?? Question re BIKE LIGHT to buy ??

[Bigbananabike]

Hi.
It's getting darker by the day in New Zealand now. I'm needing a better front light than my Cateye 3 LED.
I've looked at Roadbike reviews tests but that only goes up to '04 - they don't cover the the Cateye double/triple shot etc.
I don't really know what to look for and don't want to / or feel I should spend too much(some are $899 US!!).
It's for my training bike, riding about 30 - 40kms late afternoon/early evening.
It needs to fit my oversized bars and I would prefer a bottle cage type battery.
What would be good ones to look out for?
Thanks, Paul

 

[missionaryman]

hi Paul, I'm over in Australia and found myself asking the same question. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money and I wanted it to be bright so I used my experience in modifying M@glites to build a small (handlebar mount) but powerful light that I can also use as a torch when I go into undeveloped parts of the world doing missionary work.

My budget was the same as the cheapest proper halogen bike light I could find AU$220 - $250
Here's what I came up with:

Cost me $250 with the Twofish Cyclopblock and runs for 30min on the 35 watt high bulb (pictured) & 70min on the 16 watt low bulb. It weighed about 400gms with batteries installed (I think).
If you were interested I could point you in the right direction to making yourself one or I could import one for you as I'm organising a group buy for Aussies now (most of the parts come from US & HK so a large freight saving is possible with the group buy).

 

[Bobby Lex]

Hi.
It's getting darker by the day in New Zealand now. I'm needing a better front light than my Cateye 3 LED.
I've looked at Roadbike reviews tests but that only goes up to '04 - they don't cover the the Cateye double/triple shot etc.
I don't really know what to look for and don't want to / or feel I should spend too much(some are $899 US!!).
It's for my training bike, riding about 30 - 40kms late afternoon/early evening.
It needs to fit my oversized bars and I would prefer a bottle cage type battery.
What would be good ones to look out for?
Thanks, Paul

I've owned the light in the link below for about 4 months now and heartily endorse it.

The battery is rechargeable. It has velcro straps that enable it to hang from your top tube, or from your seat like a saddle bag.

Brightness is adjustible. At the most efficient setting you have a 14 hour battery time.

The "smartcharger" is a nice feature. It automatically switches to trickle-charge-mode when the battery is fully charged, to keep it topped off at all times.

The light is mountable anywear, and even comes with a helmet mount.

The price is very reasonable for what you get.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=21086&subcategory_ID=4320

Bob