BEST LIGHTS
Front and rear lighting combos that will keep you riding in the darker months ahead
As British Summer Time ends, we test the best ways to illuminate your night rides through the autumn and winter
Today's bike lights are bright, tough, easy to use and versatile, thanks to numerous modes
Just as carbon fibre dominates in highend bikes, highpower, rechargeable LED lights are the bulb of choice for today's bike lights – and for very good reason. Today's bike lights are bright, tough, waterproof, generally easy to use, and versatile, thanks to the numerous modes that give you the correct lighting level for wherever you find yourself.
The criteria for our test was to find lighting sets (or a front and rear pair from the same company) costing around £100 and that can be used on unlit streets or tracks, but not specifically off-road. All the front lights come with numerous modes – steady, flashing, strobe, pulsing, ‘breathing’ – and the same is true of the rear lights, two of which also have a brake light-type effect. All of the lights are powered by rechargeable lithium ion (li-on) or lithium polymer batteries using micro-USB leads or by plugging directly into a USB port. A few also double up as power banks for charging GPS, mobiles and the like.
Lights are getting more powerful each year and the brightest on test put out an impressive 1600 lumens – more than you need on just about any occasion. Most also provide a decent amount of side lighting, so a well-considered combo should provide a full 360 degrees of visibility. The real advantage of such powerful systems is increased running times at lower settings.