Mountain Biking - Lighting for 24 hr race

I will be doing my first 24hr team race in about a month. I am looking at lightings systems. I am thinking a double handlebar setup might be best, I am looking at the new Blackburn X6 or maybe the Niterider Classic setup. Anyone have experience with the Blackburn and/or can compare the output to the Niterider setup.

Would a single helmet mounted set up be better? I have an old "nicelite" that I use for morning rides I was thinking of mounting to a helmet, any opinons?

Thanks

Personally I would rather have one good helmet light over any two bar lights. Now, the best system would be a helmet light plus a bar light. I just like to have light where I look. Often times it doesn't work that way with a bar light. It annoys me watching the light bounce all over the place when I am trying to look straight.

If you can afford it, dump the idea of a dbl bar light and get yourself a single and a helmet mounted light. Or if you can afford it, get the dbl and a helmet mounted light. The bar mounted is good but when you come to a tight turn it will not allow you to see what is around the corner. Where as with a helmet light it will light the area you are looking.

My choice of manufacturer for light is NightSun. If you are going to get a dbl light on the bar i would recomend the "Team Issue" with some brush guards on them.

For the helmet light I like the NightSun "Sun Spot"

Both of the above will light the trail well.

One thing I would highly, highly recomend you get, no matter which brand you get, are some spare batteries. At least one extra if you think you might do a few races especially if most of your laps will be at night. That way you can keep one on the charger while you take your turn, then when it is time to go back out put the fresh battery on and the used one on the charger. You do not want to end up 1/4 of the way into the trail and have your lights go out especially if there is not clear skys and a full moon.

As far as comparing the two you mentioned, I have not used either so I can not give you any input but I do know both companies make good products.

MSF:beer:

One helmet, one bar, both hid

If you can only afford one hid, then a helmet mounted hid and a cheper bar light.

if you get a headlmap, get a Petzl Myo XP.

hands down the best headlamp money can buy.

came highly recomended, i've put it through the paces.

if you get a headlmap, get a Petzl Myo XP.

hands down the best headlamp money can buy.

came highly recomended, i've put it through the paces.

Sorry, but no way would I want that light for a 24 hour race. It may be fine for hiking and some easy riding but for a 24 hour race lighting is extremely important and nothing to skimp on. That light would not compare to the hid's available. Personally I use a Cygolite and it is awesome. I have received numerous comments about it's brightness, even had some people complaining about how bright it was at the 24 hours of big bear last year.

none of those appear to be helmet mounted which is what i'm speaking off.

you won't find a brighter, more durable or longer lasting headlamp without it costing significantly more or weighing significantly more. yes it should be augmented by a quality handlebar mounted light, but for sticking on your head you'll find nothing better.

it was good enough for these guys, steve house wearing his myo xp on the first alpine style ascent of the rupal face, nanga parbat, karakoram, pakistan.

http://i9.tinypic.com/2lc8aad.jpg

Thanks for all the input. I think will go with the at least a good helmet mounted lamp. the Blackburn comes with a helmet mount and a handlebar mount and it woul appear that you can both at the same time, two light setup, but there may be cable issues.

D

Actually, yes my Cygolite is a helmet light as are most HID's. Yes, they will weigh more and their batteries are heavier. That's just the way it is.

Not trying to be rude but have you done much night riding on technical trails and / or 24 hour races. Light is extremely important. I've seen the light you mention above in use, camped with guys that had them. It makes a great light for most jobs, it wouldn't cut it for 24 hour races though.

So, were the guys you pictured doing high speed technical descents on a bike? There is always the right tool for the job. That light may be perfect for what they are doing, however what they are doing and what we are doing have different requirements.

DonTx, make sure you post a review. A race report would be nice as well, good luck!

it was good enough for these guys, steve house wearing his myo xp on the first alpine style ascent of the rupal face, nanga parbat, karakoram, pakistan.

Well. this is a biking forum, and while Steve House is an impressive gentleman, they weren't doing 30mph down twisty singletrack with that light. They were hiking with it.

Big difference my man, big difference.

