I need bike light recommendations.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

For mountain biking mainly.

cloggsy71

I always buy my lights from AliExpress: https://goo.gl/DzOCD2

Really good CREE LED lights; great for mountain biking or rural road riding for peanuts. Yes, you have to wait 4 to 6 weeks for delivery, but if one gets broken if you have an 'off', then no sweat. Unlike the 'premium brands' that cost £100's and do basically the same thing.

As I don't do the 'MTB' thing, I'm sure someone will recommend something, but a light with a wide spread for your handlebars & maybe a spot light for on top of your helmet?

TheBigYin

watch where you charge the lights from AliExpress, theres been all sorts of reports over on Singletrackworld about the battery packs overcharging and basically blowing up... Always charge in a solid non-flammable receptacle (I use an old "ammo-can" with a couple of relief grooves for the cable inward) and DON'T leave them unsupervised.

as to recommendations - http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/2016-which-lights

(up until about 4 winters ago, I used to self-build MTB lights, but basically, the Cree Emitter light units from places like "magicshine" and the like pretty much just killed off building light head units... battery packs were always the more difficult thing - I used to build with a view to using 7.2v NiMh remote control plane batteries (then use a reputable source for the battery and a "proper" balanced charger for them, but that's a bit of an expensive way to go about it - but back then it was pretty much the only game in town...)

I've got a little out of touch with the state of the art at the moment - hence simply recommending reading the STW thread - those guys are out there on the MTB on a regular basis, using the up to date kit. I'm just using my old relics (which are perfectly bright enough if I'm on my own - problem comes when you ride with someone else who's got a brighter light than you... if they're behind you, you're permanently riding in your own shadow, as their mega-zillion-lumen light overpowers yours and casts a shadow of you down the trail...)



I'd definitely recommend what Clive said though - something with a pretty wide beam pattern for on the bars, and a more focussed spot on the helmet...

SingingSingleTracker

BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »

For mountain biking mainly.

ituo uses Natural White (as opposed to Cool White that most everyone else uses) - and it is absolutely the best thing for riding off road mountain biking. I bought the XP3 for my helmet and XP4 for my bars and am stunned about how well they light up the singletrack. Great price performance - and currently on sale for the Holidays.

https://www.ituolights.com/

bike4hamburgers

Check out TrailLED. Great lights with good output. http://www.trailled.com/

niblue

I'm using a Magicshine Eagle M2 which was about £90 or so I think. Supposed to be something like 2400 lumens and it is very, very bright. Certainly bright enough for mountain biking and also plenty bright enough for road biking at night on dark roads. I occassionally night ride at the Redbridge circuit and it's plenty even for the unlit areas of that at decent speeds.