Just plugged the light into my wall charger directly, and it worked… I could even pair the remote and all my light level setting are intact.. so the brain is actually in the light unit. This is a massive advantage compared to most other lights I never even thought about! Thanks again for digging in to it!
"The sound of the mountains (in the night) are so therapeutic....." ha ha a true blue cyclist brother amongst us... thank you for sharing your videos with us!!! RIde safely.
I absolutely love descending at night, it makes me feel so dynamic and almost as if i was flying. Another great Video + the extended descending clip was soothing to watch. Great work man !
I'd recommend using a secondary helmet light as a compliment for the main beam on the bars, so it can follow the path of your eyes, which it's usually a bit ahead on the road.
Amazing video! 🙌 The new mount on the bigger heavy camera Varia is more secure. But it's all a bit too beafy for your liking. I'm glad you know these descents well 😬
Japan has tons of hills plus lots of of other beautiful places to ride. Once you get away from large urban areas, and if you’re able to avoid the bigger rural ‘highway’ type roads.
Amazing video! Brings back memories of many blissful kms riding at night during Japanese Odyssey 2018. It's a real adventure riding remote areas in the dark. I agree that big tyres are good insurance as you cannot read the road surface as well, even with bright lights, and a loud hub probably does help warn the wildlife... I had a loud Hope Pro4 and saw many deer disappearing as I rounded corners. A rider behind me did blow a skinnier tyre on a rock, and I did hear of another rider crashing into a small bear(!) so there are certainly risks, but I've had deer nearly take me out during the daytime on a flat straight road... the fewer humans in cars tends to balance out the other night riding risks for me. Very peaceful... and you can't see how steep the road is.
Yeah, critters always my biggest fear at night. Funny you mention the HOPE hub. What is it about HOPE hubs. My SP24, great hub but loud af. I sound like a kamikaze dive bomber on a fast descent. I guess the payoff is the wild life warning. If only you could turn it off when not needed
Scared me just watching but still a great view! I ride with lights daytime too - and won't leave home without my Garmin Varia - too many nutty drivers out there. Agree with you how crumby the mount is though. Now drone footage of night descent please...joke!
Brilliant video and first comment from me, only to say that sketchy right hander towards the end, with that little rough patch had my heart in my mouth… 👍
I would love to know your camera settings. I take it it's a Gopro on a chest mount. My night ride footage doesn't look any where near as good as yours and certainly not good enough for UA-cam.
@@ridesofjapan yes, definitely not ideal set up, but pretty good night footage. Two wheel Cruise did a night time video about that. Unfortunately GoPro sucks at night...
Nice descent! Be careful of wildlife, though. I dodged a fawn last year here in Mie-ken that crossed the road suddenly; my friend hit the mother deer's ass! Had a close call with a tanuki once as well. Anyway, cool video.
I can totally sympathize about the serenity and lack of traffic (particularly after having a lorry up my backside for the steepest part of the Otarumi Touge ascent last weekend). But I also have direct experience of the far longer road rash recovery time now that I'm 60 -- I'm not about to take up night descending, but my Kabuto is off to you!
Great video as usual! Just be careful descending at nightfall. I hear that there's a tofu delivery guy notoriously drive reckless in the mountain passes. Especially in the Gunma prefecture.
I’ve lived and rode in Japan for the past 25 years (China)so I know Japanese roads well. This video gave me so much anxiety it was not even funny. The thought of a inoshishi 🐗 waiting around that next corner was just too much for me. 😂. Amazing descending skills sir…truly.
Beautiful. With the rainy season on its way, and the summer to follow hot on its heels, if you ever felt the need to share your thoughts on how to keep cool on long days in the saddle....I for one would be very happy to read about it!! I do generally around 90kms around Mie / Gifu border on Saturdays and have to leave at 5am just to avoid the heat later in the day....
This was so cool! I appreciate the light setup info as well as the dramatic decent footage. It would have been nice to have a GPS speed overlay. Thanks for the video!
Interesting indeed. As a rider watching the video I appreciated the "light in the correct position" rather than the "better video" light. I like the Glo worm products (good local company for me) and I need to investigate if they do any batteries that can be charged off the pedal cell unit. I currently run a Ravemen 1600, great light but a heavy unit to have on an out front mount.
