to a huge 6watts and added rechargeable batteries.

went through various vistallights and then Lumicycles now running Ayups.

1st one was in about 2000 – smart lights with a **** lead/acid battery hanging off the bike

surprising how scary a bird taking off from a tree above you can be, isn’t it 😳

c1992 was my first night ride. I remember the odd reaction by work colleagues. Ever Ready lights. Usually a torch of some sort also. Simply ace. These kids these days, with their 5000lumens dont know their born, I tell you. 😀

Another here that used to use the Ever Ready square light.

About as much use as a one leged man in an arse kicking contest.

Then we discovered Petzel head torches and the fact you could put a halogen bulb in them and run them off the big square batterys that could be had for free out of roadwork lights. 😆

I can also remember being blown away by how bright my first set of BLT’s were. 🙄

As per SSStu, they were shit.
Still it got me out.
Fond memories of riding mugdock in the snow at night, with some vague orange glow being emitted. Interesting, esp if you did the same route in daylight. Bits you couldnt see turned out to be rather steep drops!

Square lights. Never off road. Significantly frightening in any conditions at any speed on the road! Had a set of Lumi Halogens with the zip tie mount. You were never quite sure what would occur first

a) Light would rotate round the bar and illuminate your feet generally when you were rattling downhill
b) the lights would suddenly fade to a yellow candle giving you a 10 minute warning of imminent darkness
c) the battery lead would fall out of the housing giving you a zero second warning of the above.

First ride we did in the Chilterns was one of those ‘lucky to be alive at the end’ ones. Being plunged into darkness even at moderate speeds was a defining experience 😉

I can remember riding Danbury common with a group of 10 or so in the 90’s half of us had home made 12v halogen house bulbs with alarm back up batteries to power them. The other half did not, on of the did not’s failed to see and duck under the bar across the path, his bike ended up going for 30yards whilst the rider sat on the floor with a broken nose.
Ah sweet memories.

Stoddy

I had 2 of those Tesco cree torches on the bars, and a Cateye road light. Magic. Good enough to ride, carefully and slowly, but not that good for navigating with! And a battery change every 50 minutes.

Had the old ever readies- might still have them actually- but they were for being seen, not for seeing. Rear light still better than many LED ones for the road, though!

2008 with a MK2 exposure enduro , bit of a late starter I have to say.

None the less night rides are ace

Would have been mid ninety’s with a set of Smart lights, coming down Black Rocks was interesting to say the least especially as the bike was full rigid

The ones I can remember would be about 1981 riding with mates down the local alleys and woods using these Everyready lights.

I remember mind very well. A completely unscheduled loop of Cannock Chase in the pitch black without a single light between us 😯

I lost my brand new 1 day old iphone out of my pocket, only realised at the carpark, cue 2 hours of repeating whole Cannock loop calling phone every 30 seconds as darkness was upon us. Was fine until a ‘friend’ started recounting all the horror movies and ghost films he’d ever watch about people lost in woodland!! Never did find the blooming thing!

Needless to say I got the beers in that night…

I miss those DiY lights threads. Cheap Chinese lights are great but it was fun building your own. Just not worth it now

Prob around 1984/5 using those never ready things (like SS Stu) straped to the front of my Raleigh Burner whilst hitting the local woods and BMX track, remenber having to tape them on as they bounced out of the holder.

On the Mtb they were 2x Tesco torches either mounted on the bars or helmet whilst exploring Marple etc in the dark

Ever Ready Nightriders on a Raleigh Mustang in 1990. They kept you on your toes by ejecting from the bracket every time you hit a bump.

SSStu, I still have a Turbocharged Petzl Zoom headtorch I bought from Collins in about ’93. It’s still a regular in my camping kit.

This thread is full of fail, was expecting teenage angst and stories of pervy fumblings

Yup, but it was only 2 years ago.

Don’t remember “my first night ride” but I do remember rides with 2W lights! I’ve done almost all of the Mountain Mayhem events and at the first one we had bags and bags of lights that I’d borrowed from mates and from the LBS. Huge lead acid batteries, burn times of about an hour and a woeful glow of 10W. Changing lights every lap. 🙄

A couple of years later I bought a NiteRider Digital Pro which put out 32W (this still in the days when most people had 10-12W) and the difference was phenomenal.

I remember the bike shop I used to work at having huge piles of bulbs in stock for all manner of lights – something we thankfully never have to deal with now!

I remember getting caught out riding home from Glenridding to Pooley bridge down the lakeshore route – full moon, and I thought that a ride on the shore-track and wee back lane was safer than the ‘main’ road on the north shore.
Most excellent and pleasing night, back in 1991

My first night RACE was about 1990 in puddletown forest.

Illumination was provided by the Ever Ready lights as above! I could just about make out my front tyre.

Just to make matters worse, the organisers had set up a genny and arclights along the start straight, so having had your retinas singed, you plunged off the gravel track into singletrack that was totally devoid of even the feeblest photon. I’m sure at one point I was feeling my way round the gorse bushes on my hands and knees.

Ahead of its time, some would say. Or just bluddy stupid!

bigh – Member
This thread is full of fail, was expecting teenage angst and stories of pervy fumblings

Fixed that for ya!

Only a couple of years ago for me, about an hour into the darkness in the middle of some pretty large and technical woods both my lights failed. Fun times. Managed to stop before going flying, eventually one of the others in the group came and found me, then rode behind so I could sort-of see where I was.

Got back in one piece, replaced the lights and was back out a week later. Now I prefer riding at night in some ways.

A few years back, out on the South Downs, with a borrowed Maxx-D on the bars, on a very windy night at about 9pm, on my own, convinced that the herd of cattle I’d just passed were chasing me. Not done a solo night ride since, or one without a light on my head… Love night riding though, reminds me of watching rallying as a kid in the ’80s but I’m the one doing the driving!