A bar light also adds contrast so you can see little trail details better. With only a helmet light, because your eyes and the light are so close together, the shadows are diminished from your perspective. A light with more offset from your eyes, like a bar mount, really bumps up the perceived detail of the trail.
If you are facing traffic, please lower the angle of the light, so it faces the street 3m infront of you. These LEDs are pretty blinding for other riders.
i prefer night riding, because its safer. everybody is home instead of outside, so you have the streets and trails all to yourself. riding XC trails at night is so much fun. climbing hills is noticeably easier, and it's just nice and quiet outside. it's so underrated.
Been doing fine night riding solo on local XC trails with just a 800 lumen Garmin helmet light. I have a bar light but usually don't bother to set it up. Just one light trains me to always look ahead even when tired and it probably makes me faster in the daytime when I can get lazy. I love the tunnel vision and feeling of speed riding at night.
You forget to mention the most important reason for having a helmet light, is if you ever crash offroad in the dark woods.! Your handlebar light may go one way and you go the other way sailing headfirst into the scary dark, completely blind. With a headlight, you stand a better chance of not slamming your face into a tree stump.
Well worth having rear lights too, as almost all rides involve road sections. Exposure do the TraceR that will mount under the saddle so it doesn't interfere with the dropper and won't be blocked by the rear tyre. The saddle mount also works pretty well on a helmet.
@Monolithic Juggernaut lucky man! I'm doing a lot of riding from the house during lockdown, so I've got a light on the dropper (USE Exposure TraceR) and one on the helmet too.
All depends on the speed you are going. 2000 lumen maybe neccecery when you are a pro. When climbing I use 240 lumen and it's bright enough. When going down I bump it up to 780 lum and that's good enough. I only use one light on the helmet. When doing XC riding you don't need as much. When fatbiking in the winter the speed is so low that 240lum seems spot on.
@@tankizoltan1752 ya just went for my first night ride last week, definitely would be better with a small light on my helmet so I'd have light where I'm looking at, especially for tight turns
And don't use *only* a helmet light because your eyes are aligned with the light and you will see no shadows and thus no trail texture or features. You will run right into rocks or into ruts because you never saw them. I did it once when my bar-mounted light failed and it was terrifying!
@@DinnerForkTongue I prefer the opposite. The tight bar light moves too much and gets me dizzy, as Doddy reported. Since the helmet follows my eyes, a tighter beam helps me see further away, or focus on the incoming details that the more powerful handlebar flashlight makes too contrasty
Got me some crazy powerful Lupine lights and really loving the nightriding this year. Great with buddies, but equally makes local trails feel new on your own.
Darkness setting in across Scotland at 4pm lights are a must have. i cant believe how fun it is to ride trails at night. Shadows that look like big holes wen its just a bump on the trail n crazy animals running into your light making you shit yourself
In Argyll (west coast of Scotland) I regularly see bats, owls, foxes, red squirrels and deer. And the occasional hedgehog. Makes a change from the midges! Though the time I didn't see the deer shook me up a bit - hit it at around 25-30 mph on a singletrack descent. Not recommended!
@@williamfowler5260 not hit a deer on bike but wen i hit one at 50mph+ in my car on a dark tight road i definitely shit myself. Blood all over my car n no deer anywere on the road. Had flashbacks for awhile lol poor wee deer
OVERKILL!!! I used to have the old BLT system with dual lights, on many an occasion I was flashed by long distance truckers for dazzling them. I'm now running a Blackburn 800 for commute and a Nestling 5000lm Cree x2 for forest work. You'll definitely see me coming!!!
There was the Doddy's advice to use the powerful flashlights only on the trails. You need commuter-type lights (both front and rear) while sharing the road
Helmet light. Can be as bright as you want of you get a Nestling one with a battery extension cable. And you don't have the weight of the battery on your head. We all right that setup in our weekly group now and have done for over three years..
2 lights helps me with depth perception, I attribute that to the light coming from 2 angles being similar to the binocular effect, but I have no idea if there is any truth to that. A helmet mounted light is a must if you ride anywhere with nocturnal orb weavers, as the light reflects off the webs in front of your face. A bar mounted light won't illuminate webs at head height well enough, and this can result in a spider the size or a child's hand on your face.
What you need to know number one: does the terrain owner allow night riding? In the Netherlands, 99% of the trails do not allow any riding between sunset and sunrise, because of the wildlife. So no lights needed.
Great video, Doddy, and sound advices. My night riding started with my commute in the autumn and winter, through the park paths. Then my flashlight collection got bigger and stronger and I ventured into serious offroading and MTBing in the night. I understand that you are sponsored by Exposure, but my experience with all-in-one flashlights bigger than 400 lumen is negative. Having such a heavy weight on the handlebar affects my bike handling and is a recipe for disaster - it is much easier to break the mount of a heavier flashlight. Same for the helmet light, my neck just can't handle a heavy flashlight on it. Yes, it is more cumbersome to have cables and mounts for the battery too, but it is much neater solution. And since I ride with a backpack during the night (no issues with overheating) it is easy to store the helmet light's battery in the backpack. But the greatest benefit is that I can carry extra batteries. And when time comes, replace just the batteries but keep the LED. For the handlebar flashlight, I found the GoPro-type of mount the most secure and convenient. I have two - one as a top headset spacer, and another one in the Garmin-GoPro combo in-front mount that bolts at the stem. My other advice is to avoid flashlights with more than one diode but prefer a more powerful diode instead. It is easier to provide better illumination with a single diode, and it is usually easier on the battery for the same lumens.
The best way to get a ton of light for less $$$? Use non-bike specific components. Get some 12V off-road LED flood lights or spot lights off Amazon. Then, get any old 12VDC battery pack and wire it up to your light (with a switch or connector). You'll have all the light you'll ever need.
