Bike Lights

[RobFarley]

First Hi! I'm new here so if I break some rules with this post I'm going to claim ignorance!

I've done a search of the forum and can't seem to find what I'm looking for, and searched the internet, and equally, doesn't seem to exist, but surely it does!

So what do I want?

Well I've got a pair of Cree bike lights with T6 bulbs in them, these are pretty good lights, really good for seeing where you're going on unlit roads. The issue is that these things are basically torches and do not have a lens that points them at the road.

I've seen the bigger brother of what I use and a wide angle lens that can be fitted to that, which is a definate improvement, but still, this is still shoving a whole load of the light at the sky.

So why does there not appear to be a light that uses the Cree LEDs where I can have a focused dip beam and a high beam at the push of a button? Surely using the headlights from a scooter or similar would be a good starting point? It just seems obvious to me and I can't seem to find one.

90% of the time I'll be on a main road, so the highbeam would be off, therefore battery life would be conserved then I get to my unlit trails, whap the high beam on and I can see where I'm going.

Seems to me you could use a Q5 bulb for the low beam and 2 (or 3) of T6's for the high beam.

Just seems that illuminating tree tops and oncoming drivers seems unnecessary and a waste of light when it could be focused where I need it and therefore get more bang for my buck of lumens.

And yes, I know I can point them down but the hot spot is too close to the bike like that and it's a rubbish workaround to a problem that has been solved with every other type of road vehicle!

How's that for a first post? Bit too ranty?!

Cheers, Rob.

 

[alienator]

First, a high beam and low beam LED would require separate LEDs for high and low beam. This would also likely require that the low beam and high beam LEDs have their lenses. The other complicating factor is that el cheapo lights have el cheapo reflectors and quite often no lenses. Let's face it, one way to keep costs down is to not have to design quality optics. The cheap LEDs function by throwing a lot of light all over the place. The sad reality is that better quality and lower power lights very often provide better brightness (i.e intensity) where the light is really needed. All that aside bike lights can manage brightness with respect to oncoming cars by having switches (aka buttons) that allow you to decrease the power output at will. Mounting headlights on a helmet still gives that power dipping ability with the flip of a switch and adds to that the ability to redirect the light just by turning or dipping your head.

 

[RobFarley]

I completely understand you'll need multple LEDs. I think head mounted lighting is awful.

Just did a quick google search and found this:

can be picked up for $25. It's the whole light assembly for a scooter, and this clearly is massively overboard for a bike, but given my lights cost only £25 it surely makes it feasable to make a really decent light for not a lot of money. And even if it costs a bit surely there's demand for such a thing.

Am I alone here?

 

[Owboduz]

No, you're not alone. I bought a dual CREE U2 fixture for my bike after a close encounter with a runner dressed in black on a dark lane. I keep wishing I could get those two U2's to activate independently and have one for high-beam and one for low. If you go for the modified scooter light, let me know how it works out.

I wonder how this will all work with respect to the RVLR. I know it's incredibly hard to find LED lights that conform to BS6102/3. I'm certain my dual CREE U2 light does not. In particular, I'm downright certain that it fails on the grounds that it could easily dazzle other road users.

I have used the same workaround as you with the CREE light. I aim it at the ground when in traffic. Not an ideal solution, but it stops me dazzling other road users...