(hypnotic house music)
- Since I first appeared on one of these bikes
back in the summer with a Topeak light
mounted underneath my Wahoo,
I have received more messages
than I could have possibly replied to
asking what light it was and how exactly I'd attached it.
Well, today I finally have time to sit you down,
or sit myself down, to talk you through what I did
and a few other bike light hacks as well.
(metallic whooshes)
First up, the lights that I used.
This was a light that I was using to be seen with
and I used it often on the blinking function.
It's a Topeak Headlux 450.
Now, it's go 450 lumens of power when on full-beam
and the battery life will give you an hour and a half
of usage, but I used it on the blinking function,
which gives me up to 10 hours.
And I simply mounted it underneath my Wahoo mount.
Using the supplied elasticated rubber band,
I wrapped it around the Wahoo mount twice
and used these tabs to secure it into place.
It really couldn't have been simpler
and I'm pretty sure I'm not the first person
to have come up with that idea.
Now, I used this light primarily to be seen with
and I used it on the blinking function,
as I mentioned before, but on occasion,
I did have to use it to see with as well,
one of those days where the sun sets that little bit earlier
than you expect because of the cloud cover,
things like that, and it's getting a little bit dark
underneath the trees.
Perfectly functional, although I wouldn't want to do
an entire night ride on just this one light.
My main reason for mounting it underneath the bar
and not on top of the stem
was because I do run a GPS unit all of the time
that's collecting any of the data
that I'm creating whilst pedaling
and having it on top was ever so slightly
either obscuring the GPS unit or, worse still,
the GPS unit would obscure the vision of the light
and that's just a big no-no to me.
(hypnotic house music)
Now, this light didn't attract quite as much attention,
as it's on the back of the bike
and we're rarely filmed from behind,
but this is the Redlite Aero USB light
and I used this, again, on a flashing function out back.
And I generally used one at a time
and then if I'm commuting in the dark, then I'll use two,
one on a slow flashing setting,
because that is legal where we live here in the UK.
So you're going to need to check the rules on that.
It's also potentially not legal
to have a flashing light on the front of your bike
where you live, in which case you can use
either of these lights on a solid setting.
The battery life will be sufficient for most rides
and you'll be able to see where you're going
and you'll be seen clearly as well.
(hypnotic house music)
Now, personally, if I was riding in broad daylight,
I'd choose just one light upfront.
If the light is really bright,
it's still going to attract attention,
especially if it's on that blinking function,
but if I was riding later in the evening
or early in the morning,
then I'd also use another backup light,
something that I could potential see with
if the light was to suddenly fade.
This is always good as a backup emergency.
Or in a rare case scenario,
where you haven't remembered to charge your lights,
you then at least have an extra chance
that your backup light has more battery power left in it.
(hypnotic house music)
For me personally,
the main reason for running lights is purely for safety.
I've got a lot to live for, I've got two kids at home
that I want to get home to every single night,
so making sure that I'm well-lit
when I'm riding my bike in the dark
is of incredible importance to me.
On the back of my bike, I'll nearly always have two lights,
one flashing and one on a solid setting.
But I'll also use lights on a rear pocket,
which is a perfect place to mount something
that you're going to remove before washing your kit
or higher up on the back of your helmet.
Anything that you can do to increase your visibility
on the road is going to make you feel safer,
more comfortable, and therefore you're going to enjoy the ride
that little bit extra as well.
I've mentioned before I'm a huge fan
of using a twin headlight setup on the front of my bike.
On the whole, I'll use one light on a more powerful setting
and I'll use that to shine a little bit further away
so I can see what obstacles are coming up on the road.
What potholes are there?
Are there any puddles or any grooves
that I'm going to need to avoid?
And this is perfect for really dark night riding.
And then I use one with a slightly reduced output,
so that I know the battery's going to last
that little bit longer,
just in case my commute for some reason
takes that little bit longer
and I don't get home on one main charge
from the big battery.
(hypnotic house music)
When it comes to actually placing your lights
onto your bike, one of the important things to think about
is how prominent the light will be.
Will it be seen easily by other road users?
Now for this, you're going to have to consider the head height
of other road users.
We're on the roads with a wide variety of vehicles.
We've got lorry drivers,
who are a good few meters up in the air.
You've also got drivers on small sports cars,
who are barely a meter from the ground.
And to cover all of these angles,
I recommend a few different placements for your lights.
When it comes to mounting your lights,
I've seen many different things done over the years,
even on the side of the drops,
on the side of the forks, on the head tube,
but my personal favorite at the moment
is to have my two winter nightlights
up on the top of the bar
and then my daytime running light,
as I like to call it, mounted like this.
It's very easy to do.
Doesn't involve too much creativity.
And look at that.
Neatly mounted.
When it comes to mounting a rear light,
it's actually really important to try and get it
as high up as possible because you'll notice
that even if it's down near the end of the seat tube,
or the top of the seat tube,
if you're working from the bottom of the bike,
the rear wheel or a mudguard or anything
is going to start obstructing the visibility
to other road users.
So that's why I think it's particularly important
to try and mount one on your pocket
or on the back of your helmet as well.
Most saddle bags will obscure your normal rear light
down here on the seat tube, so instead,
why not mount it to the back of the saddle bag?
If you have one of those little tabs,
it's a reflective tag on this one,
we can sit a slider down on the inside.
It should be quite easy
to mount your rear light there as well.
When it comes to mounting slightly bigger lights like these,
sometimes you will find that you'll start to clip your knees
when you're riding out of the saddle.
This is one of the main issues with riding in the dark.
You do ever so slightly have to adapt how you ride.
Not only is that how you ride technically and in traffic,
but how you actually pedal on the bike.
I'll always aim
to try to get the lights tucked out of the way
as much as possible.
This is 'cause I still like to ride as fast as I can
without putting out any extra effort.
But generally speaking,
I do end up with two big 1,600 lumen lights
up on top of the bar.
And again, I run one of them at full power
and one of them ever so slightly underneath that.
(hypnotic house music)
One of my favorite places to mount a front or rear light
is on my helmet and this is because it turns with my head
and it's proven scientifically that any sort of motion
is going to be spotted that much easier by motorists.
On my helmet, I'll generally use a smaller light,
quite similar to the one that I use
on the front of my bike actually,
to help pinpoint road signs and things like that.
Because when you're turning your head
and your light is pointing toward road users,
it's really going to help them notice you
that little bit quicker.
These days, though, you don't have to rely
just on standard traditional lighting.
We also have fantastic reflective jackets
that are available.
You can buy a pair of mudguards
which have got the lights built into them.
Saddle bags also have lights built into them
these days as well.
And then you can look at your luggage,
a backpack that you might be carrying
for your short commute is also a perfect place
to add a little bit of extra lighting.
And once you've exhausted those options, why not go all out?
Remember over Christmas,
when Jon and I created the Tron bike?
I mean it's probably not street legal
in many parts of the world, but that bike, it stood out.
I don't think anyone could argue
they haven't seen a cyclist riding a bike
as bright as that one.
If you found this video useful,
please do give me a thumbs up.
And I'm sorry I've kept you waiting for so long
if you had been trying to find out
exactly what sort of light I was using
on the front of the bike.
Let me know your lighting hacks down in the comments below
and for another video right now,
why don't you check out that Tron bike
that Jon and I did make back at Christmas?