Trouties New Light is on the way ( Update to all interested folks who emailed me

Agreed – a new product with little real world testing, selling (sold out) for ~£300 ea

I think the figure is closer to £200 than £300.

And I've had two sets of niterider lights – both gone wrong, read loads of threads about how great use/hope customer service is (as in people use it because the lights fail). I'd rather give my money to the little guy who's passionate about what he does.

My sentiments exactly Gary – that's why I've put my money down – £270 with battery & charger

Captain Crash, you are wrong. I understand where you are coming from, but you are still wrong.
Trout has invested a lot of effort and time into this, yes it's snowballed and I wish him every success if he make a little business out of it. Having met the bloke, I don't believe that money is what drives him. He is a tinkerer who enjoys makeing stuff (I can empathise with that), he makes a light that is brighter than anything from Hope or Lupine, gives good back up to his light when needed and sells them for a sensible price. Whats not to like?
If this country had more folks passionate about making stuff and people who wanted to buy locally made stuff (lets ignore the american controller and far eastern LEDS) then we would not have the **** huge trade deficit that we do.

Gary
I was only joking about the glow paint adding a week .
and yes it does say Troutelight it is a throwback to last year when Smudge made me some stickers and missed the i out and it just sort of stuck .

Scott
not just yet they have to travel to me from OZ yet but yes the kits will go out as soon as I get the stuff .
the optic choice is open if you wish but the 2+2+2 is sweet

Solo the lens cover is 1.5 mm lexan

Captain crash

yes glue and silicon now have you opened up many mainstream lights and seen the stuff inside I have .
most airplanes are now glued together and a lot of car engines use silicon for the gaskets now
so I see nothing wrong with using it liberaly to keep the english weather out of the case .

true the cable did come out of a skip about 20 mins after it went in it is brand new cable not old stuff

Borrowed ideas yes I have done my fair share but also if you go back over my diy stuff on the geeky forums you will see that I have also given more ideas than borrowed and have a fair few folks ( borrowing my ideas ) Tidy profit well I wish probably puts my on £0.50 per hour and if you go back to a previous thread you will see a truthfull costing of the previous light I will hardly be scaring Branson .

There is no marketing strategy this thing just happened and no one was more supprised than me .

it was a follow on from last year when I put the first light out as a kit and sold 48 of which a third I built up for the person which did give me some beer money .

and the fact that the stw furumers got behind this added their input and it just snowballed .

yes it is un tested leds in the bike light world but the format has been tested for a year with the first set of lights
and I have no worries using Cree`s latest led in the light that now 60 folks will be testing this winter.

I will stand by the lights that I build just like any other maker will and of the couple of my lights that have had problems in the past they are riding with a loaned Troutlight as a stand in whilst waiting for a one of the new ones .

I would happily put my light up against the big guys lights for reliability and quality ,
yep I agree it is no Lupine with a fancy box and marketing But it aint no Bastid either . it is a young embryo in the bike light world that may one day blossom who knows . every journey has a first step .

And I am sure the 60 testers will be happy this winter .

🙂 You tell em troutie.
Bring on the leds and lets get some riding done.

real world results CaptainCrash? i've had my troutelight sine March i think, hasn't missed a beat, done Mayhem on it and will be racing D2D this weekend. I would trust Trout's customer service more than a fair few companies i've brought from over time, he was helpfull beyond belief when i first brought the light from him and i am 100% sure that should there be any problems he would fix them. I know where i would spend my money if it came down to it again – i also know where a few of my riding mates will be spending theirs. which reminds me, can i get a couple of cases seperatly or are you just doing complete units? also trout, do you have any perspex covers as i could use another? (builder cack handiness).

If anyones tempted by one and is at D2D this weekend your more than welcome to have a look at my first Gen one, just look for the knackerd sod in the retrobike team.

you never told me I missed an 'I' out
Plus he makes a really nice coffee and his front door, well garage door is allways open for a chat and to see his latest incarnation.

