I am wanting to ride to work but I work strange hours. I start work at 10:15 and get off anywhere from 20:30-00:00. The commutewould be around12miles each way. My only real reservation is the ride home.Mostof the miles will be on roads with very little to no light otherthan the moonandstars. Whatheadlights andtail lights do people use? I've looked at Dinotte lightsbut theycosta fortune! Anysuggestions ongoodbright lights that will enable crazy four wheelers to see me?

How about a generator hub and lights? You'll never need to worry about batteries again. :-)

It's hard to beat an eDelux and a good dyno wheel. Except on price.

Almost any light with >200 lumens will work for typical suburban rides (low traffic, somewhat isolated streetlights). I had good success with Cygolite, their expilions are pretty reasonable. Buy an extra rear blinky with what you save over the Dinotte.

I have been commuting and relying on a bike as my primary transportation for several years. The lighting that has worked best is different in different areas. My current commute is all urban, often in the dark. My primary concern is being seen, since there are street lights that do a decent job of illuminating the bulk of my route. My current lighting setup consists of:
Generator hub powering an LED headlight (Supernova E3), and an always-on tail light
Dinotte tail light which I turn on at night or in reduced visability situations - always in blinking mode
Cateye 'loop' flashing headlight.

When I commuted in a more rural area, where seeing the road was more important, I used a Dinotte headlight attached to my helmet as well.

By not owning a car, it is easier to justify the cost of something like the Dinotte tail light - they cost about the same as 2 or 3 tanks of gas .

I would not be comfortable with only 200 lumens. I have a flexible work schedule and I work later hours. I never leave work before 9 pm. The malls close and people have headed home and there is not much traffic. I generally don't leave until 11 pm unless it's cold/winter/wet. I have two PBSF tail lights on my bike (take your pick of any of the 1W flashers or the 2W Hotshot, each one is $25-35). I have two 18650 single-battery powered flashlights. One on the bar (about 700 lumens) and one on the helmet (about 400 lumens). I'm happy with this set up. My commute is 8.5 miles each way. I don't like battery packs and wires.

There are several threads about MagicShines which are very bright. There are threads about the 500-600 lumens lights (Lezyne, Cygolite, Serfas, Niterider, etc). Look at the "Lights under $50" thread, too. You can spend more than $250 on the quality lights: Dinotte, Lupine, etc. Don't look at any threads older than say May/June 2011. When the XM-L led hit the market, the entire product space changed.

mtbr.com has the https://reviews.mtbr.com/category/lights-shootout 2012 Lights Shootout which has descriptions, reviews, independent lumens measurements and beamshots.

The amount of light people feel is necessary is pretty subjective. There is flashlight vs battery pack, runtime requirements, quality requirements and budget that will help you determine what lights will best meet your needs.

Compare cost of one ER visit, repairs to bike, etc. vs. a set of good lights. The good ones are pricey in part because not only do they produce a lot of light, usually have decent beam patters, batteries with cells that weren't someone else's factory seconds, don't die when it rains, and don't vibrate apart after a few weeks use. And you can get parts and warranty service if they break. Watch for sales on Dinotte, Exposure, etc. If you want to economize, I'd consider getting 2 (or 3) Planet Bike Superflash for the rear lighting - decent amount of light (esp. on strobe) to give overtaking drivers adequate warning time. I'd want > 1 for redundancy and increased visibility.

I am commuting in part of the Dallas Fort Worth area. My morning commute is in the dark with moderate traffic. My evening rides are usually after dark in a suburban area.

I am a big fan of Dinotte tail lights, they are insanely bright. Even during full daylight they stand out and are extremely visible. All of mine, (3) have been snagged on the secondary market for about a third of retail.

For my front lights I am running a Niterider Pro 600 that lights up the road extremely well. It also works as a nice daylight strobe. My helmet light is a Cygo lite Expellion 400, on high it works well for eyeballing inattentive drivers.

I look at my lights as first line defensive gear as they help keep me alive in local traffic..

Semper Fi

+1 on the Cygo lite Expellion 400, very nice and small light.

there are dynohub equipped wheels available for less than $100, and front and rear lights could be less than $100 combined. I think that is the way to go for commuting

I just saw your in KC.. What part of that area are you commuting in? Different areas seem to have different behaviors... I'll take driving and commuting in the DFW MetroMess over driving in Johnson county any day of the week...

Semper Fi

That is simply to funny!!! Johnson county is exactly where I'm located. I will be commuting from western Shawnee to Lenexa. So if your familiar with the area it's actually k7 and Shawnee Mission Parkway to I35 and Lackman.

I use a spanninga micro ff led and for urban commuting it is enough. For open roads I would want something a bit brighter. Perhaps a Lumotec IQ Fly or Schmidt Edelux as both are VERY bright but they are expensive.

If you need a dynohub wheel this site has them. However I have never ordered from them, but have watched their site for nearly 3 years.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com/index.p...tegory&path=78

10 Wheels, in response to your PM regarding where we found our used Dinottes... (gee, only have 36 posts, no PM's for me...)

My wife and I haunted Ebay and Craigslist, (use allofcraigs.com for a nationwide search) and managed to turn up the Dinottes. We also put out a want to buy on one of the recumbent forums that turned up a tail light.

Semper Fi
Hope that helps!

My recommendation is always to buy as much light as you can afford. You can never have too much light when it come to commuting. I have a 1200 lumen headlight and even with that much light flashing away people still come close to hitting me from time to time. Although it's infrequent it still happens.

"allofcraigs.com"? Google site:craigslist.com and you get all of craigslist with decent search engine.