Headlight Recommendations

aka Frank Krygowski said:

Tom \'Johnny Sunset\' Sherman said:

Yes, a hub dynamo and a battery high power halogen would work, but the
wiring gets cumbersome since the light needs to be mounted on the boom
in front of one's feet, with the switch on the handlebars.

Wow. I'd have thought that a dedicated recumbent rider would be used
to the extra fiddling it takes to mount "ordinary bike" accessories on
his machine!

Yehbut, I'm lazy. 😉

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

aka Frank Krygowski said:

Tom \'Johnny Sunset\' Sherman said:

aka Frank Krygowski said:

On Aug 6, 10:52 pm, "Tom \"Johnny Sunset\" Sherman"
<[email hidden]> wrote:
> [email hidden] aka Frank Krygowski wrote:
>> ...
>> Of course, the current amount of light works extremely well for the
>> vast majority of the world's nighttime cyclists. It's only the non-
>> cycling countries - like the US - where many people think they need to
>> look like a supernova.
> I want to look like a motorcycle to motorized traffic, and I want the
> light output of a motorcycle headlight when descending at motorcycle
> type speeds.
Sorry, but if you don't plan on using motorcycle-duty wheels, tires
and brakes, it's not very sensible to say you need a motorcycle
headlight.

To the contrary, if the motorists think I am a motorcycle, they will
assume I am going at a typical motorcycle speed and not cut me off. If
they think bicycle, they will think I am going less than 10 mph and cut
me off. Happens quite often. 🙁

Those sorts of statements always amaze me. When I ride at night,
motorists always give me more consideration, not less. I've been
amazed many times by motorists that wait, and wait, and wait for me to
pass before turning left across my path, or pulling out from a stop
sign, when they obviously could have safely done so much earlier.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Bicycles are all about efficiency - about having exactly the
appropriate level of capability for the job. That's why the rubber on
our tires isn't half an inch thick, even though our thin tires get
some flats. That's why our spokes are less than a millimeter thick,
not 3 or 4 millimeters. That's why your bike's frame weighs less than
5 pounds, not 25 pounds or more. Why should a cyclist violate this
principle regarding lights?
You're not on a motorcycle. Unless you're _extremely_ unusual, you
don't approach intersections at 50 mph, and need to warn motorists at
stop signs 300 feet away. You don't do 70 on the freeway, or on
winding country roads. You simply don't need a headlight that is
appropriate for those conditions.

Every ride in a hilly area on a fast lowracer or fully-faired recumbent
at night? Motorcycle type speeds are easily obtained going downhill, and
a 3W dynamo light is not going to cut it.

Well, no, I haven't. The only really low machine I have is a trike
built on a low racer pattern. Frankly, it's not something I enjoy
riding.

If you really do attain speeds of, say, 25+ mph at night with any
regularity, you'll probably need more than a good generator light.
But even then, something at moped level should do it. You're still
not on a crotch rocket, or even a touring motorcycle.

Quoted message said:

Now if you are talking about riding around the city at normal cycle
speeds (15-40 kph), yes, a good hub dynamo and light with decent optics
is adequate if you allow for stupid motorists cutting you off when
pulling out of cross-streets and driveways.

Again, that's literally never been a problem. I've been cut off a few
times by motorists who didn't see me in daylight. Twice in one
memorable day, in fact - and astonishingly, both apologized
profusely.

Since it's never happened in darkness, and since instead I've gotten
spontaneous compliments on my nighttime conspicuity, I feel sure my
lighting/reflector system is doing its job.

I have been cut off that way many times when riding a bicycle, both in
daylight and darkness.

Of course, I have had the same thing happen when driving a medium duty
commercial truck that would crush a Hummer, so there is no fool-proof
solution.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

SMS said:

Tom 'Johnny Sunset' Sherman said:

SMS aka Steven M. Scharf said:

...
I don't dislike or like them. I have some dynamo lights. They are
fine for use in certain circumstances, certainly in bicycle-friendly
places, like the Netherlands, they are often sufficient....

What is the outlook for fuel cell powered lights? I don't care for any
of the lights currently on the market, as they are either limited in
output or runtime. 🙁

No they're not, you just have to be willing to haul around enough
batteries to get the run-time and output you need.

