Southern California - What's the best lighting system?

Hi,

My wife, Michelle, and I rode the Bass Lake Powerhouse Double Century yesterday. During our past double centuries, we've always been lucky enough to begin and to end in minimal darkness, so we've always relied on bare bones, inexpensive headlights and taillights. But yesterday we spent the entire first hour-and-a-half of the ride and the final couple of hours in complete darkness and felt negligently ill-equipped. So I'm going to pony up the money for a couple of good lighting systems, but I want to know what other people prefer. As of now, I'm leaning towards the Nite Rider Trinewt. I figure it will work well with a simpler helmet light and taillight to provide optimal lighting. Also, it has a long burn life. Any other suggestions? Any input is much appreciated.

FYI, the Bass Lake Powerhouse Double proved great. It was our first ride with the Fresno Cycling Club, and they absolutely rocked. The course was beautiful. The volunteers were the most enthusiastic we've ever encountered, including those at the Terrible Two, many Planet Ultra events, the Mt. Tam Double and the Grand Tour. Don't get me wrong, all volunteers rock! I love every last person who sets aside their weekend to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and to hand out Cytomax to cyclists along deserted roads, but Fresno Cycling Club's volunteers had an extra level of enthusiasm. They really went the distance, which made riding the distance all the more fun for us. Thanks!

Luckily, as overcast and gloomy as it was most of the day, it never rained. And we saw lots of tarantulas on the roads. I never knew tarantulas lived in the Sierras. What a blast.

Thanks in advance for any input on lighting systems.

Josh

First suggestion is to ask this over on the electronics, lighting and gadgets forum. Second is to check out the sticky there on comparing lights. In the first post or two there are links to some photos that show the output of various lights, which is real helpful in trying to figure out what will work for your situation, as it is real hard to figure out how much usable light is actually emitted based on the stats you read. Third is to think real hard about exactly how long you need the light to function; this will have a major impact on what you should buy. Fourth is when you start asking over there to lay out where you're going to be riding with the light; what will work in the country in the dark can be very different than in street-lighted areas. Also, what speed do you ride? Will you be potentially doing descents under lights? There's a big difference in what will work at 15 mph, 25 mph and 35 mph.

Having said all that, if you're talking about a light you'll use occasionally, for a couple of hours or so at a time your least expensive option might be one of the halogens. Alternatively you might be well served by picking up a couple of fenix flashlights and mounting equipment from their website. If you're going to be riding fast you might need to go to an HID light, or one of the new high output LEDs like the trinewt, a pair of dinotte 200L or a 600L. I've got a dinotte ultra (5W) variety, and it works for me at speeds up to about 20 mph. The AA battery version only runs about 2.5 hours, though; you get up to 6 hours with the Li version. Busch & Muller also makes a good light for that kind of situation, which is available at peterwhitecycles.com.

http://www.ultracycling.com/equipment/lighting.html Hope I got that right. Sounds like you are getting into their territory.

I recently purchased the NiteRider MiNewt X2 for after work rides and doubles. I found it for $130 on AEBikes and had Jenson price match. I have used the light on two recent evening rides and it is really nice. You will find a lot of information on this light as it seems to be pretty popular.

Hi Josh!

First...when did you two get married?? Congratulations!!!

Second...we use the NiteRider Moab systems. LOVE THEM!

Third...congratulations on another hard double. The two of you really tackle the big ones!!!

Please tell Michelle that I said hello :)