Bike Lights For Night Riding Buying Guide

When days are becoming short and nights are long in a calendar year, it’s the time to buy a perfect bike light set for the cycling enthusiast. It should be on your first priority list of cycling accessories. Good quality bike lights are crucial while bikers cycling in dark or low light.

For most countries, it’s a legal requirement to have front and rear lights on your bike while cycling after dusk. Most smart bikers use lights in the daytime in winter as well to increase visibility to others.

As there are too many options in the market for you to choose from, it’s a bit difficult task for you to find out the best bike light set for your requirements. We’ve made the following guide to make the issues easier for buying the best bike lights.

Do bikers need the brightest bicycle headlights?

The most common thinking of people is choosing the brightest one while purchasing a lighting source. Brightness is an important consideration undoubtedly, but you must select according to your needs.Do we really need a very bright headlight for cycling?

It’s not necessary to have the brightest one for the bicycle headlights. You shouldn’t consider something brighter than 800 to 2000 lumens. The range is fairly enough for various riding scenes.

The real effect of the headlights is lux regardless the lumens. Lux is the intensity of light perceived by the human eye that goes over a surface. In simple word, it represents the size or width of the illuminated area by the headlights.

Have you ever experience the following issues:

· Using a headlamp with high lumens can blind your eyes effectively for a while. This way, the extra brightness of the lamp reduces your vision badly. And, you may feel the light is not enough to illuminate the road effectively.

· Most headlamps focus on one point to make the exact area too bright for your vision. It causes difficulties to see the other darker parts immediately.

The upper situations can happen with any headlamps that come with higher lumens than your needs. The extra brightness of the light causes the beam unable to use effectively.

Make a smart choice with the perfect brightness for night riding in dark or low light:

1400 Lumens LED Rechargeable Bicycle Light Set

It’s one of the best bike light sets that come with a headlight, tail light, and horn. All the lights are waterproof and equipped with three different light modes for your needs. It’s easy to install and fit all bikes for road, kids, and mountain bikes.

The front and rear backlight ensure the highest user safety as well. It mounts tightly enough to stay in place even cycling on a mountain or so.

2000 Lumens LED Rechargeable Bike Light Set

This bike light has enough brightness of 2000 lumens to keep you safe in traffic and makes you highly visible to others. The bike headlight set also features a rear light to alert your presence effectively.

It has four light modes for your convenience and comes with rechargeable batteries. The tool-free installation reduces any hassle and fits perfectly on your bike.

Is the installation method simple enough and compatible?

For the bike headlights, the installation method should not be as troublesome as repairing a bike. Otherwise, it will be so much difficult for riders with average hands-on ability. So, it is better to buy bike lights that offer simple installation.

You need to choose a retractable rubber belt, Velcro, or a buckle for making installation easier. 

· Make sure the buckle is compatible with your bike rod while choosing a buckle-mounted headlight. 

· Also, compared to the method of fixing with screws, these installation methods will do no harm to your bicycle.

Rechargeable or replaceable battery - Which is Bike Light For Night Riding?

Rechargeable batteries are a good choice and an eco-friendly option for you. It requires USB charging that is simple and fast as well. Replacing batteries can be a real hassle as you need to keep an extra set of batteries with you while riding.

Rechargeable bike lights also save your continuous expenditure for buying disposable batteries. The charging cost is very low and the method is simple as well.

We would recommend replaceable batteries for those users who forget to charge them frequently. You only need to replace the battery to continue riding in the dark, even if the headlights go out suddenly.

How to choose bike headlights with different lumens?

Choose a bicycle headlight with different light modes or brightness adjustability. So, it can suit your various riding scenes perfectly.

· 400 lumens are suitable for cycling in the daytime or cities with sufficient light

· 800 lumens are perfect for riding on roads with regular daylight or insufficient street lighting

· 1500 lumens are the best for road and off-road riding in complete darkness at night without street lights

If you ride with the highest brightness mode of your bike headlight, it will run for the lowest time. So, it’s also necessary to know the run time of the headlight in top brightness mode for avoiding any unwanted path and situation. Also, make sure your headlight has a battery power indicator that will let you know the remaining runtime of the battery.

If you spend most of your commuting time on well-lit city streets, consider the  Hokolite 400 lumens COB bike light set  that suits best for your needs. This COB rechargeable bike light can illuminate the road in front of you and allow you to ride for the longest time.

Why do bike lights are a must to install?

Current laws in most states require bicycles to be equipped with lights when visibility is low. And, bikes need to be installed with reflectors and rear lights to protect cyclists and others.

The purpose is similar to your car fitted with lights. In the future, vehicle lights will become the ideal equipment for cycling. Whether you are riding a mountain bike, road bike, commuter bike, or basket bike, while you ride at night, you should have front and rear lights on so that others can see your presence. The existence of the vehicle can guarantee the safety of driving!

