One of the most important items you will need when bicycling, especially at dusk or at night, is a good set of Bicycle Headlights.
When I first started out on a search for bicycle lighting to do some early morning rides with I was bombarded with options. The light source ranged from LED to Halogen and prices ranged anywhere from $10 to $250 and on. I will try to touch on all the options below.
LED:
There are three types of LED headlamps offered depending on the environment you will be biking in; High powered single LED, Multiple LED and high powered multiple LED. The high powered single LED headlamp ranges in size from 1/4 watt up to 1 watt. In my opinion the 1/4 and 1/2 watt LED lamps are insufficient to light up the roadway for your commute at speeds above 10mph but will alert drivers of your presence on the road. Multiple LED lamps have several lower powered LEDs in one housing to provide light for you and the cars coming in the opposite direction. Again, these lamps are insufficient for a ride faster then 5-10mph but will alert drivers of your presence on the road and would probably be sufficient enough for a short and slow ride. My favorite light is a 1 watt high powered LED headlamp which I feel is sufficient for quick speeds on a clean road for a tight budget and plenty bright enough to alert oncoming drivers to your presence. For serious trail riders you will have to get into the multiple high powered LED options. These tend to be much more expensive, anywhere from 2-10x the price of a single LED and you can no longer use a couple AA batteries. These lamps come with battery packs that will need to be strapped onto your bike. Again, great for serious night time trail riders and racers but not necessary for your urban road warrior.
Halogen:
Halogen lights are the standard bulbs you are used to seeing in your old flashlights and car headlights. There isn't much to say about these lamps except that the technology is old and in my opinion obsolete. My first bike headlight was one of those halogens you can buy for cheap at a big box store. It casts a yellow light that wasn't all that bright and drains batteries very fast. For an extra couple dollars you can pick up one of the LED options which will cast a nice white light and keep your batteries going at least 10x longer. Also realize that halogens have a bulb life and will need to be replaced while the LED should last the life of the headlamp. Don't be fooled by the combination LED/Halogen either. These combination lights are just halogen to see the road with a couple of weak LEDs that are meant to alert drivers to your presence. The LEDs are not for lighting the road and you are back to the problem you had before with battery and bulb life.
Find Quality Head Lights at Bike Lights Online
http://www.bikelightsonline.com
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Bicycle Tail Lights
Everyone knows when riding at night you need a nice headlamp to see where you are going. This is very important but believe it or not an even more important addition to your bicycle gear is a good tail light! It is nice to see where you are going at night with a good headlight but its even more important to BE SEEN. Cars are the number one threat to a bicyclists safety at night and a good tail light can be the difference between an enjoyable ride and a downright scary one! When I was researching tail lights again there were two different types, Halogen and LED. I will discuss both options below.
Halogen:
Halogen tail lights are the standard lighting we are all used to from yesteryear from flashlights to automobile tail lights. In my opinion its an outdated technology but it does have its pros and cons. The halogen tail light is typically a bulb in a housing with a red plastic reflective cover over the top. The reason for this is because the bulb will evenly disperse light in every direction and we don't want that. Most of the cars we want to alert to our presence are cars behind us. For that reason the halogen lights have a reflective lens cover that directs most of the light backwards. The reflective lenses aren't perfect of course and you are going to have light scattering all around. This causes light to escape and therefore the further you are from the car in front of you the brighter the bulb needs to be or you won't be seen. This of course in tern burns battery life much faster. What we don't want is a huge bulky battery pack for a little flashing light! Therefore these lights tend to take a Triple-A battery which runs out of juice pretty fast. In my opinion the LED technology is far superior.
LED:
LED Technology is the newest type of lighting out there and one I feel will stick around for a long time. The reason for this is the efficiency of the lighting and the brightness of the bulb. LEDs are directional lights which means that when you look at an LED light most of the light shines out of the top of the bulb with very little escaping out the sides. This makes for a very bright light directly behind the LED. The advantage to this is that the bulb does not need any reflective lenses to direct light and they are much brighter to vehicles directly behind the rider. Trust me when I say that if you want to be seen at night with a blinking tail light LEDs are the way to go. The other obvious advantage to LEDs is the energy efficiency. The bulbs do not have to be high powered to be seen. The directional aspect of an LED makes even the weakest of LEDs able to be seen by vehicles from far away. Of course this in turn equals MUCH better battery life and you can expect your taillight to go weeks of riding without needed a battery change. Don't forget that LED's will never need to be replaced for the life of your light and therefore are more cost effective in the long term.