Lets just see if 'next years' lights will be using this years 'trouties' ideas

I too have an original Trout Lite. Dealing with Mr Trout has been nothing but a pleasure. Given we've never done more than exchange e-mails, he's a very trusting, top bloke in my book. My TroutLite saw me round my dusk & dawn laps at SITS this year with no problems. In fact, I was little sad not to try it the small-hours but that's the way the times panned out for our team.

One of the guys I ride has a set of lights from one of the German companies – I forget which. He was hacked off with having problems, so found a number for the factory and rang them. The bloke who answered told him that the owner wouldn't give a **** as he was making too much money. Now that is customer service.

I also think it's a plus that Mr Trout is using off-the-shelf components. If he does decide to move to somewhere sunny with the vast proceeds from this project, you can still source spares yourself.

cxi: You mean Bridlington?

C-C.if you don,t like whats going on i sugest you crawl back under your rock.

Paul the CNC bloke Production manager and son of the machine shops owner has asked me to forward this mail on to here

Hi Chris
Please if possible can you post this onto forum.

To all members – from CNC- Paul

I have been reading the thread tonight with some interest and felt that I should add my bit to the discussion.

When the 'Trout' walked into the reception at my engineering factory a few months ago and asked me if I could make some mountain bike light housings for him, I was cautious to say the least.
I had never met the guy before and thought he was barking mad!! No Drawings just a casing hewn from a solid piece of aluminium .
My first reaction was why people don't just go down to Halfords to buy a light?

However after talking to him at length I soon realized that he was a top guy who was very passionate and excited about what he was making. He is driven by the product not the profit.

I have been working closely with Trout over the past few months to produce the new light and his enthusiasm is contagious and I totally get the concept now. I have only known the guy for a short time but trust him completely and know that he will not let anyone down. It is not money that drives him but the fact that he might meet someone on a bike with one of his light on, in his words he would be 'made up'

I agreed to have a go at producing at few samples and he was very pleased with the results and the interest from members was overwhelming. Following this we decided to start the first batch with a few improved design tweeks.

Together we are striving to produce the best light out there, With the aid of positive feedback from the members we will continue to improve and developed the Troutelight range.

They are not an amateur job. They are professionally made light on CNC machines and designed with the aid of CAD CAM software and will give the main stream boys a run for their money.

Also to any doubters I can assure them that I have a batch of 60 on my shop floor that are almost finished and there will be another batch started straight after to keep up with demand.

I would just like to add my thanks to all the members who have given positive and helpful feedback during the lights development. Also the guys who helped with the logo design – dxf files and cutting tools to help get the troutelight made.

I am sure you will like the lights

Cheers

CNC – Paul

To be honest Chris I feel there is no need to defend any position here.

As you said its a project which has gathered its own momentum with of course a tremendous degree of hard work from yourself.

For all those that have been involved and I count myself in that for the tiny input I have made, it has been a fascinating process which has seen an idea turn into a concept, then to a trial and finally what I feel will be a fantastic product.

Many of us through our work lives do drive and shape ideas that become a reality.

However away from work its a rare opportunity from which I have taken great pleasure.

Perhaps the few that have criticised or have not been so possitive perhaps are missing the point here.

We all enjoy our pastime, sport call it what you will and the chance to be a little "geeky", have the latest "biggest bang for your buck" bit of kit is what it is all about.

Right I'll get off my soap box now and get off to work, ta ta

Montilikesbeer sums it up perfectly imo

Over the years I've tinkered with lights to good effect and was actually thinking of making something similar but had no way of getting the housing to the standard that chris has done. The componants he is using are all proven and should give no problems, the leds are of course untested and like any product could be defective but they will be the same as used in any named lighting system eg hope etc.

A couple of my efforts were a used hair gel tin and a modified mag light

I think the only people who would have had a valid complaint with Trout would be the forum owners and he has sorted that out so thats not a problem.