Soooooooo, my first night ride I had an 800 lumen day blazer light on bars and a camping headlamp for my helmet light...yea I couldn't see jack. But the handlebar strap for light broke, asked for a replacement and company sent a new light! Now I have an 800lumen light for my bars and one for my head!! At least I'll have a total of 1600 lumens hahaha
I have never used really expensive lights, but this year I have bought a couple of torches from amazon (£35 each) and they work well for me, one on my helmet and one for the bars. Variable power from 2-1300 lumens (claimed), I find the 50 lumen setting enough for climbs and road, and 700 for descents, with the 1300 there if I need it! My experience is its not all about the lumens! Beam pattern and colour temperature are just as important. Mine use Samsung leds which have a warmer colour than cree, which takes some of the harshness out of the shadows. And I love the fact that, being torches, they are self-contained units instead of having an external battery. Oh, and they are rechargeable and the battery can be changed, so if I want to stay out longer I can carry a spare battery instead of a full lamp!
Back in the day ( 1999) we had a 15 watt and 45 watt halogen lights with a lead acid battery in a sealed water bottle i think it was one of the first nite rider light systems for mtb it was fantastic back then top of line lighting systems. ..In Australia
I remember night riding around 2003 with a Cateye dual halogen light set, one wide beam and one narrow, 10watts each and the mentioned heavy lead acid battery on the frame, the worst bit of it all was actually the extremely thick and not very flexy cable that had to run to the bars. If you had a pile of cash you could get an 84watt Cateye Stadium but they were rare. Then Lupine hit the market with their HID lights, shops couldn't get them in fast enough. Lights have come a long way since then for sure.
@@robertlees2065 Off road riding with suspension was new and having lights was new so it was great fun ..I used to take the dogs out and let them chase the rabbits under lights they loved it to ..lol
@@stevecrump1375 At the risk of sounding like an old man mountain bikers new to the sport don't know how good they've got it, even cheap compact lights now have higher outputs and longer battery life. It'd almost be funny to take someone who has only ever known the current tech and give them an early 2000s XC bike with some old lights to see how they get on.
Real 700 lumen flashlight with orange peel plus a clear reflector one on the helmet gives already good conditions for riding. And allows for spare batteries. 90 degree pointing lens on flashlights allows for nice center, in front of stem mounting using cheapest Chinese bar mount swiveled in front of bar. Flashlight sits parallel to the bar in front of it. 1500lumens on a helmet would be nice bonus but not a must. That's my 2year experience
I am running a Gloworm XS 2600 on the bike and a Cygolite 1100 on helmet. I run the helmet at medium, and the bike light at Low / Medium. The Gloworm comes with a remote which is very handy.
I use a NiteRider 1200OLED bar light and a Princeton Tec EOS helmet light, this combo works very well for riding. The beam on the NiteRider is just powerful enough to illuminate the trail, while the EOS on my helmet provides good lighting when I need it. I have set up my lights so my helmet light illuminates the trail about 5-20' infront of my front tire, the NiteRider is (as Doddy stated 30-35' )further down trail. I have good illumination of the trail. One other piece of kit that is essential for night riding is eye protection, clear lens work the best and keep the twigs and sticks out of your eye while riding or if you happen to crash.
At least in the UK you don't have to worry about wild boars. Here in France, they're quite common and usually encountered at night or dawn. I don't mind deers, but boars scare the sh!t out of me.
There are wild boar in the UK! They're not very common but maybe 3000 in the South and West. Forest of Dean I think has quite a number. I've never seen one though. I hear they can be grumpy! 😂
While Exposure lights are expensive up front. They last. I’ve a Toro for the bars and it’s 10 years old yet still lasts for a 3 hour night ride, with a lots of it on full power. But on my helmet I do run one of the sub £20 generic lights with the battery in my pack.
I just bought a 52000 lumens light for £28, just Google "cree lights", go from there. Great quality for the dollar, waterproof, very bright as good as if not better than a car headlight.
Buddy, sorry but you've been scammed HARD. 💩 There is no way, absolutely no way, you can get 52 _thousand_ lumens in your 28 quid cheapo torch. I know torches and I guarantee your purchase has an aspheric lens, a gritty zoomy system full of rust spots inside, a fake Cree LED (likely a Latticebright piece of rubbish), and a high-low-strobe UI with next mode memory. You can buy these for less than 5 US dollars if you know where to look. If you want a *_REAL_* budget torch, start with a Convoy S2+. Trust me, flashaholic here.
A few years back we did some downhill night stuff on some semi-active volcanoes in Bali.. omg was that fun - we all had ott lights and ott brakes but it was an amazing experience..
Been night riding for years-started with Duracell jobs back in the eighties-a candle would have been better. Very fortunate to now have an Exposure six pack and an Equinox along with a couple of front and rear Tracers to get to and from the trail. They are all absolutely brilliant. Exposure's service is second to none, including sorting out a ham fisted breakage from me which they repaired for free. Thoroughly recommend them. They are expensive, but they last and you get what you pay for.
Ive been using nestling 3 led lights for years, besides the odd battery pack dying the lights themselves have been good. I ride with 2 on the bars and 1 on helmet for anything upto 6 hours
I edc my Thrunite T1. It's 1100 lumens. I put it in my bars ad a headlight. It works amazingly. It's small abd bright. I don't ride that fast kn trails though so it's. Ore than enough. I do have a one80 headlamp that is velcro and I got it to stick to my helmet. It's amazing for biking. Helps on the street too. I have taillight as well clipped to my backpack so it moves when I do. I'm going to get some kinda wheel lights as well for streets since I do both.
I have do some night riding and it was a lot of fun. We have a volunteer ban on some trail because of the effect on the wild life. I think we share the trails with nature and it’s good to give nature some rest time. I am not saying do not night ride just think about the impact it has.
I run one 850 lumen cygolite on the bar. It's been great and durable and weatherproof so far. Multiple settings. I use three blinky lights on back. Cygolite, torch, tobrite. Cygolite is the better of those. My torch is balky but still works.
