Commuting to work on your bike is a hazardous business at any time, but the winter months present the extra difficulties of inclemet conditions and increased hours of darkness.
Light technology has progressed a long way since the early days of the Ever Ready Night Rider type lights, but front lights have taken the spotlight (so to speak) leaving the rear lights behind them (I know! I can't believe the puns and I'm writing them!) You need to stand out on the roads, having a good bright rear light is important, the brighter the better in my opinion, but this comes at a cost - Hopes District rear light is epilepsy inducing in flash mode, retina tearingly bright, but also eye wateringly expensive.
They also don't give the following motorist an idea of the width of your bike. This is where the Lumos lights from Tacx come in, being located in the ends of your road bars. They also have a built in indicator function which I do use, but don't know how well it's seen by drivers so I always accompany it with a hand signal. The front of the bike gets a look in too with a forward facing set of LEDs which you won't be able to use to see by but do a good job of illuminating the edges of the road (and your water bottle).
At a stocking filler friendly price of under £20 they are easily affordable and a cinch to fit, just remove the bar caps from the end of your bars, select the correct size o-ring for the width of bar you have (I found the one supplied fitted first time) unscrew the collar and remove the AA battery temporarily to allow you to locate the collar into the bars using the (supplied) 4mm allen key (it works using an expansion wedge fitting - but you may need to give it a gentle tap with a soft blow mallet) then re-install the battery and screw the main light body into the collar.
Plus points? Cheap, easy to install, give a good idea to the width of your bike, light (in both senses) waterproof.
Minus points? Lights don't naturally screw to a stop into the collars with a scary 'click' before it feels properly tightened. (they won't fall out - but I still don't like this) buttons are not defined enough to click well with winter gloves. They run out of battery quickly in cold weather and can sometimes freeze on if the conditions are cold enough or the batteries have become low.
Light technology has progressed a long way since the early days of the Ever Ready Night Rider type lights, but front lights have taken the spotlight (so to speak) leaving the rear lights behind them (I know! I can't believe the puns and I'm writing them!) You need to stand out on the roads, having a good bright rear light is important, the brighter the better in my opinion, but this comes at a cost - Hopes District rear light is epilepsy inducing in flash mode, retina tearingly bright, but also eye wateringly expensive.
They also don't give the following motorist an idea of the width of your bike. This is where the Lumos lights from Tacx come in, being located in the ends of your road bars. They also have a built in indicator function which I do use, but don't know how well it's seen by drivers so I always accompany it with a hand signal. The front of the bike gets a look in too with a forward facing set of LEDs which you won't be able to use to see by but do a good job of illuminating the edges of the road (and your water bottle).
At a stocking filler friendly price of under £20 they are easily affordable and a cinch to fit, just remove the bar caps from the end of your bars, select the correct size o-ring for the width of bar you have (I found the one supplied fitted first time) unscrew the collar and remove the AA battery temporarily to allow you to locate the collar into the bars using the (supplied) 4mm allen key (it works using an expansion wedge fitting - but you may need to give it a gentle tap with a soft blow mallet) then re-install the battery and screw the main light body into the collar.Plus points? Cheap, easy to install, give a good idea to the width of your bike, light (in both senses) waterproof.
Minus points? Lights don't naturally screw to a stop into the collars with a scary 'click' before it feels properly tightened. (they won't fall out - but I still don't like this) buttons are not defined enough to click well with winter gloves. They run out of battery quickly in cold weather and can sometimes freeze on if the conditions are cold enough or the batteries have become low.
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