What we are getting from trout is a light with the latest and greatest LED technology. Because he is a small outfit he can be nimble and bring us this technology this year rather than next season.

I had some lights CNC'd and made last year I and I can tell you the effort that goes into designing and building them is not trivial. With the number of lights he will sell on the Singletrack forum, he will not get rich.

There are a lot of people on here who can't even do a simple job like bleed a set of bike brakes so have no idea how long things take to design, machine, build etc.

I can tell you I would not be prepared to take the risk/hassle that trout is taking for the money he will make.

Bazzer

just to compare, hope internals.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soundman/2668231914/

haven't had time to read all the posts.

Firstly, and what was correctly spotted by the OP, who I do believe to be a decent type. My previous post wasn't a personal attack.

My previous post was precipitated by someone going on and on about how the Trout light is now the pinnacle of Human Engineering.

All I did was disagree and I called it as I saw it.

However, I do agree with the way the OP has put it, it may not be a Lupine and certainly doesn't cost as much, and it definately isn't a bastid-light. I can see that too. And the regulars here will know my thoughts on buying and supporting "Designed/Made in Britain" and that I support it.

And for the money, my maths says around £296 + P&P, theres certainly a lot of lumens on offer there, so long as the housing can deal with the heat from the new LEDs. Although what happens if it doesn't ?……

So I see the attraction.

But it still looks like a homeBrew light made pretty, and even thats is questionable.

As for Ideas, the only original Idea I see in that light is the housing, which gives the light a low-profile and wide light source. The rest appears to be stuff suggested by others or picked from the shelf of online outlets, or the result of reading light forums.
And before anyone starts up again. Yes, the big boys do the same, buying off the shelf components and assembling into their own housings, somewhere in deepest, darkest China, etc. I know.

I just think some on here are getting a little carried away. It is what it is, no more, no less. Buy your Trout lights, but don't tell me they're the best light ever made by a man, cos I won't believe you.

Enjoy !.

CC.

Reading a post like Captain Crash's, it makes you wonder just what his agenda is. Ok, maybe I was a little 'overenthusiastic' in what I wrote, but I genuinely believe that Trout's light is a match to commercially available products. CC's criticism fails to stand up in a number of ways. For a start, his point that there has been no checking of quality is quite wrong. The only area that applies to is in the actual assembly, and as the designer of the light, and assembler and tester of the prototypes, Chris is obviously the best possible person to assemble and test the lights going out to customers. Those electing to assemble themselves, like me, do so accepting the consequences of messing up the assembly. The components, on the other hand, are all quality items obtained from recognised retailers, and as such have all gone through scrupulous QC to meet international safety standards. Sure the led's are a new spec, but does CC honestly believe a company like Cree would put on the Market a component that had not gone through significant amounts of testing, quite apart from the fact that it's merely a continued upgrade of well-established technology. CC obviously has no prior knowledge of the history of bike lighting systems, otherwise he'd be aware of the fact that USE had real quality problems with the Exposure lights when first introduced, which was widely reported in the bike press an online, and I've read of Lupine lights having QC problems as well, and I'd be well miffed if I spent a not inconsiderable amount of money on a Wilma or Betty, only to have it crap out within weeks. There is nothing in Trout's light to cause any concern as far as construction is concerned to my mind, and everyone who has contributed to these threads knows exactly how the lights are put together, they know what components are used, and as far as taking other people's ideas, well of course, that's part of the whole developement process, everyone on here has contributed in some way to getting this light to where it is now, which is why everyone is so excited about this. It's Chris's light, but it's also ours, in a way that a product from a shop or online retailer could never be. CC, go away and kindly take your trolling with you, you're making no useful contribution to this thread, and unless you're prepared to produce something similar and open it up to the scrutiny of potential users on here, your presence isn't welcome.

XT.

No trolling here, I'm just posting an alternative point of view on this and I'll post where I like, until the mods stop me or you buy-out STW, lock-stock.

It was your post that started this.