These many bicycle headlights are described in detail by the video master, which can avoid stepping on pits as much as possible. But some places have restrictions on the brightness of bicycle lights.
Exposure lights are pretty nice. I bought a Diablo for the helmet about 7 years ago; still going strong! It is rated as 900 lumens max. Now the Diablo is probably 1200. Great light! Night rider lights are decent too and cheaper. It much depends how fast or technical your night riding will be. Night road rides you can get way with a bar mount 700-1000 lumens maybe less with well lit streets. For Trail, like mentioned here you will want alot more. Having a backup light is key.
I had one of these 1400LM. Light output is fine for occasional light offloading. Great in the city even on the lowest setting it light up dark streets. Problem is that the batteries were rather poor in capacity. I had to charge them every day to be sure that they will last the second day the 45 min ride home from work.
I have a cheap 4xCree Chinese light on my helmet with the battery in in my back pack, the cable being zip-tied to my helmet and running through the hole for my hydration bladder. Luckily I have a separate 'night riding' helmet, otherwise it'd be a PITA zip-tying the cable every time I go out at night and removing them again when I don't need/want the light/added weight.
Lezyne Micro Drive are good lights...I've got 3 of them and they can be helmet mounted as well.... I did a night ride on Saturday (2 days ago) and used a full Nestling (eBay) battery pack light and a Lezyne 600XL at high power, replacing the Nestling one near home with a fully charged 450 XL light.....Bright enough for 3 hours in the dark....Always take backup lights front and rear though.....
I have actually found it better to have a brighter light on helmet than bar. I find my eyes don’t adjust fast enough to see around upcoming corners with a dimmer headlight while brighter bar light is still facing straight forward.
It's also funny reading the comments how many people only use a head torch as lamp. It's all fun and games until the fog set's in and you can't see at all. The fact that your light shines at the same angle as your eyes are looking will make it feel like you hit a white wall
I was riding up Sheffield last week and the fog came in had less than 10 meter visibility. Ended up with my two backup Aldi Cree lights on the bottom of my forks just for that extra boost of light.. :D
Im glad that bike lights have improved from the terrible things that can bought for £10 and jus flashed and ran out of power after quarter of an hours use to using the the equivalent of having a spot light on your bike and at this time of the year until the seasons chance back and I'm glad f having a strong lights that can be recharged through usb and not pulling the batteries out.
Different question: bar mounted vs. frame mounted lights (in combination with a helmet light, of course) I always feel the bar mounted light is too nervous on technical sections. Frame mounted would make it steadier by having it pointed into the overall direction of the bike vs permanent corrective movements of the front wheel. The helmet light would then cover the specific areas to look at. I haven‘t found a decent frame mount yet, though, so maybe it has been proven already that it‘s not a good idea?? Any feedback welcome.😊
Got that nestling light well the bigger one without the battery pack its two years old and easy get 3 hours on full power or easy six on low i live in scotland out in all weather have never failed would highly recommend them
Lithium Ion batteries (Cu-Co) should remain 40 to 80 when not in use. Store in a warm environment. Nickle Metal Hydride (NiMh) drain to 0 and then recharge to 100, store in the cold. Nickle Cadmium (NiCad) and Lead Acid (Pb) you are unlikely to see on modern bike lights, but were widely used in the past.
@@HarryL2020 not really you greatly reduce there life in the upper and lower states as that is the point at which the ions are in there greatest offset so that are trying like made to get to the other side of the battery. They are so excited to get back to a resting state of equilibrium they will even construct dendrites to jump the wall..
Nestling is Solarstorm X2 £10 for bare light plus a new battery job done. (I also build hard mounts for handle bar) And aldi also do some great Cree cheap lights. My first gen solarstorms 6 years old now.. Still working fine. Used every week. That's with my own battery though.
If you’re not sponsored by Exposure or Lezyne, the biggest torch that Anker sell is brilliant. Plus it takes 25660 batteries, so you can carry spares. You do have to get creative with mounting, though.
I got an 800 and a 600 lumen and either is fine on it’s own, 2 lights better than anything mega powerful. Can’t think why you would recommend such crazy power. I guess if you are doing huge jumps and drops on unfamiliar trails perhaps.
Never less than REAL 1000Lm. I use Convoy S2+ (993LM) for Road cycling and i have just bought a Convoy S21A (1800Lm) for MTB. Also, if you can and feel conformable go with a head light. I had yesterday 2 big crashes at night on the trails because I only had the Convoy S2+ on the handlebar, not enough, believe me. Also, if you want to be kind with people on the trails or cars on the road, install a light deflector!
Ey, someone else who knows Convoy! Have you tried a strip TIR lens on your S2+? It should focus the beam in a narrow horizontal band like a car or motorcycle headlight, so more light on the path and less lost to the air bothering other transients.
For my helmet light i brought one of those 2K lumen torches off Amazon for £20 put a good 18650 battery in it and stuck a GoPro mount on it with resin, works perfect.
@@Primarch_Vulkan I was just saying, because a proper budget torch that does reach the upper limits of a real Cree and not some cruddy Latticebright (such as Convoy or Sofirn) would go for even cheaper than that, stuff like 10-12 quid. If you give a toss by this point, of course 🤔 Just watch the battery on your set for any swelling or heating up. (My DuDe)
@@Primarch_Vulkan Wicked, that's a pretty damn based setup. If only other users were as savvy as this, we'd have way less fire hazards (and by consequence, less hassle shipping batteries).
I got my bike light at Amazon. 3 leds 3000 lumens just 1 light they last for 5 or more hours they are very bright. The company called (Eguyfire). I bought 4 of them. I love all my lights that i buy from Amazon.