That petzl you mention is great. I have one. Great for night trail running in the wintertime. At 6-10 mph it provides a good stream of light.

Now, A helment mounted HID light (http://www.niterider.com/prod_firestorm.shtml) is what you need when you are blasting down singletrack.

To be honest with you, I don't know if they would let you out with that petzl at a race.

its a bloody headlamp. what do you expect it to do other than go on your head and make a bright light?

i'm just offering a suggestion, one you might want to look into.

i'm just offering a suggestion, one you might want to look into.


Your "suggestion" stated "hands down the best headlamp money can buy." That reads more like a fact than a suggestion. Either way, your statement was incorrect for this sport.


its a bloody headlamp. what do you expect it to do other than go on your head and make a bright light?

I expect it to create enough light in the best color possible with the best possible distance and spread for our sport. I want to buy something that works for my purpose, not a hikers purpose.

and in addition, those Petzls make fine backup lights when you do ordinary night riding and only bring one light. Throw it in the camelbak and forget it. They will get you back to the trailhead, albeit slowly.

and in addition, those Petzls make fine backup lights when you do ordinary night riding and only bring one light. Throw it in the camelbak and forget it. They will get you back to the trailhead, albeit slowly.

Yup, a small back up light is always a good idea. A lot of my night rides I will just carry a small maglite in my camelbak. Anything is better than nothing when you are in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.

One thing I'll throw in (and then step back out of the way) is:

I concur about running both bar-mount and helmet-mount lights. For all of the reasons above, helmet mount is good for pointing in the direction you're looking. Drawback to helmet-mount only (unless it's a real flamethrower) is that it creates a somewhat 'flat' light that throws off depth-perception - - especially if you wear correction. The h-bar mount helps fill in this visual info by being lower casting shadows on the details ahead.

I know a lot of people agree with you dminor. To me though a handlebar light is distracting. To be fair though, I haven't tried one for a few years and back then I was pretty shaky. I'm a little less shaky now a days so maybe I would like it now. I may have to drop a few bucks on a decent light to find out. Maybe another Cygolite Z Force NiMH if I can find one, if not I'll check out some other hid's. It's almost that time of year.

Oh, forgot to mention one thing. If you plan on doing many 24 hour races then I would suggest niterider. However, this is not because they are better lights than others it is because they generally have a tent and offer support at the bigger races. This is really nice because they offer a charging station and will also check out your light while you are there and often take care of warranties on the spot.

Just something to think about.

Oh one other thing, with most powerful lights you could experience problems with heart rate monitors and wireless computers. This may mean nothing to you, it is just another tidbit of useless knowledge. ;)

if you get a headlmap, get a Petzl Myo XP.

hands down the best headlamp money can buy.

came highly recomended, i've put it through the paces.

Nahh, the Princeton Tec Apex is the best headlamp right now. The Myo XP is a close second ;-)

But you would want neither for a 24hr race. The LED bike systems out there right now are typically using 2 3-Watt LEDs or a single 5 watt LED. For trail riding at speed, 3Watt will not cut it.

I would recommend that TrailTech HID packages from BatterySpace.com. What you will get from them for about $250 will cost upwards of $600 elsewhere. They also have a monster 30 Watt Bar mounted HID system that is more powerful than your car headlights. It is more powerful than the Lupine Edison system given over the top marks for $900 but only costs $300.

Everybody uses the same housings and bulbs for HID lamps. Everything else is just the battery and packaging.

Thanks for the advise on batteryspace.com. Last night I picked up a niterider digital evoultion halogen 15W max. The rest of the guys on the team have niteriders so I thought battery interchangeability would be a benefit. I tried the niterider in the backyard but not on the trail. To be honest its not as bright as I would have thought, but I need to try it on the trail to really find out.

Does the stuff on batteryspace hold up well?

Hey, all... I was just looking into saving big dollars by getting a setup through batteryspace but I see there is an option for a 6 degree spot & a 12 degree flood & I'm not sure which one would be best for attempting to ride the same speed as daytime on gnarly CO singletrack at night.

Thanks...