Where to buy bike lights you can't steal?

mynameisclare

Chomeur wrote: »

Agh!! Happened to me again with a hired bike in Brussels recently. Went over a bump, light jumped out, had to stop and walk back to pick it up, slightly cracked. So it's not just me fitting them incorrectly.

I have never had a light fall off, even when I had one with a broken fitting so I held the light on with elastic bands instead. Perhaps you need to slow down for the speed bumps?

mttylad

Lighting on the rear mudguards is easily seen - but bikes dont come with those any more

I had to fit my own - stopped the mud line up my back

They are even better when used with a dynamo as you fit & forget - have them on all the time you are moving, use battery when stopped.



OP - just buy some cheap lights - fit them and glue them fitted if you can still get to the battery compartment.

Johnmcl7

kerby_crawler wrote: »

The failure of the cycle industry to provide an integrated lighting system on their products is just one of the ways in which they have failed to keep up with changing times. The absence of an integrated locking system is another.

The cycle industry does provide integrated lighting system on bikes if you want it, there are bikes available with integrated dynamo powered lights. However as with many things in life, one size does not fit all and I wouldn't want integrated lights on any of my bikes as it would be unnecessary cost and annoyance to remove them and fit my own lights.

It is not the failure of the cycle industry if people are cycling without lights, it's the failure of those cyclists themselves as there are many lights out there which are readily available.

John

[Deleted User]

I d recommend a Fenix tk15 r2 torch, one of the best in the world , and a cheap fenix bracket for the handlebar to slip the torch in and out of, these are no more than £5 off Ebay. The Fenix tk 15 r2 is about £45 direct from China on Ebay. ( 440 lumans ) with a fantastic beam . a great general use torch, uses one lithium/ion rechargeable battery

Altarf

ljonski wrote: »

tres simple. Front light= Divers headlamp on your head. Back light Small back light attached to back of rucksack.- Job done.

Until you get this scenario that I encountered recently. Crossroads, cyclist with a headlight but dressed as a ninja, aiming to turn right and looking in that direction. Result = cyclist sat in middle of crossroads with no light showing to oncoming traffic.

And when people put a light on their backpack they always seem to end up pointing at the sky or somewhere equally useless.

Avoriaz

sacsquacco wrote: »

I d recommend a Fenix tk15 r2 torch, one of the best in the world , and a cheap fenix bracket for the handlebar to slip the torch in and out of, these are no more than £5 off Ebay. The Fenix tk 15 r2 is about £45 direct from China on Ebay. ( 440 lumans ) with a fantastic beam . a great general use torch, uses one lithium/ion rechargeable battery

Is it really worth £50 in total?

I bought a CREE XM-L T6 1800Lm LED Zoomable Zoom Torch Flashlight for under £5 from China, plus a bracket for £1.40, plus batteries for under £1. A total of about £7 for what appears to be a well made, durable and powerful light. It is theoretically 4 times as bright as the Fenix. It uses AAAs or a lithium/ion rechargeable battery, neither included in that price.

For the ultra moneysaver, Poundland currently sell front and rear lights for £1 each. Add £1 for a pack of alkaline AAAs and you have a full bicycle light set for £3.

The lights are actually very good. The front light has steady and strobe options and has a ring of light around the head so it is visible from the side. The rear light has steady mode and 6 strobe modes.

The only downside is the rather fragile mounting system. The brackets are fine but the mounts on the lights are easily broken so you do have to handle them carefully or they will snap, as I found out.

Because of that fragile mount, I would not recommend them unless you are prepared to treat them with great care but, for under £10, you can buy excellent lights such as the Cree above.

I'm sure the Fenix is very good but I can't see how it is worth me spending £50 on one when I can get similar for £5.

[Deleted User]

Avoriaz wrote: »

Is it really worth £50 in total?

I bought a CREE XM-L T6 1800Lm LED Zoomable Zoom Torch Flashlight for under £5 from China, plus a bracket for £1.40, plus batteries for under £1. A total of about £7 for what appears to be a well made, durable and powerful light. It is theoretically 4 times as bright as the Fenix. It uses AAAs or a lithium/ion rechargeable battery, neither included in that price.

