If you’ve been along for the ride on HBS for any length of time, you know that night riding holds a particular soft spot in my heart. I truly enjoy the time of year when there’s still no snow on the ground, yet I have to pull out the light for the after work shreds. It seems to come at just the right time to re-energize me on the bike for a little while before the heavens start belching forth with white flakes.

I’ve waxed poetic about it in the past, and even attempted to put together a list of tips for those wanting to partake in the dark. It was a couple years back now, but is still very valid.

However, one piece of advice I left out of that particular post is some thoughts on lighting systems. A couple folks have asked me about lighting systems in the past couple weeks, so I think now is as good a time as any to put some thoughts down. So, without further ado……

Light Source
HID? LED? Halogen?

We’ll start with a simple one: buy an LED light. If somebody is trying to sell you a HID or a halogen, it’s because they want to get rid of it to buy an LED for themselves. LEDs used to be toys that weren’t all that bright and were kinda a novelty light. Now, they give out a nice clean, bright, white light and don’t draw nearly as much power as a HID or Halogen.

HIDs also put out a nice white light which isn’t too bad on the eyes, but the bulbs are fragile, and they have to actually ‘warm up’ for a few seconds before they start really putting out some light. If somebody gave me an HID, I would probably take it and use it, but if you’re buying one new, don’t bother.

Halogens put out a horrible yellow light and suck down batteries like no tomorrow. Steer clear, for sure.

Bars or Helmet?
This somewhat comes down to personal preference, and the bottom line is that most serious 24 hour or endurance racers use one of each. However, there are some pros and cons to each.

A light on the helmet has the obvious advantage of following where you are looking. This is great for fast or twisty singletrack. You can look around turns, you can tilt your head back to see further down the trail, and you can look off into the woods to see that mountain lion (or, more commonly out here, skunk). However, the downside is that everything looks incredibly ‘flat’, especially in rocky, technical singletrack. This is because you are looking down on rocks, roots, and drops, instead of forward at them. Your sense of scale and depth is thrown off, which can be a real problem when doing things like bunny hopping, lifting the front wheel, or dropping off small stuff.

That’s where a light on the bars really shines (excuse the pun). You get one incredible advantage: shadows. The lower light position brings out the depth in things. All of sudden those black spots behind rocks are indicators of height and depth, not just places for small animals to hide. You find yourself flowing through technical sections as easily as during the day.

But then you get to a tight turn or a small dropoff, and not being able to have the light follow your gaze can be frustrating. Going around turns takes some getting used to, but you end up developing a little bit of an oversteer ‘twitch’ as you go into the turn to get a quick mental picture of what lies ahead. Once you get used to it, it’s not nearly as bad as it seems.

That being said, my recommendation for getting started in night riding is, and always will be, to start with a bar light. Get a nice wide flood light with a decent amount of power, and throw it on the bars. You won’t be as fast (initially) but you will learn to appreciate and use the darkness to your advantage and will become a much better rider in a short amount of time.

Everyone who does this has a few painful (or painfully slow) first rides, but once you get used to having your eyes follow the trail, regardless of whether the light is there or not, you will become a much smoother rider. Remember, the light is attached to your bike, so it will come with you, just maybe not immediately. You learn to take mental pictures of things when the light hits them, and you develop a looseness and a flow that allows you to suck up bumps without any issues.

The other advantage of a bar light is that I tend to get sore eyes on longer rides with just a helmet light. This is because your eyeballs are always glued to the same spot in relation to your helmet (and therefore, head). I call it the ‘owl effect’ because owls can’t move their eyes in their head, so if they want to look left, they turn their head left. Seems trivial until your eyes get sore from not moving in the sockets, then it just sucks.

Brightness (and beam shape)
Now that you’re all sold on LED lights, lets talk brightness. The high end lights from each of the different companies (princeton tec, light & motion, niterider, etc.) are all fairly comparable. They’re all hovering around a 900-1100 lumen output with 3.5-4.5 hours of burn time. That being said, unless you’re doing some serious racing, I think a lot of those are overkill (and will require an arm, a leg, and a firstborn child as a down payment).

A mid-range light with a 400-600 lumen output is plenty, especially if you’re going out to just have a good time. However, I think beam shape plays a bit more of a role at that level. The high-output lights are gonna light up anything and everything, but when you have a bit less light, you have to make sure it’s in the right places.

