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LOOKING to buy a pretty bright, reasonably priced bike light, i was borrowing one for awhile and now need my own! I was hoping to get one before this weekends critical mass! I am new to riding and would sooo appriciate some help from you veterans! Thankx
You can get it for sure at Beverly Hills Bike shop for $25 or about the same price after shipping from bikesdirect. It is seriously the brightest tail light i have EVER seen. And for a front light to be visible:
I use the $7.99 special from Sports Chalet. You really don't need anything better than that. Then there are the ones for about $12. What's good is you can clip them on your ass, or bag, or bike. It dun matta to jesus. Those $125 dollar lights are, yeah, expensive for expensive sake in my eyes. Maybe I'm just ghetto. Oh, yeah. I am ghetto because I won't spend more than $100 on any single bike part.
I have a minewt, too. I first saw one in action on Sc-Nomad's bike at the first East Enders ride. It's a great light, for the price. Okay, the price is a bit steep, but you can see--instead of just being seen.
I know the niteriders are a tad on the expensive side, but you get what you pay for.
Another thing is what kind of riding do you do? If you do an occassional night ride with a few people then the Minewt will be overkill. But if you regularly ride by yourself at night then get the brightest and best light you can afford.
I see lights, especially for urban riding, as a safety feature to be seen. There is usually enough ambient light that you probably don't need a light to see the road, though I wouldn't recommend it. Consider it cheap insurance.
I'd agree with richie with the tailight. I've got two of the blinky superflash and they are dope. I bought them from the same website. They're in OR and don't do the sales tax thing and ship them the same day.
For headlights... What's your price range? It also depends on if you want to "be seen" or "to see with" lights.
I use the DiNotte 5 watt LED and like it a lot. It does have a shorter running time.
http://biketiresdirect.com/productdetail.asp?p=DLU5A
It's really bright and has a strobe flash mode which will really get peoples attention.
Roadblock uses the NiteRider MiNewt and its really bright for a small setup. It has a longer running time that the DiNotte.
Check out the flash mode on this vid. Scan to 1:04 on the vid and you'll see how the rider in front of him is lit up.
To be seen recomendations -
Planet Bike Beamer 5 cannot be beat for a front *be seen* light. It's under $25. Richie was riding w/ this on his MTB and I couldn't help complimenting him on the Beamer 5.
Powe Beam lights are good too. Generic light made in China that is pretty good. If it get's dark though... you'll have trouble going fast in the dark. You won't be able to see much w/ the powerbeam.
To give you a better idea of costs and reviews... check out the link below.
http://mtbr.com/reviews/lights/index_bynumreviews.shtml
It'll list down the most popular lights and scores.
Also... here's a good light comparison and run down of the differences.
http://www.mtbr.com/spotlight/lightshootout/
Hope that get's you started in the right direction. Good luck!!
I'm not sure what type (front or rear) of light you are looking for since you didn't specify.
But I'll assume that it's front, since you mentioned the whole brightness issue. To be seen (and also to see a decent amount) I recommend this one http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/341
I picked it up the other day and am pretty happy with it for only 40 bucks. It allows me to be seen, and does a decent job of letting me see what's ahead of me. Obviously you could get something for 20-40 bucks more that would do a much better job at letting you see the terrain ahead, but I have a hard time spending that much money for something I realistically won't need very often.
What is "good" kind of depends on your personal style of riding, like a lot of things when it comes to bicycle components.
You might also consider a generator set-up. It really depends on how much night riding you expect to do. I'm running a hub generator with a headlight-taillight combo, but I ride after dark a lot, so it's useful. It's not cheap. I went with the Schmidt hub and Busch & Muller lights from Germany. The set-up works great. I also had to build a wheel around the hub (though I could have paid someone to do it for me). You can also get generators that affix to your frame or fork and roll on the side of your tire. The benefit? NO BATTERIES BABY!
Are you sure you want to get get a light, bigsexy? You might end up seeing what littlesexy (or very little sexy as well call him), looks like in the harshness of light! I'd stick with the darkness!
After the bulb blew out on my Nite Rider RoadRat (Nite Rider's cheapest and heaviest light, at just over 2 lbs with battery) last night, I decided it was time for a better light, so I bought myself a MiNewt, so, I'll get to test it out tonight on the river trail coming back from NoHo.