Fascinating to watch this. Can't really tell from the video, but it looks like you're overriding the light beam. That is, if there is something on the road -- a wild animal, for instance -- are you able to stop before hitting it?
The only word which comes to mind is breathtaking. I have a similar downhill here in the Santa Cruz Mountains and have done the descent well over a hundred times but never at night. This really does inspire me. I use exposure light Strada which I like.
I´ve been using for about 18monts the Lezyne Macro Drive 1300XXL+Strip Pro 300 and its a great product the only obvious downsize is its weight that changes the handling performance just a bit. Great video RoJ how arr the LighBicycle rims holding? I´m getting the WR45 delivered soon for my gravel\training bike! Cheers and ride safe!
I love my V1 gloworm system. A bit jealous you got the V2. I wonder if that battery pack can be recharged off a battery bank 🤔. I’ve run the 4cell battery with a 2 cell backup for some bike packing races. The wireless switch is awesome. Love your work Japan Man ❤️
Charging a battery pack with another battery pack… that would create some kind of wormhole no? 😝 With the speed to ride your ultra events, I can’t imagine you need more than the 2cell battery though 😎 Cheers mate!
I use a lupine piko, a very similar design to this. It can also be mounted to a helmet or used as a head torch , which is very helpful, I find... unfortunately no usb-c
The Edelux is great, but you will want an additional helmet light for twisty descents as the shaped beam of the Edelux throws no light into a tight corner. Reading signs over the road can also be problematic... but not everywhere has those.
@Rides of Japan It appears you record at 24fps. It gives that cinematic smoothness but kills the sense of speed and real life dynamics. Try with 30fps - it should give more sense of speed and life-like movement (and also 60fps which is even more life-like, for comparison).
the NITECORE BR35 uses Cree LEDs and has a focused beam pattern along with a splash/spill beam pattern. The battery will safely last between 4-6hrs. From the research I've done, it's the best setup without going custom or wired. It has three different modes: trail (focus/splash on), road (switch between either focus or splash), city (splash)
Nice light, thank you You also can check Moon Rigel Pro 1000, it's also small and you can use it with external battery Also it has Type-C and some cool unique features
Love your videos, keep up the great work! I hope to ride around Tokyo myself in the future, pre-covid my job took me to Narita regularly (I know, wrong side of the city 😬) will definitely look up your rides on Strava for inspiration! Regards from Amsterdam.
I've started riding in the night this year and really enjoy it, but I live in a super flat are and am already jumpy when riding at speed in the dark. Can't imagine actually doing a descent 🤣 looks like a cool light though.
I think night time rides are fabulous but I would really worry more about an animal crossing at the wrong time!! Just three days ago a family of 4 nutrias (spanish) crossed right in front of me while I descented at 53 klms luckily I was able to ride right behind them!!!
the ratchet exp freehub sound is so sexy. i'm twisted like that. And someone seriously told me to use the bell when approaching after noticing me coming with the loudest no grease ratchet sound you have ever heard....
Great video! just wondering if the gloworm light unit work with other power bank?
Don’t know, but I would guess no since the “brain” sits in the battery
@@ridesofjapan Thanks, i have asked the same question to gloworm team and they have confirmed it will work as long as the powerbank support USB-PD.
Awesome, good to know 👌
Just plugged the light into my wall charger directly, and it worked… I could even pair the remote and all my light level setting are intact.. so the brain is actually in the light unit. This is a massive advantage compared to most other lights I never even thought about!
Thanks again for digging in to it!
You take your time. But your videos are ALWAYS worth waiting.
Don’t compromise. Keep it up 👍
Cheers mate!
A eurobeat track during descend might add some watts during the night! That's a really nice descent! :)
Listen to it while playing "Path of desire" its perfect!
"The sound of the mountains (in the night) are so therapeutic....." ha ha a true blue cyclist brother amongst us... thank you for sharing your videos with us!!! RIde safely.
I absolutely love descending at night, it makes me feel so dynamic and almost as if i was flying. Another great Video + the extended descending clip was soothing to watch. Great work man !