Look at what RC airplanes use if you want to know what the currently
available lightest, highest output power source is. Right now, it's
Li-Po batteries. I haven't seen any bicycle lights with Li-Po yet,
though Li-Ion is more and more common.

Personally, I'd be willing to have a more powerful dynamo than the
commonly available 3W, and somewhat less available 6W models. A 12W
dynamo would be sufficient to power satisfactory lights for most
commuters, and on a commute the extra commute time might not be such a
big deal. Even 9W might be sufficient.

I've been riding with Li-po batteries for at least two years now. At 63%
of the weight of NiMh it's the way to go. Not much difference in price
these days too.

Dorfus

On 6 Aug., 19:00, SMS <[email hidden]> wrote:

SMS skrev:

Quoted message said:

North Carolina Bicycle Coalition
http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledriving/library/lights/lights.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
...a cyclist operating at 15 mph can see well enough with less than 600
candlepower (e.g. 12 watt halogen), and a cyclist operating at 7.5 mph
can see far enough in with less than 150 candlepower (e.g. 3 watt
halogen). The light provided by a bicycle headlamp may be focused into a
narrow beam for maximum range, or may be spread out for better
peripheral vision. A three watt lamp can be focused into a beam suitable
for high speed cycling on the darkest roads, but will not give much
illumination of turns. North Carolina Bicycle Coalition

The numbers quoted doesn't make sense. They seem to claim that a 3
watt halogen lamp (like a dynamo driven headlight) only gives a meager
150 candelas. But the German magazine "Aktive Radfahren" 1-2/05 (the
guys who also does the respected "Tour" magazine) made an thorough
test of 7 dynamo headlights and 7 battery operated headlights. My
choice of dynamo frontlight, the "B&M Lumotec Oval Senso Plus" was
measured to 13,5 lux. The battery operated Cateye EL-500G was also
measured to 13,5 lux at 10 meters distance, but the Cateye alledgedly
gives out more than 1000 candelas? How come a 3 watt halogen
headlight, who your "expert" claims gives out 150 candela, is just as
strong as a 1000 candela headlight? Furthermore I know the Cateye 500G
model quite well, and on paper it may be measured as bright as my B&M
2,4 watt halogen headlight, but it is only bright in a small spot,
while my halogen light casts a generous flood light over a large area,
so in practise, the dynamodriven headlight is vastly superior.

In the test, no headlight operated with internal battery could beat
the best dynamo driven headlight.

Quoted message said:

Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates
(http://www.sacbike.org/articles/article.php?mode=display&lognum=17)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"If you want to cycle at low speeds in areas with street lights, other
ambient lighting, or when there's a full moon on a cloudless night, a
low wattage light is OK. If you actually want to see obstacles in darker
areas, you need a more powerful light, from 10 to 30 watts or more.

That "expert" has never tried a hubdynamo lightning system for sure,
and doesn't even seem to have tried to ride on a unlit road, because,
as you allready know, "low" wattage systems are really good in pitch
black conditions, as another of your "experts" also says.
I am not a fast commuter, and rarely does more than 35 km/h, but I
can go full speed down a unlit packed gravel road with lots of
potholes without any problems with my dynamolight.

I have absolutely no respect for your so called "experts", who doesn't
seem to have any accredited education relevant for being bicycle
lights expert, or quote any source at all to back up their claims. The
facts just flies in the face of their claims.

--
Regards
Peter S.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jay Beattie said:

Hey, when its foggy, raining, dark -- and I'm sliding down some goat
trail on my way home through the hills, I want as much f****** light
as I can get. I'm old. My eyesight sucks. I don't care if it is too
much light in some metaphysical sense.

Assuming you mean that you're riding offroad, you'll find that generator
lights are not good in that setting. Battery powered lights work much
better off road because light output is not affected by riding speed.

One issue about eyesight is night vision. Many people have poor night
vision. An overly bright headlight can actually worsen night vision by
overlighting close objects. Few if any really bright headlights have
good optics for cycling. IMHO B&M Lumotec and Schmidt E6 have the best
optics for use as a cycling light- the beam is brighter at the top which
shines further down the road, resulting in a long, evenly illuminated
pool of light and avoiding overlighting things up close.

