[darkpuppet]

Now drivers can't say they didn't see me....

it's a 10watt HID -- and puts out over 500 lumens of bluey-white light...

it totally drowns out the light from my (rather bright) sigma kelmit... beam comparisons won't show much, but here's the bike with both lights on..



hopefully at night, this will make people pause before trying to cut me off or turn left into me at intersections...

[Focus man. Focus.]

Looks like your getting ready for Camping.

[darkpuppet]

If I'm not working or playing volleyball, I'll be camping... that's pretty much my entire summer. so no complaints here...

took a little video of the light powering up and switching between the 7W and 10W settings.

watch how the background gets darker and darker as the camera adjusts for the brightness.

[mo_focus]

looks sweet, only if they make those for the focus then we will all be set :)

[FocusGuy7476]

thats impressive, how much did one of those set you back. I need to get some sort of light for my bike.

[darkpuppet]

HID bike lights will run between $500-$1000+ MSRP. I found a dealer through amazon that sold the Topeak Moonshine HID for $300. So that's what I got.

The piece o' crap BLT i recently returned cost $180 for 90 lumens of light
the Sigma Kelmit cost $75 for 70 lumens (which is rather bright for an LED light - and waaaaay brigher than the BLT I returned).

for basic commuting and trail riding, the kelmit would suffice.

Then you get into Halogens that cost about $200 and up for 20-30watts of total power. But the runtime on Halogens is abysmal compared to HIDs.

Also, there are companies like lupine, DiNotte and nightlightning that make LED lights that'll blow away HIDs, but they typically cost $600 and up.

So while I would have loved to stay LED, HID was the better $/performance ratio..

Another option for HIDs is trailtech. They make a motocross HID system (handlebar and helmet mount) that would work fine on mountainbikes, and their kits fall well under the pricepoint of most bicycle-specific HIDs (they sell for about $290 for single light solutions, $350 for dual). I was just too chicken to give it a whirl when Topeak offered a decent solution.

[naz]

it won't help DP. I rode with my motorcycle high beam on at all times and that did not help me from getting cut off etc. the best way to avoid cars is to blow them away with explosive acceleration... but since you are pedaling that's not an option. good luck don't die

[Flofocus]

naz,Jun 5 2008, 01:33 PM Wrote:good luck don't die
[right][snapback]266033[/snapback][/right]

:rofl:

[naz]

Flofocus,Jun 5 2008, 05:49 PM Wrote:

naz,Jun 5 2008, 01:33 PM Wrote:good luck don't die
[right][snapback]266033[/snapback][/right]

:rofl:
[right][snapback]266041[/snapback][/right]

should have worn leathers + armor before getting on the bike..

[focusnme]

nice - i have the nightryder - super series helmet mounted light - she is classified as natural daylight at night - very bright - i went helmet mount so you can light where you look ... where do you ride? ever up here in hardwood hills??

[darkpuppet]

focusnme,Jun 5 2008, 04:49 PM Wrote:nice - i have the nightryder - super series helmet mounted light - she is classified as natural daylight at night -  very bright - i went helmet mount so you can light where you look ...  where do you ride?  ever up here in hardwood hills??
[right][snapback]266073[/snapback][/right]

I haven't biked hardwood yet... Tho, my GF has a friend up there who's big into racing, so we'll likely get talked up there soon enough.

Yeah, it's nice to have a helmet mounted light, but if I did a serious race, like a 24 hour one, I'd probably put the LED on the head, and use the HID on the bars. Just so I'm not blinding people by just looking at them.