I'd recommend using a secondary helmet light as a compliment for the main beam on the bars, so it can follow the path of your eyes, which it's usually a bit ahead on the road.
He is. You can see him looking through the turns many times based on the additional light.
In the vid he says he is using a helmet light 9:29, but doesn't normally use it.
The sound of the DT Swiss wheels and hubs is superb. Oh, and your riding is second to none.
Amazing video! 🙌 The new mount on the bigger heavy camera Varia is more secure. But it's all a bit too beafy for your liking. I'm glad you know these descents well 😬
I live somewhere extremely flat and I have no words for how jealous I am of all the amazing hills featured on your channel!
Japan has tons of hills plus lots of of other beautiful places to ride. Once you get away from large urban areas, and if you’re able to avoid the bigger rural ‘highway’ type roads.
Amazing video! Brings back memories of many blissful kms riding at night during Japanese Odyssey 2018. It's a real adventure riding remote areas in the dark. I agree that big tyres are good insurance as you cannot read the road surface as well, even with bright lights, and a loud hub probably does help warn the wildlife... I had a loud Hope Pro4 and saw many deer disappearing as I rounded corners. A rider behind me did blow a skinnier tyre on a rock, and I did hear of another rider crashing into a small bear(!) so there are certainly risks, but I've had deer nearly take me out during the daytime on a flat straight road... the fewer humans in cars tends to balance out the other night riding risks for me. Very peaceful... and you can't see how steep the road is.
Yeah, critters always my biggest fear at night. Funny you mention the HOPE hub. What is it about HOPE hubs. My SP24, great hub but loud af. I sound like a kamikaze dive bomber on a fast descent. I guess the payoff is the wild life warning. If only you could turn it off when not needed
This should've had eurobeats playlits..
Sick edit as usual. Another option to try out one day is outbound lights. Absolute game changer.
Scared me just watching but still a great view!
I ride with lights daytime too - and won't leave home without my Garmin Varia - too many nutty drivers out there.
Agree with you how crumby the mount is though. Now drone footage of night descent please...joke!
Oh man, that was a top tier intro! I wish it was longer
Brilliant video and first comment from me, only to say that sketchy right hander towards the end, with that little rough patch had my heart in my mouth… 👍
The Safa Brian of Japan
Great video! You should post the speed next time for the descent
another great film - love the intro. I'm after a new set of lights - this is very useful.
you added weight!! OMG! I think I just died.
Fellow night rider here started because of my schedule but man I love it especially for single over nighters
I would be afraid of hitting an animal…
Very initial D vibes in the intro, cool video and setup!
I would love to know your camera settings. I take it it's a Gopro on a chest mount.
My night ride footage doesn't look any where near as good as yours and certainly not good enough for UA-cam.
That because it’s not a GoPro… they are useless in the dark. I use a DJI pocket 2. Not ideal either but better than GoPro
That was my question, thank you!
@@ridesofjapan yes, definitely not ideal set up, but pretty good night footage. Two wheel Cruise did a night time video about that. Unfortunately GoPro sucks at night...
Nice descent! Be careful of wildlife, though. I dodged a fawn last year here in Mie-ken that crossed the road suddenly; my friend hit the mother deer's ass! Had a close call with a tanuki once as well.
Anyway, cool video.
This is like Initial D, but with a bike
Very cool I like riding in the early morning, before sunrise been looking for new light options thanks
Managed to find some black packing foam yesterday, so tried out the Varia mount hack. 24g saved, very pleased. Thanks
Ever encountered anything creepy up there at nights?
If you’re talking about the souls of dead samurai, then nope… nothing 🥷
What time of night was this? Thanks for the great vid.
Don't remember exacly, I'd say 8~9ish in the evening
anyone else scared just watching the descent?
I can totally sympathize about the serenity and lack of traffic (particularly after having a lorry up my backside for the steepest part of the Otarumi Touge ascent last weekend). But I also have direct experience of the far longer road rash recovery time now that I'm 60 -- I'm not about to take up night descending, but my Kabuto is off to you!
