Good lights are essential for seeing and being seen when you’re cycling at night. Here are ten that you can rely on.
Good lights are essential for seeing and being seen when you’re cycling at night. Here are ten that you can rely on
Along with a red rear light, a white front light is a legal requirement for cycling on roads and cycle tracks between dusk and dawn. The regulations have more to say about standards – brightness, flashing versus steady, light positioning and so on. But in practical terms what it boils down to is this: the lights must be clearly visible to other road users without dazzling them; they must be the right colour; and they must be fixed to your bike. (You are, however, allowed to use additional lights fixed to a helmet, bag, or clothing.)
Different kinds of cycling have different lighting demands. If you only ever cycle underneath streetlights, what matters most is being seen; you don’t need a beam to light your way. If you ride on unlit lanes you also have to be able to see further ahead than your bike’s braking distance. And for riding off-road trails at night you need a very powerful beam and some peripheral light.
Spending more generally means you get more effective illumination, which isn’t necessarily the same as ‘more lumens’. Prices quoted here are RRP – you can pay significantly less if you get your lights through Cyclescheme.
Axa Classic Chrome Front Light £18
The only non-rechargeable light on this list, the Axa Classic runs on two AAA batteries (included). Those will power the light for about 50 hours before needing to be replaced. If you’re riding in the dark five days a week, it’ll work out more expensive than running a rechargeable light. But for irregular, shorter rides, it’s good enough. The real strength of the Axa Classic is that it bolts in place so your round-town bike is always ready to go when it’s dark – no hunting for lights or having to remember to recharge them. The light’s 4-lux beam stretches 15 metres.
Knog Blinder Mini £26.99
Knog’s Blinder Mini is a tiny LED light punches above its 17g weight by emitting up to 50 lumens. Run times range from 1.8 hours (Steady High mode) to 30 (Eco Flash). There’s no cable needed to recharge it; a USB-A connector is built into the light body so you can plug it straight into, say, a laptop port. The light attaches to the handlebar or head tube with a silicone strap (two are provided). Because it’s so small, the Blinder Mini could live in a pocket or seatpack as a get-you-home emergency light. But if you don’t stray beyond streetlights it could be your main light.
Lezyne KTV Drive Pro 300+ LED Front Light £32
Billed as a ‘safety light’ for being seen, Lezyne’s KTV Drive Pro 300+ is also just about bright enough to light your way. It produces a 300-lumen beam on its highest (Blast) setting, for up to 3 hours. On its lowest, 20-lumen setting, the run-time is 100 hours. It recharges via a USB-C cable, which you’ll need to add as an extra (£5) if you don’t already own one. Like most little LED lights, it attaches to the handlebar with a silicone strap. Unlike most of them, it’s waterproof to IPX7 so it will survive immersion in water not just raindrops.
Moon Vortex 1000 Front Light £54.99
As you might expect from the name, Moon’s Vortex front light emits up to 1,000 lumens. That’s enough to light your way off road if you ride with care, never mind on unlit lanes or around town. There are six other lighting modes, the most economical of which runs for 70 hours. When you switch on the Vortex it returns to the last mode you used, and the switch has lock system so it won’t accidentally turn on in your bag and run the battery down. It comes with a USB-C charging cable and mounts for both handlebar and helmet. It’s rated to IPX5, which is rainproof.
CatEye AMPP 800 £64.99
Once again the clue’s in the name: CatEye’s AMPP 800 has a maximum output of 800 lumens. It’ll run for 1.5 hours like that, increasing to 30 on flashing. Other modes are somewhere in between. The beam shape and reach is well suited to unlit roads, while there’s also good side visibility to make you stand out at junctions. So it works well both out of town and around town. You could even use it as a helmet light off road if you buy the optional helmet mount (£9.99). It comes with a secure and easy-to-use FlexTight handlebar bracket but can also be mounted to the fork crown (£4.99 for the bracket). The AMPP 800 is resistant to light rain (IPX4) and recharges via a supplied micro-USB cable.
Trek Commuter Comp R Front Bike Light £69.99
Lumens are a misleading measurement in isolation. The number tells you how much light is being emitted but not where it’s going, which depends on the lens design. You want to light the road or trail ahead, not the faces of oncoming drivers and cyclists. Trek’s Commuter Comp R has a relatively low light output at this price point – just 450 lumens on maximum – but that light goes where you want, on the ground ahead, thanks to a ‘Kindbeam’ lens that gives the beam a distinct cut-off. Run-times range for 1.5 to 12 hours, and it recharges via micro-USB (cable supplied). It comes with a handlebar strap mount but is also compatible with Trek’s Blendr stem and helmet mounts.
The Ixon Rock is another light with a well-designed beam shape. It illuminates the road from just a metre in front of the bike yet still provides excellent visibility 45 metres and more ahead. Many lights packing this much power also dazzle; the Ixon Rock, which meets German road traffic regulations, does not. Maximum output is 100 lux, which is hard to compare directly with lumens as it’s measuring something slightly different. But it’s a lot. It’ll run for 2.5 hours like that, or up to 25 hours at 15 lux. It charges via a micro-USB cable and can also act as a powerbank to charge your phone or other devices. It will withstand light rain but can’t be immersed.
Ravemen PR1600 £139.99
Ravemen’s PR1600 doesn’t just have several different lighting modes – it lets you toggle between ‘full beam’ and ‘dipped’ like a car. The light doesn’t actually dip. There are two lenses: one giving a wide beam with a cut-off, so it doesn’t shine into other road users’ eyes; and one giving a further-reaching, high-power beam. In traffic, you use just the non-dazzling lens (100-800 lumens, depending on mode selected). Off road, or when there’s no oncoming traffic, you use both lenses (400-1,600 lumens). A single button press, either on the light body or with the wireless remote switch, takes you from ‘full beam’ to ‘dipped’. It works really well. Like the Ixon Rock, the Ravemen light doubles as a powerbank. It’s completely rainproof as it’s waterproof to IPX8 (‘submersible’).
A headline figure of 205 lumens for Supernova’s Airstream sounds unimpressive given the price, but its Terraflux2 lens puts over 90% of that light beam on the ground. It easily exceeds Germany’s stringent road traffic regulations for bike lights. The beam shape is best suited for unlit roads but it would also work as a helmet light off road (you’ll need the optional mount). There’s some side illumination as well, so it’s fine in town. The Airstream 2 is unusually well made for a bike light, being CNC’d from aluminium, and it shrugs off bad weather: it’s completely rainproof and resists temperatures down to minus 20C. Run times range from 2.5 to 14 hours.
Exposure Strada Mk12 RS AKTIV £325
This Strada Mk12’s maximum output is 1,450 lumens, which is more than some mountain biking lights. But it’s not a high-power lamp that just scatters light everywhere. It has a road-specific beam pattern (the ‘RS’ of the name) with a clever trick up its sleeve. When you select the AKTiv mode, the Strada senses oncoming light sources from vehicles and automatically dims its own light in response. You don’t even have to press a button. Afterwards, it automatically reverts to full power. Run times range from 2-36 hours, depending on the mode. It comes with a wired remote switch, charger, charge cable, and handlebar mount. It’s rated IP65, so is dust-tight and resistant to high-power water jets.
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