There's so many bike lights out there for cyclists it can be hard to know where to start! In this video Sam, breaks down everything you need to know about bike lights and what you should be looking for. It's important that we as cyclists get seen, so, ensuring you have the right lights for your riding is important especially when it can be the difference between seeing where you are or aren't going! We look at the different light requirements between road, gravel, commuting and mountain biking and tell you exactly what you need to have for those different types of riding.
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00:00As the temperature drops and the evenings draw in, one of the most
00:03important things you need to be thinking about when riding outdoors is how
00:08visible you are, which is why today I'm gonna run you through everything you
00:12need to know and everything you need to be thinking about when buying a brand
00:16new set of lights.
00:24As with any question in cycling, it's always going to depend on a number of
00:29factors, but the first and most important is what type of cycling are
00:33you doing. If you're riding on the road in unlit areas then you're going to need
00:38a front light with a minimum of 500 lumens and a rear light of a minimum of
00:4330 lumens. If you're riding gravel you will need a bare minimum of 800 lumens
00:49on the front and if you're mountain biking then you would need a minimum of
00:521,000 lumens. Lastly, if you're commuting and you're mainly riding in areas that
00:59are lit up then a set which has around 200 lumens on the front and again 30
01:03lumens on the rear will be absolutely fine. Matching how bright the lights are
01:09to the riding you're doing is the first and absolutely the most important step
01:14in figuring out which lights are going to be best for you. Everything beyond
01:19here is very much about refining what's important to you and how you want to
01:23interact with your lights. Now of course with additional features comes ease of
01:28use and extra layers of safety but it's also worth mentioning that not all
01:32lumens are created equally so be sure to watch on and find out where you should
01:38be spending your money. As I said the lights on the market today often have a
01:47whole raft of features and one of the best-known brands to innovate and
01:51incorporate the latest and greatest tech is Lezyne. So I have a rather nice range
01:56of their offerings here to help me showcase what you should be looking for
02:00if you were to buy a set of lights. Now if you want any of the details of any of
02:04the lights that you see in the video today then I have linked them all down
02:07in the description below. Like most electronic devices these days smart
02:12features can now be found in lights and it does make for a much easier way to
02:16interact with them. For example with Lezyne's Smart Connect you can now link
02:21both front and rear lights together. Now this means that you only have to use
02:26the one control button to control both lights and not only that but you can now
02:32control both lights via a smartphone app so you can really get into the detail
02:36and really refine how you want your lights to be set up. Now this does make
02:41it so much easier to switch between modes on the fly and it puts an end to
02:45fumbling around with your rear light when you're just trying to ride along.
02:49Lezyne also features race mode which allows you to toggle between the
02:55brightest overdrive setting and the dimmer economy setting and a feature
02:59like this is really useful for maybe when you're out riding on the trails
03:03you're waiting for your mates to catch up you can just drop it down onto that
03:06lower setting and save a little bit of battery life before popping it back onto
03:09that brightest setting before you hit the next run. Alternatively it can be
03:14really useful for commuters so that you can drop it down onto that dimmer
03:18setting so that you don't dazzle other road users and maybe when they've passed
03:22you can then step it back up to that brightest overdrive setting. Finally one
03:28last feature which I think is absolutely crucial on any new light anyone buys is
03:32actually just making sure that the batteries are rechargeable. Most brands
03:37and most lights out there are USB rechargeable there's only a couple of
03:41brands out there that have their own proprietary charging system but the
03:45point still stands disposable batteries are very much a thing of the past.
03:54Since there are so many lights on the market it needs to be clarified that
03:58they do different jobs. Some lights are great to be seen by and others will
04:03allow you to see where you're going. For commuters and riders who ride in lit
04:07areas or maybe just on those shorter journeys then a set which allows you to
04:11be seen by other road users will suffice. Now to determine the difference
04:16anything below a 200 lumen light on the front would constitute a light to be
04:20seen by. Any rear light over 30 lumens would also get you seen but we recommend
04:26a rear light which is over 50 lumens for maximum visibility. To allow you to see
04:31where you're going when cycling on the road you would want a minimum of 500
04:35lumens and as I said previously you'd want a minimum of a thousand when you're
04:40off-road.
04:45Something which has become abundantly clear in the automotive industry in
04:50recent years is the standardization of daytime running lights and the logic
04:54perfectly translates to bicycles. More visibility of cyclists at any time of
05:00day is important especially as we're more vulnerable. Most lights will have
05:05several modes and for the daytime using a short flash will not only prolong the
05:10life of the battery but it will also help catch the attention of other road
05:14users without the risk of startling them. We'd recommend using a flashing mode for
05:19both front and rear lights to give yourself the best chance of being
05:23spotted by everyone around you.
05:30One thing we've noticed in recent years that's become quite popular is actually
05:35running two rear lights and it makes a lot of sense since they're behind you
05:39if one were to fail you may not know that you're actually riding without a
05:43light whereas running two massively negates this risk. Now as mentioned
05:48previously opt for 30 lumens or more and also consider how much light is escaping
05:54through the sides of the light. If you're riding on roads then having some form of
05:58side lighting will ensure the excuse of I didn't see you there isn't used and
06:04your side lighting can also be improved by the use of running two lights as you
06:08can point both of them at slightly different angles. Here in the UK the law
06:18stipulates that you must ride with a front and rear light when you're riding
06:22at night and this must be mounted centrally or to the offside and
06:26positioned up to one and a half meters from the ground and conform to British
06:30Safety or EC standards. Over in the US the wording does vary from state to
06:37state but if you boil it down you must be riding with lights between sunrise
06:41and sunset or when you're in conditions of limited visibility. Essentially you
06:47must have a white light pointing forwards and a red light pointing
06:50backwards. It's the Germans who have the most stringent rules around the lights
06:55that you can fit to a bike. Any bike light must conform to the STVZO
07:00standard and any brand that sells such lights will signpost it very much like
07:05these ones from Lezyne where it clearly states at the bottom that they do.
07:14Lumens are used by the bike industry to measure the power of a light. Now a
07:19lumen being a single unit of visible light. This was adopted by the industry
07:24when they started using LEDs rather than incandescent bulbs. Measuring
07:29power in watts doesn't really make much sense for LEDs when they consume a
07:34fraction of the power the old bulbs used to. The more lumens the light has the
07:39faster it will burn through its battery. This is also why lights have several
07:44modes so that you can decrease the brightness to conserve power. Of course
07:50using a device which has a lot of lumens will in theory create a lot of light
07:54but it's also important how the device emits the beam. If there's no spread of
08:00light then you will end up with one very bright spot in front of you but then
08:03have very little light to cover the rest of the road. This is why Lezyne spends a
08:08whole lot of time working on their beam patterns to ensure that when you
08:12purchase a light with a lot of lumens the lumens are put to good use and they
08:16will be distributed in a way that it shows you everything in front of you.
08:21So there we have it that's everything you need to know and consider when
08:25buying a new set of lights for your bike. As I mentioned at the start if you want
08:29to find out more about the lights that I've shown you today they are linked
08:32down in the description box below. If you have any questions just drop them in the
08:37comments and I'll do my best to answer them. If you enjoyed the video drop it a
08:40like, subscribe to the channel for more content and I'll see you again very soon!
08:51you