Thread: Night riding...who is into it?

I read through most of this thread when I started regular night riding a few months ago. I looked at all the light options, and picked up an Exposure Diablo Mk 3 on sale.

It's stupid bright, stupid light, no wires, helmet mount and awesome battery life. This is one of those things where you pay for what you get, and despite the cost, I would buy it again if I had to.

I have a Magicshine 900 that I use to ride 14 miles to work and back every day during the winter. Dirt simple but solid mounting system, 4 hour battery life.

I also have a 25 mile MTB loop that I do with the same light. It's great - no crowds and the feeling is surreal.

Getting into night riding on trails as well.

After some research and head to head comparisons I decided to sack up and go with the Lupine Wilma - pricey but untouched in it's category. Crashing hard at night due to borderline illumination is going to be way pricier though.

Originally Posted by Hicks

Getting into night riding on trails as well.

After some research and head to head comparisons I decided to sack up and go with the Lupine Wilma - pricey but untouched in it's category. Crashing hard at night due to borderline illumination is going to be way pricier though.

So far, my Dinotte stuff has held up really well to a couple of nice crashes. Which reminds me of another side benefit to night riding...

Going through the washing machine is way more fun when you have lights twirling around in every direction.

I finally got into night riding this past year. I went in on the cheap side, so I can now provide some insight for others wanting to get into it.
I started with a Niterider 150 which was on sale at the LBS for $58 bucks. That's right, 150 reported lumen. All I knew was that it was in my budget and anything more expensive was not going to happen for an activity I imagined potentially doing once or twice a year.
Turns out that despite almost every single comment I've seen to the contrary on the interwebz, the little light has served me quite well.
1. My wife jogs at night on a local paved path that runs through urban woods, but it's kind of creepy so I tag along on my bike. For this, the light is totally adequate at the lowest setting. Easily lights up the whole path for both of us and I have to cover it with my hand when we encounter others in the opposite direction because its bright enough to annoy.
2. I've ridden on a number of familiar local trails at night with pretty much no problems. This is the Southeast, so we're not talking about 2mile long 20mph downhills with big air. It's moderately technical rooty rocky tight single track through dark as ink jungle-like forest, and at a 7-9mph average speed (per computer). One trip to FATS in Augusta for fast single track with max speeds of 19mph. All this went fine. The only thing I could really see making things objectively better would be a headlamp which would really help for seeing through tight turns and for seeing the other side of whoop-de-dos. If I was on unfamiliar more technical trail and riding a lot faster I can see wanting a little more light.
3. Picked up a Magic Shine 1000 from GeoManGear for the wife as a Christmas presant. It was utterly cheap and is very nice. I would buy it again and again. It's definitely not 7 times brighter than the 150. Maybe 3 times brighter. They're basically the same brightness when the big one is on its lowest setting and the little one is on its brightest.
4. Went to an organized night ride at a local trail that's usually closed to night riding. The people with bright as fuck lights were anoying as fuck. When they're riding away from you it's stupid looking. When they're riding toward you, whether on the same trail or a nearby trail, it's really fucking ghey and kind of a pain in the ass. Kind of like if you were road biking at night on the wrong side of a highway.
So for what it's worth to those wanting to get their feet wet, you can do this for $100 or less. And you can get away with vastly less lumen than many will report. 1500 on the bars and 1500 on the helmet? It's basically just the light equivalent of a $4000 bike. Nice but not at all necessary for having fun.
That's my experience.
/blog

Gearing up to go riding tonight. I have a Baja Designs Stryker 700 lumen headlight. Riding an 02 RMK 800. The light woeks well on the mtn and dirtbike helmets in the summertime also.

Originally Posted by jm2e

So for what it's worth to those wanting to get their feet wet, you can do this for $100 or less. And you can get away with vastly less lumen than many will report. 1500 on the bars and 1500 on the helmet? It's basically just the light equivalent of a $4000 bike. Nice but not at all necessary for having fun.
That's my experience.
/blog

It all depends on how fast you're riding and what you're riding. If you get going fast enough, you can outride your lights. I've done it with my old Halogen Nightrider. It's pretty scary. I stepped up to a 400 on my head and 800 on my bars. Night and day difference. I can pin it without worrying. That said, there have been a couple of times where I've wanted just a touch more and it involved riding some pretty techy shit at a good clip. If you just like to run mellow stuff and roll along, any old light set will do. If you're pinning it or riding through some tech, do yourself a favor and get a good, bright light set. Spot on the helmet, flood on the bars.

Originally Posted by Arty50

It all depends on how fast you're riding and what you're riding. If you get going fast enough, you can outride your lights. I've done it with my old Halogen Nightrider...