On Aug 7, 6:36 pm, Crescentius Vespasianus <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I have a EL530 bought for one bike I'm building, the regulated output is
nice but I don't know I like the beam shape (a round tight center spot
with wide spill). But as the EL-500 is discontinued I suppose half that
decision is already made. The EL500 was the best cheapie headlight
around a year ago.

------------------
Is the el-530 brighter than the 500?
Can you put the spot farther out with
the 530 than you can the 500? As you
know if you put the spot on the 500 too
far out you don't see any illumination.

The EL-530's spot is brighter than the EL-500, but the spot is a tiny
round dot in comparison to the already small EL-500 pattern. However,
the two go well together, e.g. with the 530's spot pointed just beyond
the two "cat ears" in the 500's pattern. Given the choice though, I'd
rather have two EL-500 than one of each (as I do now) or two EL-530.
If I could have only one, I'd choose the EL-500.

DougC, where did you get an EL-530 with regulated output? Is it a
special, Euro version? Europe gets all the cool stuff :-(.

Tom 'Johnny Sunset' Sherman said:

To the contrary, if the motorists think I am a motorcycle, they will
assume I am going at a typical motorcycle speed and not cut me off. If
they think bicycle, they will think I am going less than 10 mph and cut
me off. Happens quite often. 🙁

That is precisely what I've found while commuting. I was constantly
getting cut off with low-power lights, with vehicles exiting parking
lots and driveways, and turning left in front of me. They just don't
expect a bicycle to be going even 20 mph. With bright lights, especially
the sealed beams on my commute bike (due to the large diameter), they yield.

Quoted message said:

Now if you are talking about riding around the city at normal cycle
speeds (15-40 kph), yes, a good hub dynamo and light with decent optics
is adequate if you allow for stupid motorists cutting you off when
pulling out of cross-streets and driveways.

40kph is 25mph, and is far too fast to not outrun 3W lights no matter
what the power source. A vehicle turning in front of a bicycle is
expecting you to be riding 5-10 mph because that's the speed they ride
when out on the Huffy. 40kph is not "normal".

In any case, the original poster is clear on what he's looking
for--bright lights that will run for several hours. There are several
options, all involving trade-offs of cost, weight, size, run-time, and
lamp life.

Steve
"http://bicyclelighting.com"

Jay Beattie said:

Hey, when its foggy, raining, dark -- and I'm sliding down some goat
trail on my way home through the hills, I want as much f****** light
as I can get. I'm old. My eyesight sucks. I don't care if it is too
much light in some metaphysical sense.

Night vision declines with age, it's true. But it's not just about
illuminating the road, it's about how vehicles perceive you when they
see you approaching. On routes that riders are familiar with they
probably could get by with 3W lights in terms of road illumination, but
where a big safety issue occurs is how vehicles behave as you approach.
Are you constantly yielding to vehicles that perceive you as a slow
moving bicycle, or do they yield because they perceive you as something
else? There's a huge difference in motorist behavior when you use bright
lights.

Quoted message said:

I also don't know about modern generator lights -- mabye they're
bright, but most people (including me) don't want to drop $400+ to
find out (based on Peter White's prices for rim, spokes, hub, light).
If I could test drive one of these things, I might consider it --
except, again, I use two bikes -- one with a disc, so I can't just
flip the wheels. -- Jay Beattie.

Just buy multiple $400 systems! Actually, it's amazing how cheap those
internal hub generators are when they are included in the bicycle from
the bicycle manufacturer, though probably not much worse than other
parts and accessories. Attend the Taipei International Cycle Show some
time and get an idea of the very low prices that accessory manufacturers
charge distributors for accessories. Bicycle shops also have good
margins on accessories, unlike on complete bicycles.

Dahon charges $130 (street) for their dynamo wheel. I may get one for my
Dahon folder as I often use it as my "around town" bicycle.

You can buy low-end dynamo lighting systems from
"http://www.yellowjersey.org/lolite.html" and mid-range from
"http://www.yellowjersey.org/dynamos.html". Not as nice as what Peter
White sells, but much cheaper.