Great video as usual! Just be careful descending at nightfall. I hear that there's a tofu delivery guy notoriously drive reckless in the mountain passes. Especially in the Gunma prefecture.
I’ve lived and rode in Japan for the past 25 years (China)so I know Japanese roads well. This video gave me so much anxiety it was not even funny. The thought of a inoshishi 🐗 waiting around that next corner was just too much for me. 😂. Amazing descending skills sir…truly.
I have strangely fond memories of the Okutama nighttime tunnels ride, even though the traffic was hellish: ua-cam.com/video/bt7J8xzM8ag/v-deo.html
That never gets old 🤜🤛
Would be fun to refresh that memory… one can always dream ;)
@@ridesofjapan Ridetasia can arise anew, from your dreams and wishes, 'bias!
A new videooooooo, finally!
Really enjoyed that end footage. Watched while on my spin bike and could almost smell the night air. Love night rides.
You’re my favorite new YT channel. And, well, you’re an awesome person. Thanks for sharing your experiences in Japan!
That there are mirrors calms my anxiety a little. Thx for that info.
I love your reviews on products. The reviews are so well in depth, that I can’t help but considering making a purchase.
Beautiful.
With the rainy season on its way, and the summer to follow hot on its heels, if you ever felt the need to share your thoughts on how to keep cool on long days in the saddle....I for one would be very happy to read about it!!
I do generally around 90kms around Mie / Gifu border on Saturdays and have to leave at 5am just to avoid the heat later in the day....
Find streams and waterfalls to cool off in :)
@@ridesofjapan 😉The voice of reason! Cheers... both for the excellent channel and the inspiration to do more!
This was so cool! I appreciate the light setup info as well as the dramatic decent footage. It would have been nice to have a GPS speed overlay. Thanks for the video!
I know it's Knight Rider themed but also offers some nice Initial D Vibes! Was subconsciously waiting for the Eurobeat to start 😅
Just love Japan and miss it. Been there many times but have never had the chance to ride there. Beautiful videos mate.
May I ask how you set up the camera and which one it is? GoPro? Chesty? A video on recording tipps for wonderful descents would be great content :)
For fast descents, you want LUX! Which is a measure of throw, as opposed to brightness {lumens}.
Interesting indeed. As a rider watching the video I appreciated the "light in the correct position" rather than the "better video" light. I like the Glo worm products (good local company for me) and I need to investigate if they do any batteries that can be charged off the pedal cell unit. I currently run a Ravemen 1600, great light but a heavy unit to have on an out front mount.
Fascinating to watch this. Can't really tell from the video, but it looks like you're overriding the light beam. That is, if there is something on the road -- a wild animal, for instance -- are you able to stop before hitting it?
Initial d vibes
Damn! I wouldn't dare to descent here even during the day! BRAVO!
This is some initial-d level production s***! Absolutely incredible
Why can't I hear the ratcheting sound of the bike?
Delicious!
The only word which comes to mind is breathtaking. I have a similar downhill here in the Santa Cruz Mountains and have done the descent well over a hundred times but never at night. This really does inspire me. I use exposure light Strada which I like.
I´ve been using for about 18monts the Lezyne Macro Drive 1300XXL+Strip Pro 300 and its a great product the only obvious downsize is its weight that changes the handling performance just a bit. Great video RoJ how arr the LighBicycle rims holding? I´m getting the WR45 delivered soon for my gravel\training bike! Cheers and ride safe!
No problems this far
Cheers!
I too hold riding at night dear to my heart. Absolutely love it!
such a cool shot - I know it was hard work to get them this clear too. This is fun
I love my V1 gloworm system. A bit jealous you got the V2. I wonder if that battery pack can be recharged off a battery bank 🤔. I’ve run the 4cell battery with a 2 cell backup for some bike packing races. The wireless switch is awesome. Love your work Japan Man ❤️
Charging a battery pack with another battery pack… that would create some kind of wormhole no? 😝
With the speed to ride your ultra events, I can’t imagine you need more than the 2cell battery though 😎
Cheers mate!
The night descent clip is so good man. Legit ASMR 🙌
Was that "Kavinsky" as the intro music?
