All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

Unless I'm doing a night relay race (or a 24 hour race), I'm ok with the old charging (and cables) methods. The old Gloworms I have take about 3 or so hours to charge fully but since the batteries sit in the charger all next day, it's perfectly fine. I do have some backup batteries just in case I want to do something stupid, like ride for 24 hours.

 

I have a friend who recommended the Outbound Lighting lights. He thinks they are great and worth the money. I don't have them yet but I need a set. I imagine you get what you pay for.

 

I've just got my niteriders. Been good for the occasional night ride.

 

I've got some old cheapy LED lights off Amazon. They even have external battery packs.... I only go on a few night rides a year, so I have been making due because I hated the thought of spending the money on good lights that I use 3 or 4 times a year. I've always been pretty satisfied with the light output.

I did some considering and decided that the light I actually use the most is the helmet light - looking where I'm going, not where my bike is pointing. That is also the most annoying with an external battery.

I just ordered an Outbound helmet light to replace it. $130 is much easier to swallow than $400 for the combo. I'll be doing a night ride next week, so I'll be able to see if just adding the really good helmet light makes me happy. I still don't think I mind strapping the battery pack to my frame for the old bar light. As long as it doesn't burn my house down while charging....

 

Still running a MagicShine light here, one of the Ray series lights with 2 LEDs. For the money, it does pretty damn well. I only have a handlebar mount and I don't do 24 hour epic rides. For the trails I ride, it throws plenty of light at the mid-low power setting. If I point the nose down something faster, I just kick up the light output temporarily.

 

I’ve used everything from Magic Shine, to gloworm, to Amazon cheap lights, and lights we’ve made ourselves from plans floating around MTBR (still going about 15 yrs later BTW) and gloworm is tough to beat especially with the occasional discount codes floating around. Prob be some out soon with the DST upon us.

 

So uhhh, yall got any outbound lighting discount codes?

 

https://www.outboundlighting.com/pages/discount-codes

guess i'm waiting until black friday to get some lights

 

Outbound doesn’t usually do discounts, but last year they did run a 20% off sale.

They’re always the go to recommendation for me. As stated way back when I had one of their lights with me in Oahu and accidentally left it on the roof of vehicle.

I heard it fall off on the highway where luckily it turned on, so I was able to grab it off the road after turning around when I found a spot . It held up to falling off the car at 40 and getting ran over. They sent me a new light and return label for mine and said they’ll use it for durability marketing.

 

I just signed up for the notification.

 

PSA, Jenson has some pretty good discounts on Yeti SB-series bikes for you dentists out there.

 

This is the deal linked below. Companies pushing deals out prior to Black Friday as they’re nervous people will jump on something before then and not have money for the BF deals.

https://www.weareonecomposites.com/en-us/products/2024-arrival-152-sp3

 

- 5ft bed to small to fit your bike?
- 1up rack too expensive?
- Tail gate pad & hitch mounts obstructs backup camera?
- hitch, truck bed & roof options are out of site?

Solution.

 

Negative, I was talking about Jenson USA marking down Yeti bikes
https://www.jensonusa.com/ag-search?q=yeti

Looks like WAO is doing something similar although only with the 152.

 

I got my wife a combo set and agree they are worth the money. Prolly one of the best "all in one" systems you can get. For me, my money goes to Gloworm. IMO the best lights out there, nice and compact, durable mounting system and you get what you pay for. If you don't mind separate battery and cables and like to keep your night time speeds up then Gloworm is the way to go.

Of course take that with a grain of salt, it's just one guys opinion.

 

In regards to lighting - I use a magichsine ray 2600 and it is more than enough for running trails at night on the handlebar. Here is a picture on the low/medium intensity which has lasted a full two hour ride and not gone into warning mode:



I am looking to get a small helmet mounted light just to help when going through corners, but it is really not needed for the trails we ride at night (don't ride the downhill trails as hard). I'll try and get a picture of the light on high intensity - it reminds me of that 'Malcolm in the Middle' episode where they light the massive firework at night and it turns to daylight for a second.

 

I always seem to post this photo when lighting comes up. I use a high cri/warmer flashlight on a mount on the helmet - and may even do so on the bars. I think warmer tints help see more and tend not to wash out where you are focusing.

 

That's kind of what outbound talks about, not just putting out the brightest with the most lumens, but making the most useful beam pattern with usable lumens.
May just be marketing, but I'm a fan for an AIO light system.

 

Yeti is marking down yeti bikes! Well at least old drivetrain ones.

Last year's BF sales were very good. I hope to see even better ones this year.

 

oh man, that WAO discount....

most of the "discounts" i've seen just bring the bikes down to pre-pandemic pricing which isn't all that surprising. seems like some manufacturers are doing actual really good deals. that arrival would be sick to own....especially at that price.