a bit of light advice
Yes, it’s dark out there… so lighten up people!
We have dynamo lights from Shimano, Schmidt and Busch and Muller. Dynamo are THE best commuting lights. A front hub generates the power to run a super bright LED front and rear light. They put out enough light (up to 60 lumens)to see where you are going and to make you very visible. No need to recharge batteries, lights are fixed onto the bike ready to go at all times. Some lights even turn themselves on when it’s dark. Also very hard to nick. $400+
Rechargable front lights from NiteFlux and NiteRider (includiing one that charges via USB on your computer) put out heaps of light. If you need to really light up the road, these are the go. The tiny Niterider MiNewt (110 Lumens) charges a very small Lithium battery which mounts on your stem and can recharge via USB or wall outlets. Very useful. Or The Niteflux Commuter 4 (270 Lumens) is a bit bigger and clunkier, but cheaper and brighter. $200 plus
Everyone needs at least a front white and a rear red blinky light. We have tiny little baby ones, rack mounted rear, helmet mounted, basket mounted , valve cap and super bright ones for handlebar and seatposts. $50 for a pair
Jennifer’s white bike has an IQ fly schmicko Dynamo light. Antonette’s blue Gofa has a front basket mounted flasher.
And we have stick-on reflective tape, refelctive anklets and vests by Ron D Swan and Netti.
please contact us if you would like any more light advice..
May 16th, 2009 at 1:45 am
I’ve used the B&M Fly IQ and B&B D-Toplight rear light with a Schmidt dynamo over the loooong English winter.
They are brilliant. Specially like the fact they trun on automatically when needed.
May 18th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
how are watts different to Lumens?
how many lumens does a 1 watt Basta eggwhite put out? (for relative comparison)
thanks
May 21st, 2009 at 9:24 am
good point Mr R Svarka, that would be good information to know if i’m to Bike Wise in the city
May 21st, 2009 at 11:06 am
I don’t quite understand it myself, but comparing lumens and watts is like comparing apples and oranges – both delicious, but very different things.
Come by the shop and dark and stormy night, and we can do an in person comparison.
You can read this if you want to learn more –
http://www.brillianz.co.uk/data/documents/Lumen.pdf
May 26th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Lumens is the amount of light produced, and Watts is the amount of power used. Two very different things. Higher lumens means more light (good), and you probably want lower power ideally.
Traditionally we think of brightness in terms of watts because that’s how old light bulbs are labelled, and comparatively, the same light bulb technology has more lumens per watt. This no longer works with newer technologies such as leds which are low watts, and high lumens.
So to get an idea of brightness, use lumens. To get an idea of efficiency, use lumens per watt i.e. output/input aka brightness/power
sorry for all the techno mumbo jumbo, but somebody did ask
D
May 27th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I knew that!
Thanks for the nice clear explanation Daniel