Steve
"http://bicyclelighting.com"
Earth's Independent Source for Unbiased Bicycle Lighting Information

Tom 'Johnny Sunset' Sherman said:

aka Frank Krygowski said:

...
Of course, the current amount of light works extremely well for the
vast majority of the world's nighttime cyclists. It's only the non-
cycling countries - like the US - where many people think they need to
look like a supernova.

I want to look like a motorcycle to motorized traffic, and I want the
light output of a motorcycle headlight when descending at motorcycle
type speeds.

One thing I've found is that larger diameter headlights are also useful,
not just extreme brightness.

Relatively low wattage headlights, like the Malibu 14W LV504 (see
http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/images/img_0281.jpg) give the impression
of a non-bicycle, even though they are a lot lower wattage than the
typical high performance system. I often only use one lamp, and I may
just change the setup to a single lamp, as 14W is really sufficient.
These lamps are also available in 11 watt and 25 watt, and are very
inexpensive and very light. The large reflector increases the efficiency
as well, though they are only available in "flood". For my needs they're
fine but I rarely go more than 25 mph while commuting.

For $35 you can buy a lamp (Home Depot), a sealed-lead-acid battery
(allelectronics.com), and a charger (harborfreight.com). Add a bit of
wire, a fuse and holder, and a switch, and you're at around $40. Add a
very bright xenon flashing tail light, and you're up to $50 (plus a
couple of hours work) for a very good commute system. The lamp is so
light that it's fine on even a plastic reflector bracket.

In article <[email hidden]>,

SMS said:

Tom 'Johnny Sunset' Sherman said:

To the contrary, if the motorists think I am a motorcycle, they
will assume I am going at a typical motorcycle speed and not cut me
off. If they think bicycle, they will think I am going less than 10
mph and cut me off. Happens quite often. 🙁

That is precisely what I've found while commuting. I was constantly
getting cut off with low-power lights, with vehicles exiting parking
lots and driveways, and turning left in front of me. They just don't
expect a bicycle to be going even 20 mph. With bright lights,
especially the sealed beams on my commute bike (due to the large
diameter), they yield.

My experience is the opposite. Drivers are far more aware of me and are
far likelier to wait than they are during the day. Come to think of it,
I've never had any driver pull out in front of me and cut me off at
night. There are, of course, fewer opportunities as there are fewer
drivers out after dark.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Now if you are talking about riding around the city at normal cycle
speeds (15-40 kph), yes, a good hub dynamo and light with decent
optics is adequate if you allow for stupid motorists cutting you
off when pulling out of cross-streets and driveways.

40kph is 25mph, and is far too fast to not outrun 3W lights no matter
what the power source.

Oh [censored]. Which orifice do you pull this stuff out of? I routinely
exceed 35 mph on descents with a 3W B&M Lumotec lamp and have no trouble
like this. I can see plenty far down the road.

Quoted message said:

A vehicle turning in front of a bicycle is
expecting you to be riding 5-10 mph because that's the speed they
ride when out on the Huffy. 40kph is not "normal".

Depends on who you ride with, I guess.

Quoted message said:

I have a EL530 bought for one bike I'm building, the regulated output is
nice but I don't know I like the beam shape (a round tight center spot
with wide spill). But as the EL-500 is discontinued I suppose half that
decision is already made. The EL500 was the best cheapie headlight
around a year ago.

------------------
Is the el-530 brighter than the 500?
Can you put the spot farther out with
the 530 than you can the 500? As you
know if you put the spot on the 500 too
far out you don't see any illumination.

Tim McNamara said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jay Beattie said:

Hey, when its foggy, raining, dark -- and I'm sliding down some goat
trail on my way home through the hills, I want as much f****** light
as I can get. I'm old. My eyesight sucks. I don't care if it is too
much light in some metaphysical sense.

Assuming you mean that you're riding offroad, you'll find that generator
lights are not good in that setting. Battery powered lights work much
better off road because light output is not affected by riding speed.

One issue about eyesight is night vision. Many people have poor night
vision. An overly bright headlight can actually worsen night vision by
overlighting close objects. Few if any really bright headlights have
good optics for cycling. IMHO B&M Lumotec and Schmidt E6 have the best
optics for use as a cycling light- the beam is brighter at the top which
shines further down the road, resulting in a long, evenly illuminated
pool of light and avoiding overlighting things up close.

