One of the things I hate is people that ride without lights at night. There is nothing worse then coming around a dark blind corner ringing your bell and almost hitting some ninja twit. It is not only important to ride with lights at night is also a legal requirement in Queensland. I have been watching bike lights getting cheaper and cheaper in the last 5 years. They really are amazing what you get for $50 these days. Years ago I got one Headlight and Tail for around $65. They were good for there time but they were nothing great and they were not lights that could really be used in the dark paths that scatter the city if you intended to travel at normal speed.
It was often the case that if I hit a bump with the headlight on it would turn off. I would then be forced to bash the thing with my fist (like some mad cartoon character) and hope the thing would turn back on will still travelling at speed. Then there was the rear light that also if I hit a bump after a while would fall out. I would often be listening out for the familiar sound of plastic hitting bitumen and slam the brakes on and do a quick U turn. Then pull the head light off and start looking for the bits to put back together and start off again, hoping that in the mean time a car did not come along and crush the parts.
That was then and this is now. Since then the lights have not just got better but so have the mountings that hold them to your bike. All my current lights have mountings where the lights slide on and click into place. Because this is Australia my lights are all battery powered. One day I will get around to fitting a hub dynamo but for the time being I will live with battery. Now this is a point people complain about, replacing batteries because after a few months the cost will mount up. I have gotten around this problem by using rechargeable batteries. Rechargeable batteries are not as expensive as they use to be and the quality has improved as well. In reality today you can pick up a charger and 4 batteries for less then $30s. When you consider some single use batteries are almost $10 for a 2 pack, rechargeable start to make financial sense very quickly.
These are my lights attached to my bike. As you can see is I have both two front and two back lights. Like I said before we run on batteries in Australia and this means you can have flat batteries more often then you wish to. This is something you do not want to happen on a wet night. To get around the flat battery problem I got two of each. It means I never worry about not having a light but two other things
- First I never worry about recharging until the battery is dead flat
- Second while the batteries are sitting in the recharger at home I still have one working front or rear light.
Like I said I hate when people ride without lights. I bought my lights at local Bike shop because of the warm fuzzy feeling thing but if you really want to get them for as little as possible here are a couple of links.
Come on you will be doing everyone a favour if you are illuminated.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Categories.aspx?CategoryID=679
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/light-sets/?o=1
PS. Oh yes I do have two floor pumps in the background
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