We’re not discussing red rear lights, pretty much anything will suffice these days, and unless you’re riding backwards, you’ll not damage yourself if it’s not perfect daylight illumination out the back of your bike.
If you have to choose one front light, choose one for your helmet, so you can see where you’re looking, and not where your bike is pointing.
Your helmet light should be small, light, have a decent length of cable and at least 1000 lumens of brightness.
You will find that with a single helment mounted light, that you won’t be able to see shadows, or behind obsticles to judge distances well, a secondary light on the handlebars will throw some shadows to help with this.
Personally, I have the Magicshine MJ-880 (2000 lumens) on my handlebars and for my helmet, I have everybody’s favourite: the Gloworm X2 (1700 lumens), it’s small, light and has a long cable and a similarly small and light battery stashed in my hydration pack.
Of course, everyone has their own personal requirements and preferences, but if you’re just starting out with night riding, you have to start somewhere and this should give you a good starting point.
As always, feel free to chat with us on club rides or SlowRiders nights.
#SlowRiders #weRide #lights #biggerIsBetter #justDontPointThemAtMe