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RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
We've had many past discussions about lights, and a couple specifically about rack lights. My RSP racklight has never worked reliably.
I foolishly re-attached it to the folder this year, but it has again stopped working. Pretty sure its to do with moisture leaking in.
Any advice on a cheap replacement?
We also need a rearlight for the circe helios as we've managed to kill another rear USB stretchy light from EBC, and no longer use the childseat, which had a rearlight attached.
Haha, that is good timing as I was seriously considering reattaching mine but you reminded me how untrustworthy they are. There is no point.
My current spare is a Smart of unknown exact designation. £20ish or £10 in a sale, 2AAA, clip-or-stay-fixing option, mostly stays attached to the wee loop at the back of a Revolution seatpack without jumping off when going over cobbles.
"reminded me how untrustworthy they are. There is no point."
If it's a rain related problem, how about put them in plastic bags?
Obviously it depends partly on the fixing, but 99% of the light will get out and most of the water should stay out too(?)
I think I taped over the joins at one point, and that helped a little. but it's not that they don't work, it's that they work unreliably. sometimes fine, sometimes not.
Anther contender is from The Cycle Service. Around £15 for AXA rack light including batteries. Does not have flash mode but is possibly more waterproof than RSP. Can fit 50 or 80mm spacing.
RSP light was almost good except Raleigh forgot that lights can get very wet and water collects at lowest point in design where the switch is.
Still available in a repacked format but essentially the same I think unless the seal is upgraded- need to check at The Bicycle Works.
SRD, I would recommend the Ultrasport Automatic.
It's actually a German model made by (or popularised by) Infini; I have one on my Brompton and it was previously mounted on the rear rack of my last recumbent, so it's had several years' use so far. I tried the automatic functions and found them strangely pointless, but the main advantage is that it runs on AAs and does flashing and constant. It's visible from every angle with 5 LEDs and has a great big reflector built in.
sold!
thank you :)
chdot If it's a rain related problem, how about put them in plastic bags?
Call me picky but I can't help thinking that a bike light ought to work in the rain. Especially in the rain in fact. But as SRD says, they are just unreliable and that is the main problem.
Happy to go with Arellcats recommendation though, thanks!
B&M do a battery-powered version of their toplight line, which is very good.
It is, however, more expensive and would need combining with other stuff from Rose to knock down the postage...
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/b--m-toplight-line-senso-battery-back-light/aid:527826
I bougt four Revolution rear 1/4?? watt lights recently. We all have one each now on each of our bikes. They are around £5 so if lost broken, not much to replace, and so work in the rain, unlike all smarts I have owned (2).
you mean the red usb bendy ones? we've gone through too many. our seatposts may be wider than normal? plus they're at least £9
@Darkerside: I hope you're using it with rechargeable batteries or that your bike weighs less than 11kg. :-)
"According to German road traffic regulations (StVZO), this lamp is only approved for road bikes under 11 kg when it is used with non-rechargeable batteries. When it is used with rechargeable batteries, this lamp is approved for all bikes."
The German government definitely takes this kind of thing more seriously than our government(s).
@SRD. No these:
I bought two of these for Camie and Louis.
http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/niterider-mako-5-0-front-light
They were much better (light output and pattern) than Revolutions's own brand, which I only looked at as it was part of this set:
@LaidBack - the £15 rack lights we keep in stock are by Smart, large reflector, AA batteries.
Other options we have are
RSP Meson - not technically a rack light but a 5 led rubber band on light that will attach easily to most racks. I've used one mountain biking for years and they're definitely one of the more waterproof lights I've come across.
PDW Fenderbot - Attaches to a rear mudguard, usually in place of the supplied reflector. Neat little light picking up a bunch of good reviews.
What exactly does the 11kg relate to here? Clearly it can't include the rider, but what about after-market additions - mudguards, racks, panniers (empty or loaded), child seats, those strengthened top tubes, spoke cards printed with really heavy paper? I am very confused.
@Dougal I think it's a wee joke, if you follow the link in the post by Darkerside it says "Attention! According to German road traffic regulations, only approved for road bikes under 11 kg or as additional lighting."
I use a Cateye LD1100 on the back of the rack, with the wee adaptor bit which was a couple of quid and which is a bombproof mounting.
I've also got an old LD600 which is also good, just fewer LEDs, but I have read that recently people have complained about new LD600s leaking.
@dougal kaputnik is right, my tongue was slightly in my cheek. However you can be sure that the Germans will have a very precise list of what counts towards the 11kg.
My serious point was related to an earlier discussion about lighting regulations: ours our stupid, but the German ones are much more sensible.
I have said PDW fenderbot which is great, but it is there as a backup really. I also have an RSP evade 3 usb rechargeable light which I rate...
I like the Torch branded range: very reliable, batteries last ages, waterproof, robust. Currently available is the Tail Bright: very simple switch on/off LED, no extra modes, flashing, strobing or any of that nonsense. Bolts onto the rear of the rack, fit and forget for ages until it needs new batteries (once a year, depending on usage). Incorporates a large reflector too which is arguably more important.
A snip at £15 (was about half that a few years atom inflation eh?): http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TORCH-CARRIER-FIT-2-ULTRA-BRIGHT-RED-LED-TAIL-LIGHT-/150973816730?
Went out this evening and the RSP was vaguely flickering at me. Which means that it must have come on sometime during the day and wasted all my new batteries. Argh. Just as well I ordered a new one.
Will also head to cycle service to see what we can do about the tandem.
More madness - took the folder downstairs, and at the foot of the staircase the lights came on. Rolled it out the door and over the kerb and they went off... Wondered if they would go out again in the bumpy ride to western gen, but seem to have stayed on all the way.
I have to say I love my Dynamo lights! Never faulted, always work and never need batteries.
"always work"
Is that because they better sealed/not opened up as much?
Or are switches the problem on batt lights??
Most lights for use with a hub dynamo have switches too (except automatic sensor switch lights). I have had problems with dynamo lights: usually the rear. Wiring connecting front dynamo with rear light tends to work loose or break inside, losing the connection.
So I use dynamo for front lights, but batteries for rear.
The B&M Seculite that I have has no switch, and comes with heat-to-shrink covers for the spade connectors. Mount the light, apply a hairdryer, job's a good'n.
I am safe from German inquisition—you will not find a disposable battery about my person. Or indeed the bike.
I love my generator lighting, but I also lost my dynamo rear halfway through LEL, leading to the most unpleasant night's cycling I've ever suffered. It happens.
Always at least two independently-powered lights front and rear. Plus lots of reflectives. Rulez to live by.
The B&M Seculite that I have has no switch, no lens and no connected supercapacitor for the standlight, as of half-way home yesterday. The wee retention tabs for the lens have snapped so I shall be replacing it with another, as soon as I reach a confluence of time and tool-presence in order to remove the light, seeing as the nut has seized on the rusted end of the supplied bolt and the flanges that are supposed to stop the bolt rotating relative to the light snapped. The replacement will be fitted with an SS bolt, mounted the other way round, so that the protrusion of the end of the bolt is inside the lamp rather than on the wheel side of the mudguard and will have its lens more firmly attached to the base.
my arellcat recommended light has arrived and been installed. only slight issue is that it doesn't do flashing.
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