What rear light?

[kamilb1998]

I've found myself coming home late in the past few weeks and have been informed, unsurprisingly, that the rear light on the Sinclair isn't sufficient. Can anyone recommend a relatively inexpensive but powerful rear cycle light?

[S6PNJ]

Good question - I was going to ask the same. I know some folk recommend the MJ-818 which is about £30 but knowing how much the Chinese like to copy these lights I'm surprised there isn't a cheap equivalent yet like there is for the Cree T6 XML front lights.

[WinstonWolf]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moon-Shield-Rear-Light--Re...

About as good as it gets and when your life depends on it worth every penny.

[yellowjack]

Pair here (front and rear)... http://www.globalbike.co.uk/accessories/lights/lez... ...@ £47.45

- or -

rear only... http://www.globalbike.co.uk/accessories/lights/lez... ...@ £25.95


No connection to, or experience of, these lights (except blinding myself with one in a LBS ) but they are quite a neat little package, very bright, and I've not had any problem with any of the other Lezyne kit I own. They are definitely on the shortlist to replace my 'Smart' rear LED lights.

I currently use one of these (along with the 'Smarts')... http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/accessories... ...and it's more than adequate, especially on the 'random flash' setting where the lit LED dances wildly around between the 5 available emitters - it is very "eye catching", but as far as I can tell, the Lezyne Zecto is much brighter.

There is also this... http://www.globalbike.co.uk/accessories/lights/lez...

The Lezyne Zecto Drive Pro LED - 2014, which will do the job of front OR rear, all in one unit for £39.95

[S10GTA]

I have a moon shield 60. Without doubt the best rear light I have used. Its usb recharge too.

[kamilb1998]

Thanks guys, will look into them when I get a chance a little later on and get one ordered.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

You want one of these.

On the back of your helmet

[neilus]

I use a Fibre Flare, same as RockSteadyEddie has recommended along with a Smart Lunar R2

[Rocksteadyeddie]

neilus said:

I use a Fibre Flare, same as RockSteadyEddie has recommended along with a Smart Lunar R2

I use several lights on the bike itself as well as the fibre flare on my helmet. Give the idiots as little excuse as possible not to see me!

[Dr Imran T]

WinstonWolf said:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moon-Shield-Rear-Light--Re...

About as good as it gets and when your life depends on it worth every penny.

Agreed, I bought one on the recommendations here on ph - tried and tested!!!

[Watchman]

What about replacing the bulb in the Sinclair with a modern LED? Some of the "packs" of surface mount LEDs you can get for bulb replacements in cars can be rather bright.

[kamilb1998]

Watchman said:

What about replacing the bulb in the Sinclair with a modern LED? Some of the "packs" of surface mount LEDs you can get for bulb replacements in cars can be rather bright.

I have an LED bulb on the front which is brighter than normal but holding a torch out the front still helps to see where I'm going, I tried to fit an LED bulb to the rear and it seemed even dimmer than the standard fit bulb. The light on the Sinclair is quite low too so I thought of mounting a bright, flashing light to the rear mast poles.

I can of course get round this by getting a lift from the folks but this isn't always practical.

[Viperzs]

I use a Cateye Volt 50. It actually projects a pool of red light onto the road behind you as you cycle and the beam itself is very intense, no way anyone can 'not' see you!

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/150663/products/cate...

This is a pretty good shot of what it does

It's a marketing image but I could go and get one of mine if you wanted to see it better.

[Watchman]

kamilb1998 said:

Watchman said:

What about replacing the bulb in the Sinclair with a modern LED? Some of the "packs" of surface mount LEDs you can get for bulb replacements in cars can be rather bright.

I have an LED bulb on the front which is brighter than normal but holding a torch out the front still helps to see where I'm going, I tried to fit an LED bulb to the rear and it seemed even dimmer than the standard fit bulb. The light on the Sinclair is quite low too so I thought of mounting a bright, flashing light to the rear mast poles.

I can of course get round this by getting a lift from the folks but this isn't always practical.

On my bike I favour quantity (number) over sheer volume of light. I have 2 relatively low powered Knog Skinks set to flash at different rates which I believe is quite eye catching.

I agree that the lights on the C5 are low-down so maybe improve them as much as you can and add one (or more) "flasher" higher up as you mentioned.

[kamilb1998]

Viperzs said:

I use a Cateye Volt 50. It actually projects a pool of red light onto the road behind you as you cycle and the beam itself is very intense, no way anyone can 'not' see you!

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/150663/products/cate...

This is a pretty good shot of what it does

It's a marketing image but I could go and get one of mine if you wanted to see it better.

That looks interesting, the Sinclair light does this too but not quite to that extent. Would be interesting to see how it looks in a non marketing image if you could get one?

[kamilb1998]

Watchman said:

On my bike I favour quantity (number) over sheer volume of light. I have 2 relatively low powered Knog Skinks set to flash at different rates which I believe is quite eye catching.

I agree that the lights on the C5 are low-down so maybe improve them as much as you can and add one (or more) "flasher" higher up as you mentioned.

I was thinking of having two lights - one on each mast pole and perhaps some reflective material on the poles too.

I used to have a reflective hi-viz mast for it but it was quite flimsy and broke with daily use quite quickly and no amount of superglue would hold it together. It protruded about another 2ft high so was round about at car windscreen height.

I've got a few pictures of the lights on it, the front is rather adequate with regards to visibilty but due to the way the beam pattern is set on the light, it doesn't tend to light the road very well.

I consider the rear to be rather visible too but I haven't seen it from a car driver's perspective so am unable to comment really but I have had people say it's not visible enough.

I had an odd situation with a car on the way home a few nights ago actually, going along a straight road, he flicked his full beam on, saw me, switched back to main beam and started slowing down, as he got closer to me he started speeding up again and proceeded to pass me with inches to spare blaring his horn at me.

[neilus]

Rocksteadyeddie said:

neilus said:

I use a Fibre Flare, same as RockSteadyEddie has recommended along with a Smart Lunar R2

I use several lights on the bike itself as well as the fibre flare on my helmet. Give the idiots as little excuse as possible not to see me!

Couldn't agree more

[Viperzs]

The rear light you've got on there already looks decent enough on its own actually!

Here are some quick crappy pics of the Volt:

On the bike with the saddle mount


Lighting up fence at the end of the garden:


Spot on the garage


It makes a great torch too!


Spot on the wall

[kamilb1998]

Thanks for those. Yeah, I think the light on it is adequate but I have had people claim they couldn't see it. Mother definitely thinks it isn't bright enough, but that's hardly surprising

[Rob_T]

can i make one suggestion.... whatever light you end up buying, it is worth having two lights on the back. if you are commuting regularly there's no point having the best rear light on the planet if the battery runs out before you get home. i normally have one rear light on constant and one on flashing mode. the batteries last different amounts of time in this way and so when one inevitably fails you have another still working. it also makes you extra visible when both are working!