Love u guys but sorry I can't agree I have a lezyne 900 lumen and it was a perfect beginner light for a beginner. But if u can afford it then yes 1k lumen is a must
Same here, but the cheap battery packs sux. The cabling inside is bad, there is no waterproofing and the cells are 2nd hand and/or bad quality and don't last as much as a quality battery pack. I bought an empty battery pack shell and I bought the cells (Samsung INR18650-35E 3450mAh - 8A) separately. I have 2 shells - one is for 6 cells for the handlebar powerful CREE XHP 70 flashlight, and another 4-cells for the helmet-mounted XM-L2 smaller flashlight. And I have 30 cells so I can ride for a whole night.
Great video 👌 really was looking for some lights lately. Now I know what I am looking for, thank you 💪💪 Typed in "Mtb Lights" in google and got an ad for a 5$ Light with a whopping 990.000 Lumen on wish, lol pretty sure this thing will do - not stay healthy 🤘
3D printed some for me and my friends and damm they're bright... Cost about £70 to make and perform like a £200 light. They are about 3600 real lumens with about 1.8 Hour run time.
@@DinnerForkTongue just use a normal buck converter from eBay to regulate voltage and amps, then rewired the current regulation circuit for full dimming. the chips are Cree XHP70 12v (bought from RS components so they're legit) Does require some baking when attaching the chip to a PCB though.
Cool video Doddy🍻👍😎I got a bigger Nestling light 2000L without all that cabling. Are they a trail specific light? I have to point it right down when commuting on the road. The beam seems to cover a huuge area... 😕
Good video on lights! Do you also need reflectors, as i dont see them on your bike. The orange/white reflectors on the spokes are obligated here in The Netherlands but they rattle on the trail.
bardocz just search on eBay or amazon for cree lights there will be loads. They are pretty good. I'm not sure if it's just rumour but I wouldn't leave them unattended whilst charging or do what Dodds says as sick them in a saucepan. Never had an issue it's mine but better safe than sorry.
@@elementour Thank you, I found some, some of them is sold without a battery. Currently I use a Lumintop B01, which have a great light, but it's more usefull on road, in traffic, because of the reflector(?) under the led.
@@bardocz I'd say stick with the B01. It's much better than that Nesty-whater piece of false advertisement. If you really need an upgrade, look for Sofirn.
@@DinnerForkTongue currently I use a sofirn sp40 as a helmet light, and a b01 with a chinese noname 3 led light on the bar. I would add this chinese to them to get a bit better visibility.
@@bardocz Good stuff there. In this case, have you already thought of using a 21700 torch like the Convoy S21A SST40 or XHP50.2 3v? Pretty decent power on them.
A bar light also adds contrast so you can see little trail details better. With only a helmet light, because your eyes and the light are so close together, the shadows are diminished from your perspective. A light with more offset from your eyes, like a bar mount, really bumps up the perceived detail of the trail.
If you are facing traffic, please lower the angle of the light, so it faces the street 3m infront of you. These LEDs are pretty blinding for other riders.
Or even better, use a bar light with horizontal beam, like the Lumintop B01.
i prefer night riding, because its safer. everybody is home instead of outside, so you have the streets and trails all to yourself. riding XC trails at night is so much fun. climbing hills is noticeably easier, and it's just nice and quiet outside. it's so underrated.
Been doing fine night riding solo on local XC trails with just a 800 lumen Garmin helmet light. I have a bar light but usually don't bother to set it up. Just one light trains me to always look ahead even when tired and it probably makes me faster in the daytime when I can get lazy. I love the tunnel vision and feeling of speed riding at night.
Night riding feels like you're going so much faster as well. Good fun.
You forget to mention the most important reason for having a helmet light, is if you ever crash offroad in the dark woods.!
Your handlebar light may go one way and you go the other way sailing headfirst into the scary dark, completely blind. With a headlight, you stand a better chance of not slamming your face into a tree stump.
Well worth having rear lights too, as almost all rides involve road sections. Exposure do the TraceR that will mount under the saddle so it doesn't interfere with the dropper and won't be blocked by the rear tyre. The saddle mount also works pretty well on a helmet.
Just wondering what was a good light to fit dropper post..thanks
@Monolithic Juggernaut lucky man! I'm doing a lot of riding from the house during lockdown, so I've got a light on the dropper (USE Exposure TraceR) and one on the helmet too.
Also easier to follow a lead rider wit a solid, modest rear light. Just learned that last Tuesday!
All depends on the speed you are going. 2000 lumen maybe neccecery when you are a pro. When climbing I use 240 lumen and it's bright enough. When going down I bump it up to 780 lum and that's good enough. I only use one light on the helmet. When doing XC riding you don't need as much. When fatbiking in the winter the speed is so low that 240lum seems spot on.
I find that a 1000ish lumen bar light and around 500 on the helmet to be adequate
100% agreed I used the same as you and I was totally fine
250lumins on bar mount has been ok, but i would like a helmet light too
@@jimbo4203 yeah its also important how focused your light beam is. for singletrack, these wide Exposure brand light beams seem unnecessary
@@tankizoltan1752 ya just went for my first night ride last week, definitely would be better with a small light on my helmet so I'd have light where I'm looking at, especially for tight turns
And don't use *only* a helmet light because your eyes are aligned with the light and you will see no shadows and thus no trail texture or features. You will run right into rocks or into ruts because you never saw them. I did it once when my bar-mounted light failed and it was terrifying!
The best setup by far is a tight-beamed bar light and a floody helmet torch.
@@DinnerForkTongue I prefer the opposite. The tight bar light moves too much and gets me dizzy, as Doddy reported. Since the helmet follows my eyes, a tighter beam helps me see further away, or focus on the incoming details that the more powerful handlebar flashlight makes too contrasty
@@roilev
Interesting point! I'm guessing you use your peripheral vision a lot more than I do.
@Will Kalman it's absolutely true, using only a helmet light makes every trail look flat, it's even hard to gauge how fast you're going.
Got me some crazy powerful Lupine lights and really loving the nightriding this year. Great with buddies, but equally makes local trails feel new on your own.
Darkness setting in across Scotland at 4pm lights are a must have. i cant believe how fun it is to ride trails at night. Shadows that look like big holes wen its just a bump on the trail n crazy animals running into your light making you shit yourself
I was riding up hill one time and an huge horned owl shot out of a tree and I nearly had a heart attack. Good fun!