For the ultra moneysaver, Poundland currently sell front and rear lights for £1 each. Add £1 for a pack of alkaline AAAs and you have a full bicycle light set for £3.

The lights are actually very good. The front light has steady and strobe options and has a ring of light around the head so it is visible from the side. The rear light has steady mode and 6 strobe modes.

The only downside is the rather fragile mounting system. The brackets are fine but the mounts on the lights are easily broken so you do have to handle them carefully or they will snap, as I found out.

Because of that fragile mount, I would not recommend them unless you are prepared to treat them with great care but, for under £10, you can buy excellent lights such as the Cree above.

I'm sure the Fenix is very good but I can't see how it is worth me spending £50 on one when I can get similar for £5.

The trouble with all of these claims of high Lumens coming out of China is that they are false. As a long term Led user , starting with the US Surefires I have found that the really high lumen leds are useless. They quickly kill the high mode and drop down to a lower mode. Having been thro a dozen different top torches I ve settled for Fenix s TK 15 r2 using one 18650 lion rechargeable as the best of the lot. The beam is unbelievable ( so is the much smaller Fenix pd 32 ) with a huge long throw nearly as good as a car headlight. They are quality torches too. As a meter reader I use my Fenix daily, switching it on and off thousands of times and I ve never had a failure. The cheap rubbish ones ALL fail quickly.Get this beauty from Chinese Ebay sellers ( its £68 on Fenix UK website ) for no more than £45, at the same time you can buy 4 x 18650 lion and a charger and you are set for years with a multi use classic torch. The bike holders are not genuine fenix but work fine taking milliseconds to remove the torch from the bike. I have the Fenix TK21 , more power yes, but quickly drops down to the lower mode. theres only so much power in a 18650 and the TK15 r2 s runtime is about the max for one 18650 to handle
I ve tried the poundland stuff... laughable quality , all fails quickly.. not worth a pound, and as I say.. dont believe the lies about 1600 lumens.. not possible. I ve seen these things , the beams are pathetic. The TK15 r2 is a classic

Avoriaz

Thanks for your comments. In life you tend to get what you pay for so you may well be right in the long term over the durability aspects.

I've only had my Cree and Poundland lights for a few months so it is early days but so far I am happy with them.

The Cree really is very bright. The Poundland light is fine for being seen but doesn't help much to see.

I usually ride with both. I have the Poundland light on strobe in order to be seen and the Cree switched off and only turned on when I cycle in an unlit area.

I'm a leisure cyclist only with no commuting so I'm not as dependent on good lighting as a commuter who needs to get where he/she is going quickly. I rarely ride on busy roads. Most of my cycling is on tracks or minor but well lit roads. If I have trouble seeing the way ahead I just slow down as I am rarely in a hurry.

[Deleted User]

with the Fenix, it will allow you to see where you are going and never let you down, completely waterproof, an excellent all rounder , excellent xmas present. I got a second Fenix tk 15 mark 2 on ebay , new unused for only £30 , so keep an eye out for something like that.

Johnmcl7

I generally agree that it's worth spending money to get something decent but I started experimenting with cheap Cree based lights based on recommendations here and haven't been disappointed. At the moment I have four Ultrafire WF-502B's with Cree XML-U2 emitters which are newer, more powerful and more efficient than the Cree XP-G R5 used in the Fenix TK15. As they were only a tenner each I expected them to fail hence buying four but so far in over a year I've yet to have a single one fail despite them being used for night time mountain biking so they're frequently used when it's raining and in muddy conditions. I'm sure they will go wrong at some point but I don't mind given their low cost if I'm going to get a decent amount out of them first. It's also far from impossible for decent lights to fail unexpectedly as well.

The main recommendation I'd make is to ensure you choose decent batteries, some of them are bundled with cheap Trustfire/Ultrafire batteries or you can buy these batteries separately but they tend to vastly overstate their capacity and their performance is not good. I quite often lend my spare lights out to people on a ride because they've had a Trustfire/Ultrafire battery which has not lasted a decent amount of time at all.

John