I am looking for some clip-on lights. What I have is not satisfying because the lights keep moving during a ride, which seems rather unsafe!
Every fancy light I’ve ever had — and I’ve had many — either stopped working / charging, got stolen, or has been lost.
Took me a long time to realize the actual best lights are cheap and run on replaceable AA batteries.
I personally like to use really really bright LED lights pointed straight into the eyes of oncoming traffic.
Occasionally an oncoming car will take a swipe, or a cyclist will stop and punch me, but it’s well worth it for the widespread misery I can effortlessly cause.
It also makes it quite hard to see anything that isn’t in my ‘cone of death’, which is good in the same way that peril-sensitive sunglasses are!
This, but unironically. People can’t say they didn’t see me.
I knew it!
I use a Rockbros 2-in-1 rechargeable horn and light that I got from aliexpress. It makes an earsplitting beep when I push the button. This ensures that when a car crushes me under their tires, they will be momentarily confused as to why they hear a smoke detector going off in the second or two before I die.
Not clip-on lights, but I use the AXA Nox 12S. Bolts directly into my front fork and takes two rechargeable AA’s. No bopping up or down while riding, just stays firmly in place.
It’s a good light for being seen, but won’t really light up a path for you unless it’s pitch black. I have a secondary handlebar-mounted torch that I carry in my bag, just for times where I want an increased viewing distance
I really like my 900 lumen Nightrider front/rear light combo pack that I got from REI for $150USD or less.
Easy to attach/take off the bike (crucial to avoid theft while locking up in town), battery life is decent and doesn’t wobble when I hit bumps. Just gotta make sure.youre familiar with the “lock” function; it keeps the light from accidentally turning on in your bag. I forgot about it and thought my light broke so ended up spending like $113 USD on a light with 1100 lumens (i wanted 900 but it wasnt availabl) that jumps around a bunch and I HATE IT. Then I looked it up online 6 months later and figured out my night rider works after all! Lol
I just looked it up and it seems like niterider has changed their design and uses the same attachment piece as cygolite now (the light I hated). It’s probably user error but it barely fits around my Salsa Cowchipper handlebars. I think I had to take off the anti scratch cushions to make it work. Hopefully that’s not an issue for you.
Cygolite metro and some tiny knogs. Really like the set up.
I’ve been a longtime fan of the Nitecore BR25.
I use it when I expect to be riding at night or during dawn/dusk, so it’s not on my bike all the time. But it performs exceptionally well and the light pattern is just awesome.
It has a piece that reflects light down onto you and your bike, so you’re way more visible to others.
It also uses a removable, USB rechargeable 21700 battery.
I do wish it had longer battery life (I always wish that my stuff had longer battery life!), but it’s still quite good unless you plan to blast it on high for hours on end.
My second favorite is the Olight RN1500, which uses a fixed (Garmin) mount and works great, but has a non-removable battery.
- Bocialarka Convoy S2+ - the best prize/features ratio - main headlight
- CatEye AMPP500 - additional headlight, in blink mode
- CatEye Omin 3 red - rear, in random mode
- OEM weak static LED front+rear
Are you doing MTB or road cycling?
I’ve had my Cygolite Metro for years and it has worked pretty well. I used to commute 10+ miles each way for 2-3 years, and I had very little issue with it dropping. Granted, I did make it pretty tight myself and checked it periodically (2-3x/year).
That was on a smooth bike path with very few bumps, so if you’re doing MTB or lots of curb drops or something, you’ll probably have issues. If that’s the case, I’d probably get something mounted to the helmet so it’s always pointed where you’re looking.
Some bikes have a mounting option on the stem (e.g. my Trek bike does), so there may be accessories for that. But anything strapped to the handlebars will misbehave with lots of bumps.
I use front and rear lights from MECs (Mountain Equipment Co-Op in Canada, similar to REI) in-store brand. They’re not super bright, but they’re bright enough so I can see where I’m going in random dark spots and generally be visible at night.
These ones. Though it doesn’t look like the rear (red) lights are available any more.