In Argyll (west coast of Scotland) I regularly see bats, owls, foxes, red squirrels and deer. And the occasional hedgehog. Makes a change from the midges! Though the time I didn't see the deer shook me up a bit - hit it at around 25-30 mph on a singletrack descent. Not recommended!
@@williamfowler5260 not hit a deer on bike but wen i hit one at 50mph+ in my car on a dark tight road i definitely shit myself. Blood all over my car n no deer anywere on the road. Had flashbacks for awhile lol poor wee deer
OVERKILL!!!
I used to have the old BLT system with dual lights, on many an occasion I was flashed by long distance truckers for dazzling them.
I'm now running a Blackburn 800 for commute and a Nestling 5000lm Cree x2 for forest work. You'll definitely see me coming!!!
There was the Doddy's advice to use the powerful flashlights only on the trails. You need commuter-type lights (both front and rear) while sharing the road
Helmet light.
Can be as bright as you want of you get a Nestling one with a battery extension cable.
And you don't have the weight of the battery on your head.
We all right that setup in our weekly group now and have done for over three years..
2 lights helps me with depth perception, I attribute that to the light coming from 2 angles being similar to the binocular effect, but I have no idea if there is any truth to that. A helmet mounted light is a must if you ride anywhere with nocturnal orb weavers, as the light reflects off the webs in front of your face. A bar mounted light won't illuminate webs at head height well enough, and this can result in a spider the size or a child's hand on your face.
GMBN Tech a.k.a. Doddy's channel to get away from the other present ers
What you need to know number one: does the terrain owner allow night riding? In the Netherlands, 99% of the trails do not allow any riding between sunset and sunrise, because of the wildlife. So no lights needed.
LordLlurch ja klopt maar in het donker vind ik er eigenlijk ook niks aan om te fietsen
I didn't know NL had any wildlife.
@@DinnerForkTongue Since we're not allowed in the woods at night, we don't get to see it either. We just assume it's there.
Damn that sucks bro
Not only wild life after crasing in dark not easy for ambulance
Great video, Doddy, and sound advices. My night riding started with my commute in the autumn and winter, through the park paths. Then my flashlight collection got bigger and stronger and I ventured into serious offroading and MTBing in the night. I understand that you are sponsored by Exposure, but my experience with all-in-one flashlights bigger than 400 lumen is negative. Having such a heavy weight on the handlebar affects my bike handling and is a recipe for disaster - it is much easier to break the mount of a heavier flashlight. Same for the helmet light, my neck just can't handle a heavy flashlight on it. Yes, it is more cumbersome to have cables and mounts for the battery too, but it is much neater solution. And since I ride with a backpack during the night (no issues with overheating) it is easy to store the helmet light's battery in the backpack. But the greatest benefit is that I can carry extra batteries. And when time comes, replace just the batteries but keep the LED.
For the handlebar flashlight, I found the GoPro-type of mount the most secure and convenient. I have two - one as a top headset spacer, and another one in the Garmin-GoPro combo in-front mount that bolts at the stem.
My other advice is to avoid flashlights with more than one diode but prefer a more powerful diode instead. It is easier to provide better illumination with a single diode, and it is usually easier on the battery for the same lumens.
Nice Video and explaination, Love It🙂🙂🙂
The best way to get a ton of light for less $$$? Use non-bike specific components. Get some 12V off-road LED flood lights or spot lights off Amazon. Then, get any old 12VDC battery pack and wire it up to your light (with a switch or connector). You'll have all the light you'll ever need.
Too much wieght and clutter and failure points. Not worth it.
Soooooooo, my first night ride I had an 800 lumen day blazer light on bars and a camping headlamp for my helmet light...yea I couldn't see jack. But the handlebar strap for light broke, asked for a replacement and company sent a new light! Now I have an 800lumen light for my bars and one for my head!! At least I'll have a total of 1600 lumens hahaha
Michael Knight 'NIGHT RIDER' Dum da da Daaa
EXCELLENT VIDEO DODDY
Timely, extremely useful information
WELL DONE.
An Appreciative
Raptor Rob.
The mega looks so sick. Really enjoy night riding. Different type of fun though
I have never used really expensive lights, but this year I have bought a couple of torches from amazon (£35 each) and they work well for me, one on my helmet and one for the bars. Variable power from 2-1300 lumens (claimed), I find the 50 lumen setting enough for climbs and road, and 700 for descents, with the 1300 there if I need it!
My experience is its not all about the lumens! Beam pattern and colour temperature are just as important. Mine use Samsung leds which have a warmer colour than cree, which takes some of the harshness out of the shadows. And I love the fact that, being torches, they are self-contained units instead of having an external battery. Oh, and they are rechargeable and the battery can be changed, so if I want to stay out longer I can carry a spare battery instead of a full lamp!
Which model did you buy?
NiteRider Lumina Dual 1800 Rechargeable for bike and the 850 for your helmet. No wires, three settings of brightness. Best set up.
That's my setup. I've got 2 of each
Make sure your hat has a centre channel to attach the light too. Quite a few helmets don't have the central channel
Thanks Doddy. Just bought myself a pair. Looking forward to a night ride this week.
Back in the day ( 1999) we had a 15 watt and 45 watt halogen lights with a lead acid battery in a sealed water bottle i think it was one of the first nite rider light systems for mtb it was fantastic back then top of line lighting systems. ..In Australia
Added bonus is that if it's cold you can also warm your hands up too.. :D
@@TheWebstaff yes that was the case.😃
I remember night riding around 2003 with a Cateye dual halogen light set, one wide beam and one narrow, 10watts each and the mentioned heavy lead acid battery on the frame, the worst bit of it all was actually the extremely thick and not very flexy cable that had to run to the bars. If you had a pile of cash you could get an 84watt Cateye Stadium but they were rare.