Initial C???
Midnight cycling Club???
Thanks!
The loud hub as wildlife deterrent 🤣👍
Who calls for help when the bear cat takes you out?
I like the lezyne 1300 personally, now I'm surely going to look at it like it's a brick next time I see it hahaha
Excellent light! If you have a sturdy enough mount to get it off the handlebar it’s pretty much perfect 👍
Seriously.....when did your channel get soooo gooooood!!! Long time sub and loving the new stuff brother!!!
Cheers mate!
I use a lupine piko, a very similar design to this. It can also be mounted to a helmet or used as a head torch , which is very helpful, I find... unfortunately no usb-c
Gloworm comes with a helmet as well.
My top two picks was actually the Piko and the Gloworm, in the end the lenses and usb-c tipped the scale
@@ridesofjapan ah, it comes with the helmet 😜... the lenses seem nice though
🫣⛑
never stop uploading! ur videos are great
No street lights whatsoever??
Fenix bike lights are good, removable batteries and type C charging.
Means you can carry a spare.
fun fact: you cant ride your bike at night in russia cause police will think you are a grug courier
😣
bikes are so much cooler than cars.
Good descend disciplines😄
Filming this solo must be very hard !!
did takumi start riding a bike?
Initial d. But with bike
Sounds like disc rub
Just excellent. I have opted for dynamo + Edelux for my incoming Ritchey Outback for exactly those kind of rides.
The Edelux is great, but you will want an additional helmet light for twisty descents as the shaped beam of the Edelux throws no light into a tight corner. Reading signs over the road can also be problematic... but not everywhere has those.
@@craigwilson118 thx!
@Rides of Japan It appears you record at 24fps. It gives that cinematic smoothness but kills the sense of speed and real life dynamics. Try with 30fps - it should give more sense of speed and life-like movement (and also 60fps which is even more life-like, for comparison).
Over my dead body! ;)
the NITECORE BR35 uses Cree LEDs and has a focused beam pattern along with a splash/spill beam pattern. The battery will safely last between 4-6hrs. From the research I've done, it's the best setup without going custom or wired. It has three different modes: trail (focus/splash on), road (switch between either focus or splash), city (splash)
Nice light, thank you
You also can check Moon Rigel Pro 1000, it's also small and you can use it with external battery
Also it has Type-C and some cool unique features
Good stuff. I’ll stick with my two flashlights and electric tape.
Awesome!
awesome!
You should really look into Lupine lights. Especially the SL Nano AF.
Are there no ghost
Love your videos, keep up the great work! I hope to ride around Tokyo myself in the future, pre-covid my job took me to Narita regularly (I know, wrong side of the city 😬) will definitely look up your rides on Strava for inspiration! Regards from Amsterdam.
Inspiring….light coverage seems really good……stay safe
All the feels, Love riding the Chichibu passes at night. So safe you can really hammer the corners and generally stay out of trouble.
I've started riding in the night this year and really enjoy it, but I live in a super flat are and am already jumpy when riding at speed in the dark. Can't imagine actually doing a descent 🤣 looks like a cool light though.
I think night time rides are fabulous but I would really worry more about an animal crossing at the wrong time!!
Just three days ago a family of 4 nutrias (spanish) crossed right in front of me while I descented at 53 klms luckily I was able to ride right behind them!!!
also with this mountains i can good understand why in the past japan had build cool cameras like the widelux :)
the ratchet exp freehub sound is so sexy. i'm twisted like that. And someone seriously told me to use the bell when approaching after noticing me coming with the loudest no grease ratchet sound you have ever heard....
You have to check out Lupine lights.
My SL AX was a hefty investment but worth every penny once I went for a few night rides.
My question is: those cameras on the road while you race by…..
You leave them and grab later or what?
What about the animals? Maybe they wake up, be frighten, run in your way?
Imagine going down that hill in the dark and see Sadako Yamamura waving at you......
😃👍
so SICK ! I'd shit my pants cornering in the dark lol
The setup is not clean. I opted for the lezyne this year and it is huge brick on the handlebar and this annoys me a lot
Once this has a rear exit port rather than a side exit port, I'm buying one!