What factors to consider while buying a bike light?

Brightness

Lumen is the most crucial factor to measure the brightness of light. The more lumens, the more light!

How bright is enough for you?

If you are a regular commuter, choose a bright bike headlight that is enough for night and daytime. Make sure it doesn’t blind other drivers, which is so much essential. If you are riding with top brightness mode, tilt the light downwards a bit to avoid the oncoming driver’s eye line.

Having an adjustable brightness option in your bicycle headlight is better so you can adjust to the brightest option and keep it down when traffic is out there. The adjustable light mode also offers a flashing mode that helps other drivers to differentiate you from street lights. It also saves power to extend the run time as well.

Mounting options

In general, most bike lights are fitted easily to most handlebars and seat posts. The exception happens to the bikes with aero bars and seat posts.

The installation features Velcro, it’s a screw used to tighten the brackets around the bar or seat post. Some other bikes feature mounting options using a stretchable rubber strap. Both mounting systems are easier for the circular bar but difficult for non-circular surfaces. So, it’s a must to ensure your bike light set is compatible with the bike handlebar and seat post.

Note:

If you would like to mount an extra rear light to the seat for extra visibility, make it enough secure that will never go down into your wheel. It’s better to choose a simple mounting option that lets you adjust the tightness easily for safety.

You will also consider those bike lights that offer interchangeable straps for mounting to the different bars and posts. Be aware while mounting to aluminum or carbon handlebar as well. Use to mount with Velcro or stretchable rubber strap on that occasion, which is much safer than using a screw and bracket mounting method.

Battery

Most bike lights are equipped with rechargeable or disposable batteries. The USB rechargeable lights are a modern and eco-friendly solution that features a lithium-ion battery for the longest runtime. It saves your money for buying replaceable batteries too often. You can charge them easily and conveniently to get the ultimate runtime ever.

If you still think of replaceable battery options, make sure they are easily attainable from the nearest market or service station. Also, keep an extra set of batteries while riding in a remote area or so.

Run times

It’s also important to know the runtime before buying a bike light. It will indicate with level to let you know the remaining runtime. The more brightness you will adjust, the less runtime you will get. We’ve made a chart to show the variation in runtimes using theHokolite 2000 Lumens LED Rechargeable Bike Light set.

It has four light modes with different runtimes:

· High brightness (2000 lumens): 3-5 hours

· Med brightness (1200 lumens): 7-10 hours

· Low brightness (500 lumens): 11-13 hours

· Strobe or flash mode: more than 13 hours (most efficient and energy saving mode)

Bulb types

In modern lights, LED’s are the most popular bulb type for the most efficiency and brightness. They use less energy to generate a similar amount of light like halogen bulbs. Another option is the COB LED lights, which offer better lumen/watt ratios and heat efficiency.

Check out our Hokolite 800 lumens LED & COB bike light set that comes in 7 different light modes. It fits most adult men or women (mountain or road) bikes and is perfect for different riding scenes.

Weight

The brightness and battery size matter a lot to the weight of lights. Front lights weigh more than rear lights generally as front lights have more brightness to illuminate the way in front of you. They can weigh as minimum as 15 g to 150 g.

How many lumens should a bike tail light be?

Rear bike lights should be bright enough to make the vehicle and your presence visible to others in any weather condition. I would recommend at least 50 lumens of brightness for better visibility to be seen by others.

Is 500 lumens bright enough for cycling?

If you are riding on the road at a steady commuting pace along with the street lights, you should consider over 500 lumens front light. 100 lumens is enough for lit roads while city riding, but anything over 300 lumens is the best and bright enough for seeing in front of you.

How do you choose the right bike light for your needs?

We’ve tried to figure out all those considerations in a list to make the deal easier for you. Choosing the right light for riding depends on you mostly. You need to consider the riding type, discipline, time, and road types as parts of picking the right bike light.

Let’s check out the list below:

· Think of your budget so you can avoid those lights beyond your affordability.

· Make sure you need a bike light to see or be seen, it will determine the required lumen and beam angle for your needs. It can also set the price for you.

· Be sure about the highest runtime of the light that meets your requirement perfectly.

· Are you flexible with rechargeable batteries or forgot often to recharge devices frequently? If this is the situation choose replaceable batteries that are accessible in most supermarkets or so.

· Check out the mounting option of the light is compatible with your bike handlebar or seat post.

· It is less important than the upper conditions but your satisfaction. Make sure the look is good and match your bike perfectly.

To summarize, good quality Bike Lights For Night Riding are required for all cyclists. I hope that after reading all of the above tips and advice, you will be able to find the best bike light for your next adventure.