Then Lupine hit the market with their HID lights, shops couldn't get them in fast enough.
Lights have come a long way since then for sure.
@@robertlees2065 Off road riding with suspension was new and having lights was new so it was great fun ..I used to take the dogs out and let them chase the rabbits under lights they loved it to ..lol
@@stevecrump1375 At the risk of sounding like an old man mountain bikers new to the sport don't know how good they've got it, even cheap compact lights now have higher outputs and longer battery life.
It'd almost be funny to take someone who has only ever known the current tech and give them an early 2000s XC bike with some old lights to see how they get on.
Just started with the Hope integrated light. Great fun, just need one for my lid.
Real 700 lumen flashlight with orange peel plus a clear reflector one on the helmet gives already good conditions for riding. And allows for spare batteries. 90 degree pointing lens on flashlights allows for nice center, in front of stem mounting using cheapest Chinese bar mount swiveled in front of bar. Flashlight sits parallel to the bar in front of it. 1500lumens on a helmet would be nice bonus but not a must. That's my 2year experience
Doddy's new Nukeproof Mega looks awesome!!
I am running a Gloworm XS 2600 on the bike and a Cygolite 1100 on helmet. I run the helmet at medium, and the bike light at Low / Medium. The Gloworm comes with a remote which is very handy.
I use a NiteRider 1200OLED bar light and a Princeton Tec EOS helmet light, this combo works very well for riding. The beam on the NiteRider is just powerful enough to illuminate the trail, while the EOS on my helmet provides good lighting when I need it. I have set up my lights so my helmet light illuminates the trail about 5-20' infront of my front tire, the NiteRider is (as Doddy stated 30-35' )further down trail. I have good illumination of the trail. One other piece of kit that is essential for night riding is eye protection, clear lens work the best and keep the twigs and sticks out of your eye while riding or if you happen to crash.
At least in the UK you don't have to worry about wild boars. Here in France, they're quite common and usually encountered at night or dawn. I don't mind deers, but boars scare the sh!t out of me.
There are wild boar in the UK! They're not very common but maybe 3000 in the South and West. Forest of Dean I think has quite a number. I've never seen one though. I hear they can be grumpy! 😂
Bears out here in our (literal) neck of the woods. I’m going to jinx myself now but I haven’t seen any since late September.
A very well constructed advert for Lezyne and Exposure there. :) But still, imformative none the less!
While Exposure lights are expensive up front. They last.
I’ve a Toro for the bars and it’s 10 years old yet still lasts for a 3 hour night ride, with a lots of it on full power. But on my helmet I do run one of the sub £20 generic lights with the battery in my pack.
@@br5380 the exposures last very long. Because you usually break their mounts in the first couple of rides.
@@roilev only broken one in far too many crashes - run it quite near the stem though.
I just bought a 52000 lumens light for £28, just Google "cree lights", go from there. Great quality for the dollar, waterproof, very bright as good as if not better than a car headlight.
Buddy, sorry but you've been scammed HARD. 💩 There is no way, absolutely no way, you can get 52 _thousand_ lumens in your 28 quid cheapo torch. I know torches and I guarantee your purchase has an aspheric lens, a gritty zoomy system full of rust spots inside, a fake Cree LED (likely a Latticebright piece of rubbish), and a high-low-strobe UI with next mode memory. You can buy these for less than 5 US dollars if you know where to look.
If you want a *_REAL_* budget torch, start with a Convoy S2+. Trust me, flashaholic here.
A few years back we did some downhill night stuff on some semi-active volcanoes in Bali.. omg was that fun - we all had ott lights and ott brakes but it was an amazing experience..
2000 lumens.. love to see that on a meter..
But that auto adjustment of light levels very cool
Been night riding for years-started with Duracell jobs back in the eighties-a candle would have been better. Very fortunate to now have an Exposure six pack and an Equinox along with a couple of front and rear Tracers to get to and from the trail. They are all absolutely brilliant. Exposure's service is second to none, including sorting out a ham fisted breakage from me which they repaired for free. Thoroughly recommend them. They are expensive, but they last and you get what you pay for.
Just bought the max d mk13 cracking light 4000 lumen
Ha ha when i had some of those amazon lights id charge them in a saucepan too😂
Ive been using nestling 3 led lights for years, besides the odd battery pack dying the lights themselves have been good. I ride with 2 on the bars and 1 on helmet for anything upto 6 hours
I edc my Thrunite T1. It's 1100 lumens. I put it in my bars ad a headlight. It works amazingly. It's small abd bright. I don't ride that fast kn trails though so it's. Ore than enough. I do have a one80 headlamp that is velcro and I got it to stick to my helmet. It's amazing for biking. Helps on the street too. I have taillight as well clipped to my backpack so it moves when I do. I'm going to get some kinda wheel lights as well for streets since I do both.
When doddy pronounces lezyne like le-zeen when I always thought it was le-zine just kills me to hear it pronounced differently 😂😂
I have do some night riding and it was a lot of fun. We have a volunteer ban on some trail because of the effect on the wild life. I think we share the trails with nature and it’s good to give nature some rest time. I am not saying do not night ride just think about the impact it has.
I run one 850 lumen cygolite on the bar. It's been great and durable and weatherproof so far. Multiple settings. I use three blinky lights on back. Cygolite, torch, tobrite. Cygolite is the better of those. My torch is balky but still works.
These many bicycle headlights are described in detail by the video master, which can avoid stepping on pits as much as possible. But some places have restrictions on the brightness of bicycle lights.
Exposure lights are pretty nice. I bought a Diablo for the helmet about 7 years ago; still going strong! It is rated as 900 lumens max. Now the Diablo is probably 1200. Great light! Night rider lights are decent too and cheaper. It much depends how fast or technical your night riding will be. Night road rides you can get way with a bar mount 700-1000 lumens maybe less with well lit streets. For Trail, like mentioned here you will want alot more. Having a backup light is key.