I want a fuel cell that can power something like this for several nights
use without refueling: <http://www.piaa.com/Lamps/Lamp-pages/600hid.html>.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Tom "Johnny Sunset" Sherman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I want a fuel cell that can power something like this for several nights
use without refueling: <http://www.piaa.com/Lamps/Lamp-pages/600hid.html>.

I want world peace :-)

(at least yours stands some chance of happening at some point - but it'll be
a while yet...)

cheers,
clive

SMS said:

Tom 'Johnny Sunset' Sherman said:

To the contrary, if the motorists think I am a motorcycle, they will
assume I am going at a typical motorcycle speed and not cut me off. If
they think bicycle, they will think I am going less than 10 mph and cut
me off. Happens quite often. 🙁

That is precisely what I've found while commuting. I was constantly
getting cut off with low-power lights, with vehicles exiting parking
lots and driveways, and turning left in front of me. They just don't
expect a bicycle to be going even 20 mph. With bright lights, especially
the sealed beams on my commute bike (due to the large diameter), they yield.

And again, I've literally never been cut off while riding at night.
Daytime has been different, and at least one daytime incident required
extreme evasion on my part to prevent a crash. But nighttime? Not
once - and I've done bike commuting at night since 1978, plus
occasional recreational rides and touring.

Here's a trick you might try if you spot an impatient-looking driver
approaching. ("Impatient" shows up in their speed, and in behaviors
like late braking for a stop sign.) Simply wiggle your handlebars a
bit side to side, quickly but slightly. The motion's the same as a
"rock dodge" but not nearly so radical.

As long as your headlamps are fastened to the handlebars or forks (not
the bike's frame) this will flash your headlight in the driver's eye,
to one degree or other.

Understand, I seldom need to bother with this trick. But perhaps when
I've used it, it's helped prevent the cut-offs you guys experience.

- Frank Krygowski

Clive George said:

"Tom "Johnny Sunset" Sherman" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I want a fuel cell that can power something like this for several
nights use without refueling:
<http://www.piaa.com/Lamps/Lamp-pages/600hid.html>.

I want world peace :-)

(at least yours stands some chance of happening at some point - but
it'll be a while yet...)

With more and more functions being crammed into cell phones (to the
point the phone is secondary), batteries are not going to cut it in the
future. Similarly, the computer laptop would greatly benefit from fuel
technology. These markets (unlike bicycle lights) are huge enough to pay
for a lot of fuel cell R&D.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Tim McNamara said:

My experience is the opposite. Drivers are far more aware of me and are
far likelier to wait than they are during the day. Come to think of it,
I've never had any driver pull out in front of me and cut me off at
night. There are, of course, fewer opportunities as there are fewer
drivers out after dark.

I definitely agree that at night the drivers are far likelier to wait,
but it's because in the daytime they _know_ you're a bicycle, but at
night, they just see a light coming and they have to judge the speed of
the approaching light. When you have reasonably bright lights, even just
10-15W, they are unsure whether it's a bicycles or something else. With
low-power lights of 1-3W, they realize that it's a bicycle and they
believe that bicycles are always going as slow as they ride.

I'm sure it varies by region of the world as well. In the U.S., you
definitely don't want to be riding 25mph at night with only 3 watt
lights, while in the more civilized countries of western Europe it's
probably adequate.

Jay Beattie said:

The days are getting shorter, which reminds me that I need to replace
my headlight. Are there any new lights on the market that are worth
looking at? I need something bright, but I don't need a super long
burn time. A few hours is good enough. -- Jay Beattie.

I don't know if you're into "rolling your own," but you can buy a
self-contained HID lamp for from TrailTech (13W power consumption), see
"http://trailtech.net/single_hid_mr11.html", a 14.8V Li-Po battery from
"http://prodigybatteries.com/productlist/" and a Li-Po charger, and
still be well under the cost for a commercial HID or dynamo lighting
system. Three hours would need something like the 5AH battery. Of course
the Li-Po battery is only needed if weight is a big issue, you can
always use a heavier SLA battery for about 1/8th the cost of a Li-Po
battery of similar capacity.