I can't agree more. The reason for my post was that from my prospective, a lot of people wanting to get into it are going to do it on a very casual level. But these same people are often either talked into getting way more light than they need, or they are talked out of night riding because the initial investment seems overwhelming. I just want people to know that they can have a lot of fun night riding without spending as much as they might on a new wheelset. If people get way into it and realize they want more light to go faster, it'll be a natural progression and their original small lumen bar lamp can migrate to the helmet or be loaned to friends who want to give it a go.

Went on my first night ride a few weeks ago. What a BLAST! Way cooler than I could have imagined. I used a Niterider Minewt 150 (I think...), and it was adequate for tight singletrack. I plan on buying my own soon, and I'm likely going to go with the Minewt 600 - one for the bars, and one for the helmet. Should suit my needs quite well.

Geomangear went out of business recently. Too many people opted to save $6 bucks buying magic shine off ebay from mystery sellers out of Hong Kong while waiting weeks to months with no communication rather than dealing with one of the most stand up operations in outdoor sports. Hope nobodys house burns down. Sad time for night riding.

sigma lights on the clymb right now

Originally Posted by jm2e

Geomangear went out of business recently. Too many people opted to save $6 bucks buying magic shine off ebay from mystery sellers out of Hong Kong while waiting weeks to months with no communication rather than dealing with one of the most stand up operations in outdoor sports. Hope nobodys house burns down. Sad time for night riding.

Shit. I never got my replacement battery from them. Any idea if I can buy the same pack elsewhere?

Great company, sad to see them go.

As of last word, they were still honoring warranty if you have all of your paperwork. There is a new company, I think it is Magicshine USA that is filling the Geoman void.

Originally Posted by grinch

sigma lights on the clymb right now

I'm looking for lights and that sigma light is 320 lumens for the same price as the 1000 lumen magic shine. What am I missing?

matt hunter is into it


night riding is a couple mins in, but the whole thing is sick.

Originally Posted by knumbskull

I'm looking for lights and that sigma light is 320 lumens for the same price as the 1000 lumen magic shine. What am I missing?

sorry, i know nothing about bike lights. just left thhe thread and saw it pop up on the clymb and thought i'd throw it up

Originally Posted by pogs4ever

matt hunter is into it


night riding is a couple mins in, but the whole thing is sick.

Wow, that was sick. But why would he make his own tires, when the silicon carbide studs on Nokian Extremes are far superior to anything you can make yourself?

Originally Posted by grinch

sorry, i know nothing about bike lights. just left thhe thread and saw it pop up on the clymb and thought i'd throw it up

No apologies necessary. I was just wondering whether there was more to the bike light choice than lumens listed and whether that light was a better one than the magicshine since they were the same price.

So I just started looking at lights for the bike. Since Geomangear is out of business now, what's good? LBS has a Serfas TSL 1500 and 1000, which look pretty sweet, but also a little $$. Also looked at the Light & Motion Seca, but way $$$.

What's the best out there for the price right now? MagicShines sound like they work well for the price, how are peoples holding up over time?

The Niterider Lumina (guess this replaced the MiNewts?) is what I'm hoping to get for this fall, cordless will be really nice:

Lumina 650
Lumina 350

The MiNewt 350 looks like its ~$120ish or less online.

Originally Posted by Skipig25

MagicShines sound like they work well for the price, how are peoples holding up over time?

I have a 1000 lumen and 400 lumen light from Magicshine. I have been using them both for night rides mt biking and on the road for about a year. They are plenty reliable though their attachment point is the weakness. Slowly twists on the handlebars in the rough. But for the price I have few complaints. In place of Geomangear is Magicshine USA.

These views never get old.

Hey, folks, that season is coming on quick! I am looking to put together a group buy for these really cool reflective thumb tacks. You can discretely line your favorite trails with these, and man, do they make a difference in speed and safety for nought riders. Hey retail for ~$4.00 per pack of fifty, but I am thinking of doing a big bulk order, so I can offer them (hopefully) for ~$2.00-$3.00 a pack. Would any of you be interested? Your local trail advocacy group might be able to help with funds.
Thoughts?

Haven't tried night mountain biking but I used to do a lot of night road riding in LA. So much better than riding in the day- no traffic and cool air.

For a light I use a cheap LED flashlight from dealextreme and it's bright as shit. I'm like $40-50 into it after breaking an LED trying out a new mount and then getting a charger and spare battery:



I think it would be more than enough light for mountain biking since it's enough to go 40+ down a dark windy road. I would need a better mount and probably a headlight too.

Anyone use one of these?

Light & Motion Stella 200 Light

http://www.hucknroll.com/light-motio...14989_c306409f