Great video. Not patronising but full of essential information.
I'd recommend the Blackburn Dayblazer series
I had one of these 1400LM. Light output is fine for occasional light offloading. Great in the city even on the lowest setting it light up dark streets. Problem is that the batteries were rather poor in capacity. I had to charge them every day to be sure that they will last the second day the 45 min ride home from work.
I have a cheap 4xCree Chinese light on my helmet with the battery in in my back pack, the cable being zip-tied to my helmet and running through the hole for my hydration bladder.
Luckily I have a separate 'night riding' helmet, otherwise it'd be a PITA zip-tying the cable every time I go out at night and removing them again when I don't need/want the light/added weight.
Lezyne Micro Drive are good lights...I've got 3 of them and they can be helmet mounted as well....
I did a night ride on Saturday (2 days ago) and used a full Nestling (eBay) battery pack light and a Lezyne 600XL at high power, replacing the Nestling one near home with a fully charged 450 XL light.....Bright enough for 3 hours in the dark....Always take backup lights front and rear though.....
I`m doing pretty well with just 350 lumens on my well-known local trails.
I have actually found it better to have a brighter light on helmet than bar. I find my eyes don’t adjust fast enough to see around upcoming corners with a dimmer headlight while brighter bar light is still facing straight forward.
It's also funny reading the comments how many people only use a head torch as lamp. It's all fun and games until the fog set's in and you can't see at all. The fact that your light shines at the same angle as your eyes are looking will make it feel like you hit a white wall
I was riding up Sheffield last week and the fog came in had less than 10 meter visibility.
Ended up with my two backup Aldi Cree lights on the bottom of my forks just for that extra boost of light.. :D
Solution: use a headtorch with throwy beam and warm tint. Cool white SUCKS in fog, rain or smoke.
@@DinnerForkTongue that will help a little indeed but most importantly you have to change the angle of the light, get it away from your eyes
Sigma Buster 2000HL is all I need! 2000lm on the helmet is enough for Trail riding in the dark!🤟
Everything you need to know, really good video!
Im glad that bike lights have improved from the terrible things that can bought for £10 and jus flashed and ran out of power after quarter of an hours use to using the the equivalent of having a spot light on your bike and at this time of the year until the seasons chance back and I'm glad f having a strong lights that can be recharged through usb and not pulling the batteries out.
Different question: bar mounted vs. frame mounted lights (in combination with a helmet light, of course) I always feel the bar mounted light is too nervous on technical sections. Frame mounted would make it steadier by having it pointed into the overall direction of the bike vs permanent corrective movements of the front wheel. The helmet light would then cover the specific areas to look at.
I haven‘t found a decent frame mount yet, though, so maybe it has been proven already that it‘s not a good idea??
Any feedback welcome.😊
I went for my first night ride tonight & it was awesome
Night riding is lit.
Magicshine allty2000 on the bars, garmin mount design, so far so good, and a cheap 18650 led on the helmet, spare batteries for both carried if needed
Love it. Doddy invoked he voice of Nan.
Got that nestling light well the bigger one without the battery pack its two years old and easy get 3 hours on full power or easy six on low i live in scotland out in all weather have never failed would highly recommend them
Batteries. Never more than 80% charge never less than 20% for more than a day.
Top up charging is best.
That's old advice though. Really depends on the batteries you have
The never more than 80% Is pretty irrelevant for modern batteries...
Lithium Ion batteries (Cu-Co) should remain 40 to 80 when not in use. Store in a warm environment. Nickle Metal Hydride (NiMh) drain to 0 and then recharge to 100, store in the cold. Nickle Cadmium (NiCad) and Lead Acid (Pb) you are unlikely to see on modern bike lights, but were widely used in the past.
@@HarryL2020 not really you greatly reduce there life in the upper and lower states as that is the point at which the ions are in there greatest offset so that are trying like made to get to the other side of the battery.
They are so excited to get back to a resting state of equilibrium they will even construct dendrites to jump the wall..
@@TheWebstaff I know but they still last a long time especially since it's only used for bike lights.
Nestling is Solarstorm X2 £10 for bare light plus a new battery job done. (I also build hard mounts for handle bar)
And aldi also do some great Cree cheap lights.
My first gen solarstorms 6 years old now..
Still working fine.
Used every week.
That's with my own battery though.
I use two 800 Lumens works fine for me
If you’re not sponsored by Exposure or Lezyne, the biggest torch that Anker sell is brilliant. Plus it takes 25660 batteries, so you can carry spares. You do have to get creative with mounting, though.
I got an 800 and a 600 lumen and either is fine on it’s own, 2 lights better than anything mega powerful. Can’t think why you would recommend such crazy power. I guess if you are doing huge jumps and drops on unfamiliar trails perhaps.
great video more of this extra gear 👋🙋🏼♂️ One you should test as well real handy good light Knog blinder 400
Never less than REAL 1000Lm. I use Convoy S2+ (993LM) for Road cycling and i have just bought a Convoy S21A (1800Lm) for MTB. Also, if you can and feel conformable go with a head light. I had yesterday 2 big crashes at night on the trails because I only had the Convoy S2+ on the handlebar, not enough, believe me. Also, if you want to be kind with people on the trails or cars on the road, install a light deflector!
Ey, someone else who knows Convoy!
Have you tried a strip TIR lens on your S2+? It should focus the beam in a narrow horizontal band like a car or motorcycle headlight, so more light on the path and less lost to the air bothering other transients.
@@DinnerForkTongue I’ll look at it, thanks!
@@AlvaroQF
Chhers! 🍻
5:33 🤣🤣 almost as funny as cable ties
For my helmet light i brought one of those 2K lumen torches off Amazon for £20 put a good 18650 battery in it and stuck a GoPro mount on it with resin, works perfect.
It absolutely doesn't do 2000 lumens, my dude. Sorry to break it to you.
@@DinnerForkTongue I know it doesn't, the cree led in it is specd at 1052 lumen but it still works well so what does it matter it was £20. My dude.