Check my earlier posts in this thread and you'll see I've been quite positive. Until you came out with that post of yours. Facts are facts and I have an opinion on what I've seen. I'm not going to offer a free and public, technical critique.

You don't like what I've posted, well thats cos I don't agree with you. Boo-Hoo.

Grown up and deal with it. If you're so happy with your Trout light, then theres nothing for you to repsond to or get upset about.

You may think its your light, but whats your share of the profit ?……..or perhaps thats the point…..

As I've posted, I think this light has its merits, but its made to a budget. So lets leave it there, or aren't we doing free speech on STW anymore.

CC.

Ooooo! Get you!

Folks (XT, CC) can we stop this. Captain Crashs post an hour ago was a perfectly reasonable explanation of where he's coming from. We bit his head off earlier this morning, and he responded with an explanation/clarification rather than a rant.

Further bitchin is to no ones interest, I want to talk lumens instead.

OK to answer the heat from the 6 XPG leds will be substantial and I believe the housing in its current form will cope and if it gets too hot for the driver or leds then it will dim the leds untill cool enough to allow hi to be used again .

The leds are rated to 150 degrees C by Cree so there will be a margin that they are happy with research not mine has said the leds will be 30 to 40 degrees hotter than the heat sink directly at the back of the leds so if the rain starts hissing on the housing then is the time to worry .
the driver monitors its self and will be set to 70 degrees to dim so there is a good margin there .

I have had one hanging up in my office running all night on the low setting and no build up of heat yes it will slowly get hotter on hi but the thermal cuts in after about 5 mins and riding last night it never got to the dimming stage even up a 1 in 3 hill I overheated lots though .

Captain quoted this
"As for Ideas, the only original Idea I see in that light is the housing, which gives the light a low-profile and wide light source. The rest appears to be stuff suggested by others or picked from the shelf of online outlets, or the result of reading light forums."

now this bit I do take umbrage to because I was the very first person to make a bike light using the Cree XPE leds and 10 mm square optics

as recorded here http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=482205if you would care to go and read the thread
Using all my own ideas

Yes I could go to the east and have the lights made probably for around £100 then add £100 for a nice tidy profit but then I just become a reseller and the pleasure goes out of it.

What it does do is show that a good quality bike light is not rocket science and can be made for a reasonable amount of cash
and some one who can solder 20 joints can have a light that will give the Lupine betty a good show.

It is not a perfect bike light but then whos is what it is though is a very good light at a reasonable price with yes readyly available components in a housing that is well made by a machining company and will only get better as it develops

Well said mate ❗ and 1 in 3 hills you mentioned? it`ll be just fine up here then 😉

Heat problems? i havn't looked at the new XPG's specs as i'm happy with the ones i have but as the current LEDS don't have an overheating problem i struggle to see why the new ones would. Not having a pop but just genuinly interested in this statement. I thought with the LEDs – to simplify it – at any given drive current, say 750 mah max as my XPE's are, you have a set amount of energy being transmited to the led's. The LED then converts this energy to light – the energy that it doesn't convert is what produces the heat. Now if the new LED's are brighter at a certain drive current then the only way to achieve this is by converting more energy to light than heat i.e. higher efficiency so therefore there wil surly be less heat? am i being simple? (probably)

I fancy some of that "Green Glow" as well…. How do i make a donation to STW ❓

Cheers.

Long-term user here of troutie's creations: I've had 2 of his earliest 'prototype' round housings, 1 of which I still use, and have built 3 of the v1 6xpe lights. Only ever had 1 issue with one lamp i built for a mate, which was my fault I think, but the beauty is they are fully rebuildable (but a pain in the arse if you are the only one of your mates who can fix the things!!). Looking at the Hope innards you'll see that there's not a lot of rocket science in light design.

Me and a mate are buying new 'v2' housings.My reasons for sticking with the Trout brand:
– get the latest LEDs before any of the big companies = brighter lights & bragging power
– Chris has probably spent as much time in product development as many of the bigger players: I'm more than confident in his judgement
– He's a great guy to deal with
– I like tinkering!