My personal recommendation is that if you can afford it, go for one of the mid-range dual-head systems as a first light. I’m talking something like a Mi-Newt 400 or a Stella 300 Dual.

The advantage here is that you can play around with where the light goes until it suits you and the trail that you’re riding that evening. If it’s something technical, put a lot more light closer in; if it’s something fast with turns, spread the beam apart. In addition, if you’re really getting into the night riding thing and want to upgrade a bit, you can always get a second battery, and throw one on the helmet and one on the bars (or just go for a 6 hour ride!).

The rule of thumb that I usually use for placement and beam shape is for a spot on the helmet and a flood on the bars. You don’t want a super-bright light on your helmet or it’ll throw off your night vision (and bring the bugs straight into your eyes). Conversely, a tight, narrow beam on the bars doesn’t do you a whole lot of good. (This is also where the advantage of a dual head system comes in, because you can make it a spot or a flood just by adjusting the placement of the light heads).

If you’re really looking to get a nicer light setup for racing, I would definitely recommend something with more light output, and if you can swing it, get two lights. I think two lights is a better investment than one single uber-expensive one. Go for one of the mid-range single-head systems for the helmet so you can see around turns and adjust through tight sections, and put your big mutha, uber-expensive light on the bars. That way you get the best of both worlds, aren’t carrying as much weight as two high output systems, and have a secondary light if one goes out (they rarely go out at the same time).

Batteries
A lot of companies are offering an option for a lithium-ion versus a nickel-metal-hydride, especially on the mid-range lights. It’s pretty straightforward: Li-Ion is more power for the weight, but costs a lot more. Ni-MH is cheaper but weighs more. It’s really a question of how much you want to spend. I have a feeling in the next year or two we’ll see most if not all of the lights moving to Li-Ion. Fortunately, most of them are the same voltage either way, so you should be able to just upgrade the battery if you get a Ni-MH right now.

Brands
Honestly, I don’t have a lot of brand loyalty in this department. I currently use the Princeton Tec Switchback 3 lights because I got a screamin deal on them, but I am by no means married to that brand. They are quite durable, the batteries have a great burn time, and the light is nice. My only gripe with them is that they are more of a ‘spot’ than a ‘flood’. As you probably gathered from above, when I only ride with 1 light, it’s on the bars, and I wish the reflectors on the PT lights made for a bit wider beam.

I am really impressed by the thought that Light & Motion has put into their beam shapes for the Seca series lights (it’s a trapezoid!), but can’t see wanting to put one of those on my helmet, because I think the beam shape would be pretty useless there. They have always been pretty innovative in their lights, and they have a good track record, although I’ve only ever used their high end HID lights from a few years back. I have, however, used the ‘stella’ series lights from them (single head version), and they make a great helmet light for a dual-light system. I also like the fact that their dual-head stella 300 system uses one flood light and one spot light. Very smart. Unfortunately, I feel like the L&M lights tend to be pretty expensive across the board, but they’re quality is pretty impeccable, so I can’t fault them for that.

I wish I had more info on niterider’s new high-end LED lights, but I just haven’t used them. I know a lot of people who ride with the mi-newt dual head systems, which is a really nice dual-head system at a great price, but beyond that, I can’t say too much about them. I’ve used niterider HIDs and Halogens since I started riding, and even though the older Ni-MH batteries are long since dead, the lights still run just fine. If anyone has used their new 1200 lumen system, I would love to hear what you think about it.

I do also want to give a nod to the smaller companies who are trying to break into the light biz. I think there are some great companies and lights out there from some innovative people which are worth checking out. The only problem that I have with those is the batteries and the custom connectors which go with them. It’s really frustrating to have a light from a company which has gone under and then your battery dies and you no longer have a way to get a new one (get out the soldering iron and start tearing that custom connector apart!). I talk about the big 3 not because they are better or worse, but because they have a nice big line of products to compare and they’ve been around long enough that they aren’t going anywhere soon.

Try a light from a smaller company (I love supporting the little guy if I can!), just buy an extra battery if they aren’t very established.

In the end, a lot of this lighting mumbo-jumbo is a personal preference, but hopefully this inspires somebody to go out and pick up a light system and go for a night ride, and makes navigating the options a bit easier. It’s really one of the most fun (and humbling!) experiences you can have on two wheels.

Peace out.