@@Primarch_Vulkan
I was just saying, because a proper budget torch that does reach the upper limits of a real Cree and not some cruddy Latticebright (such as Convoy or Sofirn) would go for even cheaper than that, stuff like 10-12 quid. If you give a toss by this point, of course 🤔
Just watch the battery on your set for any swelling or heating up.
(My DuDe)
@@DinnerForkTongue I put an LG Mj1 in it so the battery should be fine, not going to use the shitty battery that came with it.
@@Primarch_Vulkan
Wicked, that's a pretty damn based setup. If only other users were as savvy as this, we'd have way less fire hazards (and by consequence, less hassle shipping batteries).
O light has a new bike light is just enough for me and great deals too
I prefer Lumintop myself.
I got my bike light at Amazon. 3 leds 3000 lumens just 1 light they last for 5 or more hours they are very bright. The company called (Eguyfire). I bought 4 of them. I love all my lights that i buy from Amazon.
Top video jajajajaj now feel motivated to get on the trail mzself, what gest me going the longest while bike is *delta parole* or other rokk music!
Please do a bike check on that Mega Doddy!
Brilliant, thank you
Bontrager Ion Pro RT x 3 , one on the helmet, 2 on the bars
Tony, right there with you brother.
Love u guys but sorry I can't agree I have a lezyne 900 lumen and it was a perfect beginner light for a beginner. But if u can afford it then yes 1k lumen is a must
🔦Magicshine Monteer 8000 for the win 🔦
Liked for the relatability on the jacket inside comment
Awesome, thanks
I use magicshine Mountaineer 6500 lumens bar mount and 12090 lumens helmet light. Was thinkiong to get 8000 lumens bar light but got 6500 instead.
You can carry an extra battery pack with those cheap lights. I've never had an issue with them. I've had them about 10 years now.
Same here, but the cheap battery packs sux. The cabling inside is bad, there is no waterproofing and the cells are 2nd hand and/or bad quality and don't last as much as a quality battery pack. I bought an empty battery pack shell and I bought the cells (Samsung INR18650-35E 3450mAh - 8A) separately. I have 2 shells - one is for 6 cells for the handlebar powerful CREE XHP 70 flashlight, and another 4-cells for the helmet-mounted XM-L2 smaller flashlight. And I have 30 cells so I can ride for a whole night.
@@roilev Actually that is very similar to mine. Battery shell for 4 cells. Upgraded batteries to 4000 mAh a few years ago. Still going strong.
Great video 👌
really was looking for some lights lately. Now I know what I am looking for, thank you 💪💪
Typed in "Mtb Lights" in google and got an ad for a 5$ Light with a whopping 990.000 Lumen on wish, lol
pretty sure this thing will do -
not
stay healthy 🤘
Typical fake rubbish advertisement of ass-pulled lumens on a Cheapo. Seriously, get a Convoy S2+ and thank me later.
wow, add for Exposure much? Pretty good intro info other than that.
3D printed some for me and my friends and damm they're bright... Cost about £70 to make and perform like a £200 light.
They are about 3600 real lumens with about 1.8 Hour run time.
Sounds decent. What drivers and emitters did you use?
@@DinnerForkTongue just use a normal buck converter from eBay to regulate voltage and amps, then rewired the current regulation circuit for full dimming. the chips are Cree XHP70 12v (bought from RS components so they're legit)
Does require some baking when attaching the chip to a PCB though.
@@HarryL2020
Sounds good 👍🏽
Nice trip down the local Doddy! How were the trails?
I have hope r8+ and i love it
Cool video Doddy🍻👍😎I got a bigger Nestling light 2000L without all that cabling. Are they a trail specific light? I have to point it right down when commuting on the road. The beam seems to cover a huuge area... 😕
Good information!
Are hub generator powered systems/lights a viable option?
Based on a Dynamo light I had on my commuter, I’d say not enough power. Plus not going fast enough, for long enough.
More for road rides than MTB.
I got the best lights walmart has, works great
Ha! I tapped into my 52V battery on my e-mtn bike...6000 lumens LED bar, plus 1000 lumens Streamlight USB headlamp. Like frickin Daylight out there!!!
I noticed a rockshox zeb on that bike. New video about that fork coming up?
Good video on lights! Do you also need reflectors, as i dont see them on your bike. The orange/white reflectors on the spokes are obligated here in The Netherlands but they rattle on the trail.
We don't have police officers on the mtb trails in the UK so if you like to live life on the edge we take them off.
Best helmet light?
I use a 400 lumen cateye light for full offroad and it's more than enough
Doubt it
No it's not
Yes it can be, depending on the beam pattern. I dpubt Billy's cateye is a mule or some other extremely floody design.
I just started night riding
Same, its amazing n shadows can make simple parts look crazy compared to day time.
How is Henry?
I'm good thanks how are you?
@@henryrivett5988 HENRY!!!!
Looking healthy, Old Chap!
Can someone give me a link for the 18 pound light?
Might worth a try.
bardocz just search on eBay or amazon for cree lights there will be loads. They are pretty good. I'm not sure if it's just rumour but I wouldn't leave them unattended whilst charging or do what Dodds says as sick them in a saucepan. Never had an issue it's mine but better safe than sorry.
@@elementour Thank you, I found some, some of them is sold without a battery. Currently I use a Lumintop B01, which have a great light, but it's more usefull on road, in traffic, because of the reflector(?) under the led.
@@bardocz
I'd say stick with the B01. It's much better than that Nesty-whater piece of false advertisement. If you really need an upgrade, look for Sofirn.
@@DinnerForkTongue currently I use a sofirn sp40 as a helmet light, and a b01 with a chinese noname 3 led light on the bar. I would add this chinese to them to get a bit better visibility.
@@bardocz
Good stuff there. In this case, have you already thought of using a 21700 torch like the Convoy S21A SST40 or XHP50.2 3v? Pretty decent power on them.