Remember that you can get close to HID efficiency by simply
over-voltaging a standard MR16 or MR11 lamp, the downside is reduced
lamp life, but lamps are pretty inexpensive if you don't go running to a
bike shop to buy them at $20 each.

A very good system would be a 14.8V (four cell) Li-Po battery, a set of
QH-7CC driving lights
("http://store.novatechgadgets.com/quhaofralioq.html"😉, and some 10W
MR16 lamps to replace the 50W lamps
("http://www.harringtonlights.com/Specialty_Glass/mr16_low_wattage.htm"😉.

Also, remember to not confuse watts with lumens, as the relationship has
changed a lot over the years, and is dependent not only on power, but on
optics and lamp efficiency. The lumens per watt of a 20% over-voltaged
MR16 is actually greater than that of a commercial HID systems with the
smaller lamps. Optics make a difference, and the precision matched
reflector/bulb of the MR16 and MR11 lamps are the best option for
bicycle lights (which is why most high-end bicycle lights use them).
With a separate bulb and reflector, the bulb is not precisely
positioned, which wastes power (even turning the bulb can change the
efficiency).

It all depends on how much you want to spend, how much weight you want
to carry, how bright you need the lights to be, and how much work you
want to do yourself.

Steve
"http://bicyclelighting.com"
Earth's Independent Source for Unbiased Bicycle Lighting Information

SMS said:

Tim McNamara said:

My experience is the opposite. Drivers are far more aware of me and are
far likelier to wait than they are during the day. Come to think of it,
I've never had any driver pull out in front of me and cut me off at
night. There are, of course, fewer opportunities as there are fewer
drivers out after dark.

I definitely agree that at night the drivers are far likelier to wait,
but it's because in the daytime they _know_ you're a bicycle, but at
night, they just see a light coming and they have to judge the speed of
the approaching light. When you have reasonably bright lights, even just
10-15W, they are unsure whether it's a bicycles or something else. With
low-power lights of 1-3W, they realize that it's a bicycle and they
believe that bicycles are always going as slow as they ride.

All very nice in theory. But as I've explained, I've seen them wait
for me much longer in at night than in daylight. In some cases,
they've waited amazingly long times. And they've _never_ cut me off
at night. That's with my 3 Watt generator headlights.

Quoted message said:

I'm sure it varies by region of the world as well. In the U.S., you
definitely don't want to be riding 25mph at night with only 3 watt
lights, while in the more civilized countries of western Europe it's
probably adequate.

Of course, I do live in the U.S.

- Frank Krygowski

Crescentius Vespasianus said:

Quoted message said:

I have a EL530 bought for one bike I'm building, the regulated output
is nice but I don't know I like the beam shape (a round tight center
spot with wide spill). But as the EL-500 is discontinued I suppose
half that decision is already made. The EL500 was the best cheapie
headlight around a year ago.

------------------
Is the el-530 brighter than the 500? Can you put the spot farther out
with the 530 than you can the 500? As you know if you put the spot on
the 500 too far out you don't see any illumination.

There is a comparison chart, of sorts, at
"http://www.cateye.com/sites/cateye/upload/product_charts/LightPOPfront.pdf".

You really want to be comparing lumens, not candlepower, for lighting.
There is a good explanation of the difference at
"http://www.stkildacycles.com.au/products_lightsSafety.htm".

Even though many people still use watts for comparison, and I slip into
that myself occasionally, it's really inaccurate especially with HID
lamps. Also, the LED lights tend to have high candlepower ratings, but
low lumen ratings, due to their inherent characteristics, which of
course is why they're comparing candlepower on the CatEye site.

The EL-5xx series is really for "being seen". Four AA batteries aren't
going to power any sufficiently bright light for very long.

One of the big advantages of incandescent lamps is that with good optics
and reflectors you can really boost the lumen output. This is why all
the high-end lighting systems use the precision matched MR type of bulb
and reflector.

Steve
"http://bicyclelighting.com"
Earth's Independent Source for Unbiased Bicycle Lighting Information

"SMS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

One of the big advantages of incandescent lamps is that with good optics
and reflectors you can really boost the lumen output. This is why all the
high-end lighting systems use the precision matched MR type of bulb and
reflector.

Do these MR bulbs produce a beam optimised for riding, or something simpler?

cheers,
clive