There are countless types of LED tail lighting out there and every one of them is perfect for a certain scenario. The two I will talk about are the standard back facing LEDs and the directional facing LEDs. The first option is the standard back facing LED. These lights are great when you need a nice sleek package for a trip down the street or a long night cruise on a trail with other cyclists. These lights will focus a few LEDs directly behind you so that cars and other cyclists can see you ahead. This is good for a short trip or a trip down the trail but when you are on crowded streets with many intersections you will want a tail light with special directional facing LEDs. One of the new products out today has a setup with several back facing LEDs and two side facing bulbs as well. This is key when riding on streets with busy intersections because cars taking a right at a stop light will not see you from the side with a standard back facing LED tail light setup. Of course the way around this if you already own one of these is to buy a couple of those cheap LED lights you can strap on to your bike to face the sides. Why have 5 different lights on your bike though when all you need is a nice headlamp and tail light?
Remember, no matter what type of light you go with you need to analyze the situations you will be riding in and pick the correct one for it. There is no such thing as too bright! Of course with brightness comes a lower battery life so you need to find that perfect equilibrium in between bright and efficient and pick your tail light. Don't make the mistake I did and buy a cheap halogen light from a big box store because you will quickly regret the decision and end up buying a nice LED tail light somewhere else. Thanks for reading my article and happy cycling!
Find Quality Tail lights at Bike Lights Online
http://www.bikelightsonline.com
Halogen:
Halogen tail lights are the standard lighting we are all used to from yesteryear from flashlights to automobile tail lights. In my opinion its an outdated technology but it does have its pros and cons. The halogen tail light is typically a bulb in a housing with a red plastic reflective cover over the top. The reason for this is because the bulb will evenly disperse light in every direction and we don't want that. Most of the cars we want to alert to our presence are cars behind us. For that reason the halogen lights have a reflective lens cover that directs most of the light backwards. The reflective lenses aren't perfect of course and you are going to have light scattering all around. This causes light to escape and therefore the further you are from the car in front of you the brighter the bulb needs to be or you won't be seen. This of course in tern burns battery life much faster. What we don't want is a huge bulky battery pack for a little flashing light! Therefore these lights tend to take a Triple-A battery which runs out of juice pretty fast. In my opinion the LED technology is far superior.
LED:
LED Technology is the newest type of lighting out there and one I feel will stick around for a long time. The reason for this is the efficiency of the lighting and the brightness of the bulb. LEDs are directional lights which means that when you look at an LED light most of the light shines out of the top of the bulb with very little escaping out the sides. This makes for a very bright light directly behind the LED. The advantage to this is that the bulb does not need any reflective lenses to direct light and they are much brighter to vehicles directly behind the rider. Trust me when I say that if you want to be seen at night with a blinking tail light LEDs are the way to go. The other obvious advantage to LEDs is the energy efficiency. The bulbs do not have to be high powered to be seen. The directional aspect of an LED makes even the weakest of LEDs able to be seen by vehicles from far away. Of course this in turn equals MUCH better battery life and you can expect your taillight to go weeks of riding without needed a battery change. Don't forget that LED's will never need to be replaced for the life of your light and therefore are more cost effective in the long term.
There are countless types of LED tail lighting out there and every one of them is perfect for a certain scenario. The two I will talk about are the standard back facing LEDs and the directional facing LEDs. The first option is the standard back facing LED. These lights are great when you need a nice sleek package for a trip down the street or a long night cruise on a trail with other cyclists. These lights will focus a few LEDs directly behind you so that cars and other cyclists can see you ahead. This is good for a short trip or a trip down the trail but when you are on crowded streets with many intersections you will want a tail light with special directional facing LEDs. One of the new products out today has a setup with several back facing LEDs and two side facing bulbs as well. This is key when riding on streets with busy intersections because cars taking a right at a stop light will not see you from the side with a standard back facing LED tail light setup. Of course the way around this if you already own one of these is to buy a couple of those cheap LED lights you can strap on to your bike to face the sides. Why have 5 different lights on your bike though when all you need is a nice headlamp and tail light?
Remember, no matter what type of light you go with you need to analyze the situations you will be riding in and pick the correct one for it. There is no such thing as too bright! Of course with brightness comes a lower battery life so you need to find that perfect equilibrium in between bright and efficient and pick your tail light. Don't make the mistake I did and buy a cheap halogen light from a big box store because you will quickly regret the decision and end up buying a nice LED tail light somewhere else. Thanks for reading my article and happy cycling!
Find Quality Tail lights at Bike Lights Online
http://www.bikelightsonline.com
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