I live in a semi-rural area and work late at a local bar. My shifts normally start around 8pm and I'll get off around 3am, so most of my work day is very dark. There are certain parts of town that have a decent amount of ambient light, but much of the town is devoid of street lights or porch lights. I'm using a knog frog tail light which is working beautifully (my friends who drive to my bar always say they see me perfectly), but when researching the matching headlight I keep hearing that it doesn't put out enough to light my way. Any suggestions on a REALLY bright headlight?

When you say your friends see your tail light perfectly, it makes me wonder what distance the tail light is being seen from. If it's less than the distance between two telephone poles then that is not a good distance to judge a tail light from. Try having your friends stand three telephone poles from your bike and see if they still think it is a highly visible light. I mention this distance because when a car is approaching you at a speed of 40mph the distance I mention is how long the car will travel between the light being seen and the car altering it's course to miss hitting you. It doesn't seem like it would cover that distance in the time it would take for a driver to identify a light, tell himself to change course and then actually make the car do what he wants. But it does.

I like a 600 lumen head light for the type of night riding you describe. I also want a strong wide beam of light (I want my whole side of the road lit), strong so I don't out run it when I go fast and wide so I can see what might be right in front of me and also to either side of that so I can choose a good path around obstacles.

Good luck and be safe.

I use a Lupine Betty head light, it is great.

Someone in another thread recommended Magicshine (1000 lumens!) which seems similar to the Lupine in that it has an external battery. Others mount flashlights (fenix, example at ecovelo.info), light mini reviews at https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/ ... personally I have not found a compact, bright, takes AA (I recharge mine), and blends into the bike. But if you just need something practical, get the TwoFish mount and put a flashlight on the handlebars.

I think you are going to have to start off with a budget first. I think 200 would be a good one, but a lot more than some are willing to pay for good lighting.
As for AA lights, they simply don't have enough power to be 'bright'. To get a really good compact and bright flashlight, you're going to have to at least move over to 123s, or at least 14500 li-ions.

If I worked at a bar I'd have a damn bright tail light(s).

Dinotte 140 minimum. Magicshine xml on the front. Redundancy is your friend - add a PBSFT to your helmet.

BTW - For a properly illuminated bicyclist, it's much easier to make yourself visible in rural, pitch black conditions than in an area where you compete with lots of lighting.

https://store.dinottelighting.com/sha...t=products.asp

https://www.ebay.com/itm/270756103172...84.m1423.l2649

https://aebike.com/product/planet-bik...t7359-qc30.htm

I use a Cree XM-L T6 1000 lumen torch, which I've mounted on my helmet. It really lights the way, even when cycling on pitch-black rural roads under an overcast sky.
The torch costs about £20 on Ebay, and comes with two rechargeable batteries, as well as a charger. It uses one battery at a time, but comes with two 2200 mAh UltraFire batteries, which combined should give you at least 3 hours light at the brightest setting. I would suggest that you also purchase two additional 4000 mAh batteries, as you'd have FAR longer battery life.

When I'm cycling in well-lit urban areas at night, I change the torch to strobe mode. Trust me when I tell you that you get noticed when you do that, even from behind!

I ride mostly at night, from 1930 - 2400 hrs. Nearly all of it is in town and / or on a path along a canal.

I couldn't buy the bike plus needed gear at first. I added slowly.

First, moonlight when available. That was free.

Then fluorescent ankle straps. Small, but moving color.

Then hi-vis lime shirts with 3M Scotchlight bright tape all over. That really helped auto drivers see me.

Next on my list is a strobe rear light. I'm not sure I want a front light . . . usually.

I'd argue you want to allow much more time for them to react given that at that time of night more than a few drivers may have been imbibing and so have slower reactions. I have a 1 mile ride from a friend's house that I often do at 1:30 or 2 in the morning on a well lit, but not busy (at that time) street and I religiously slip a Hi Viz jersey over whatever I wore and run a PDWDZ and PBSF on the rear; at times of the year when cyclists are less common (Nov-Feb), I will often also add a Radbot to the seatbag.

I can usually be 60% or more of the way down the road by time the traffic light I triggered changes back, so anyone coming up has gobs of time to see me, but I still wouldnt ride with less at that time of night.

I dunno exactly how bright a Knog is, but I wouldnt feel comfy with it.


There are lots of options for a front light depending on how bright "REALLY bright" is to you. They range from something like the Dinotte 1200 @ $350 to MS, MS variant and clones for $90. IMO any sort of flashlight rig whether AA, 123, 14500 or 18650 is not enough for the conditions mentioned and the cost of a complete kit for a flashlight rig comes close to that of a MS.

See, I entirely disagree with you there. Any 18650-powered Cree LED torch capable of producing upwards of 800 lumens can make a decent cycling light, with the biggest caveat being how focused the light is (obviously you want a fair spread of light, while retaining a forward beam) . I have a habit of going out after 10 p.m., almost regardless of weather and time of year. My usual route follows the UK's NCN 27 route, which is entirely unlit as it heads out from my hometown of Plymouth. My previous light was a 50w halogen powered by a 4400 mAh Li-ion battery, and while it was OK for night cycling, I found it didn't output anywhere near enough light for me to exceed around 20 mph. I have no idea what the lumens output of the halogen light was, but I cannot imagine it to be more than 500 lumen, and probably well below that.

With the Cree torch at that speed I am still able to clearly see the road ahead. As I mentioned above, in areas with street lighting, I switch it to strobe mode, which is exceptionally visible.

When you compare the lumen output of so many dedicated bike lights, you may be surprised to discover that some of the "good" ones only output around 600-800 lumen, while costing MANY times more than the Cree torch I use.

At the price of a Cree XM-L T6 torch you may as well try it and see how it works out for you.

If it were mainly about lumen output I'd agree, but it's not. First, if you are talking about a single cell flashlight, the runtime is not going to compare to a 4 cell bike light. Most of my brighter 18650s only have 50-80 mins of runtime on quality cells. Since the OP goes to work at 8pm, he could end up needing to use it both ways and one cell may not be enough.

By time you pop for a decent light that wont shut off on bumps, wont overheat and is reliable; add in extra cells so that you can always have at least one cell fully charged for use the next day (perhaps more if you want to make sure you have the To and Fro both covered and in case you forget to plug in the charger when you get home); add a charger and mount and the cost can exceed than that of a MS.

Again, I disagree with you:
My torch is a single cell one, and with each of the two 2200 mAh 18650s I can comfortably get 1.5 hours of light. As it comes with two batteries, I already have a spare. However (and as I suggested the OP does) I've also purchased an additional two 4000 mAh batteries. Each of these give me around 3 hrs light.

My torch doesn't overheat, and doesn't shut off on bumps and has been extremely reliable. It comes with a charger, so there's no extra charge there, and even with the cost of a mount and extra batteries thrown in, it is still far cheaper than any dedicated cycling light.

If I were commuting every night, I'd think seriously about a dynamo hub and lights. Expensive to get started, but then you never have to buy batteries or worry about whether your batteries are charged. peterwhitecycles.com has many options.

Get the lights. After months of riding at night without them (safely as possible), I added strobes on front and back. Drivers give me a lot more space and consideration. Hi-vis shirts and ankle wraps help too.