There are many things I object to spending money on. These lights are definitely not one of them & i don't object to Trout making a few quid out of all his hard work: if you've followed his various creations over the last couple of years you'll know he's definitely not in it for money.

Mark yes I think you are right only the xpe was rated at 700 ma the Xpg is rated at 1000 ma and at a current for current basis you are right the XPGs will run cooler and also use less energy .

there is only Cree data available at the moment as the few samples that were given out had a non disclosure agreement with them
so more data will come out in the coming weeks with the XPEs I found the cree data sheet to be very conservative and mine and others readings were better than reported in the data sheets so if this follows on it will be a win win situation

donation button in the classifieds

Bright lights spoil the fun of night riding!!!!!! 😥

Yes I could go to the east and have the lights made probably for around £100 then add £100 for a nice tidy profit but then I just become a reseller and the pleasure goes out of it.

But they would be making it to your design. Why not explore this route, having someone make 100's of your design, leaving you time to develop the next generation of trout light.

wors, not a great idea.
This isn't just about Trout. There are local companies (CNC and annodising) that are being supported by this endeavor. If you go down the buy it from china route then you fuel the UK trade deficit and loss of UK skills. Oh..and more importantly, Trout would not be able to pop into the Keighley machine shop when he likes and see big machines carving out his design!

>Bright lights spoil the fun of night riding!!!!!!

What lights do you use postie ?

Bright lights spoil the fun of night riding!!!!!! 🙄

I actually quite like the idea of the bloke in his shed making my lights – it's part of the charm. and i'm sure with the quality of this product then Chris could set himself up and ship in from the far east and probably make a good living from it, but then would they have the same appeal? I find it quite a nice thought that some bloke from up North came up with the idea of my light and a local business to him produced it off the back of a fag packet over a cuppa or 2. Sorta like how things should be …… And hell we all spend ridiculous amounts on our bikes anyway, whats being sensible and going to the large manufacturer's got to do with it anyway.

Hi there, first time on the forum and that's because of chris and his lights.

Remember how lumicycle got started years ago first being homebrew lights and now look where they are today, they did what chris is doing, making a product that no one currently matches and i for one am very happy when i recieve his little liberator.

For any possible doubters out there I've not long spoke to mr trout and tomorrow he is doing his daytime job then finishing and going to D2D to lend out his lights.
Throwing a sleeping bag in the bag of his van to sleep in then driving home on the sunday!
Dedication or what for the guy

CHB.

Spot on ! there. 😀

Trout.

If I have got any of my facts wrong, then I apologise. Sorry.

It is not my intention to "mess it up". You lay claim to being one of the first that we know about, to use the light LED, and I will go with that. And as I've written before, your light has its merits, imo. The big boys can't touch the Lumens per pound factor.

CC.

i'll tret him to a cuppa then 😉

Trout, I run a **** handlebar which has a slight rise and sweep. Is it possible to swivel the housing on top of the mounting bracket?

You lay claim to being one of the first that we know about, to use the light LED, and I will go with that.

Captain Crash, dont worry, he is! Checking out some of the LED forums and youll see Trout is a regular poster over there, as is the supplier of his parts (hence why he can say he is the first), it didnt take me much time or detective work to see Trout is no con-man or over boasting his creations.

No Worries Captain and sorry accepted .
That comment did hit a nerve and after the light I built and posted on mtbr Cutters sales of xpe leds went sky wards

Average Mark I will need that coffee working all day sat in leeds then dashing down to D2D with 2 protos for the guy who has been press ganged in to using them then when it is finished back to leeds to finish the job on sunday .

was just going to post them but then saw the posties action had screwed yorkshire deliveries

Gruenermoench
No swivel action I am afraid but looking at your bars there should be no problems

the mount sits right next to the stem

Beamshots of the r5 are up, but more flood and less spot than an r2, could be fun for the trout for choosing what optics to run.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=243748