Bright front lights will help you avoid hazards and remain visible to drivers. Many of the best lights offer multiple power settings to conserve battery life and protect its integrity.
Rear lights should be mounted low on the seat post to provide more visibility to motorists behind you, and these mounts should remain rigid during rides.
How to Choose a Light Mount
Bike lights help make riding safer by helping you see where you’re going and providing illumination during rides, but not all lights are created equal – some can easily break from vibrations or rainwater damage, while other, more expensive lights may not provide sufficient illumination on rides. For best results, invest in well-crafted lights suitable for your riding environment and needs.
No matter whether you’re an experienced mountain biker navigating rugged trails or simply commuting through town, having a bright headlight is critical for safe night riding. Safety lights using coin cell batteries may work for emergencies, but to truly improve visibility at night, you should invest in something with more lumen count (brightness) and an expansive beam pattern that ensures drivers, pedestrians, and fellow cyclists see you clearly.
When selecting a headlight, look for one with multiple modes to adjust brightness based on your riding environment. A high manner is excellent for steep terrains and descents, while low methods help conserve battery life. Furthermore, make sure the battery indicator warns you when they start running quietly – that way, no surprises await when your lights begin running low!
A good bike light should be simple to mount and remove from your bicycle, with an intuitive quick-release system making the process smooth. Furthermore, it should allow easy switching between handlebar and helmet mounting – this can help optimize lighting based on trail conditions or complexity.
After checking a light’s mount for stability and security, make sure that it can withstand rough handling and vibrations. Our lights feature soft rubber bands, which are thicker and stronger than regular rubber bands to ensure a strong hold; some even come equipped with complex mount options that use more robust plastic construction to hold their light securely in place.
Headlights
Bike lights come in all sorts of lumens and styles. While some models can be mounted onto helmets or handlebars, others feature minimalist setups with only a headlight and battery mounted to the frame or fork. Some come equipped with either spot, flood, or both lenses; others provide interchangeable lenses along with remotes that can be placed directly on stems for quick lighting control without reaching for handlebars.
Your riding style and terrain will play a large part in selecting an appropriate light. For road riding and commuting purposes, we advise setting a front light with high lumen output to remain visible to oncoming traffic, while for trail biking adventures, a helmet-mounted light may provide more illumination for trail-like surfaces ahead.
While it’s tempting to focus on a light’s maximum lumen rating when shopping for one, that can be misleading; instead, pay more attention to how much illumination the light produces at medium settings for extended periods – this will give a more accurate depiction of what the light can offer on night rides.
Your headlight mount must be strong enough to support both its weight and that of a fully charged battery, yet not be so low that its beam blocks by your tire. Some stainless steel mounts from Busch & Muller may work with Supernova’s IQ Fly or CYO lights, however their placement often positions them too close to the wheel rim, creating issues when used with some short fenders that allow water to spray onto it when turning the bike.
One custom builder (who shall remain nameless) attempted to address this problem by installing their CYO headlight upside-down on the bottom basket. For several rides, this worked fine until rain entered, where its wires connected at the bottom housing and caused its light to flicker, creating hazards for other riders on the trail and making your ride less safe overall.
Rear Lights
When riding before or after dark, rear lights are essential to being noticed by other road users. There are various options available to you for daytime running lights visible during the day; high-visibility models like Bontrager Flare RT and Ion 200 RT lights offer maximum visibility with mounting options that easily attach to seat posts or any other location for optimal results – they also make great value additions when purchased together as a front and rear set!
No matter where you mount your rear light, make sure it remains unobstructed or obscured by brake or tire components to ensure complete illumination of its beam pattern. In general, an angled light will provide a more excellent description. When mounted to a reflector bracket, consider selecting one with a smaller beam pattern so as to not blind other road users.
Rear bike lights vary considerably in their features, beyond just brightness, depending on the manufacturer and product. Lumen ratings indicate quality, but it’s also essential to take into account other aspects such as lens shape, optics design, battery power/run time/flash patterns/modes, etc. Over the past decade, there have been significant advances in combining efficiency with power in smaller packages, led by LED lamps, which produce greater output per watt, and lithium batteries, which provide energy in an easier-to-manage package than older halogen bulbs.
As well as mounting it directly to your bike frame, rear lights can also be attached via clip-on mounts to your helmet or clothing. Many bikes also include integrated mounts on their stem or saddle that make mounting lights easy – Bontrager Blendr, for instance, allows users to easily mount both front and rear Bontrager Flare lights seamlessly integrated onto your frame’s surface in a clean look.
Front Lights
Front lights can help illuminate your path while also increasing visibility for others. There are various good options on the market, with bright LED lamps providing longer runtime in lighter systems than ever before.
Knog offers an elite lineup of front lights for riders who take pride in being visible to others on the trail or path. When choosing a front light, key considerations include lumen output (how much light it produces) and run time; some riders might prefer high-output lights with a long runtime, while others opt for lower-output lights that provide more steady illumination over an extended period.
The location of a front light is also of critical importance; it should not be obscured by either the frame or any accessories, such as a rear rack or rear light brackets. If not mounted directly to the edge, its orientation should be level with the ground and pointed forward; many riders opt to mount theirs directly on their helmet, particularly mountain bikers who may use both wide beam lights on their bars and focused spotlights in their helmet.
Some bikes feature a bolt hole near the brake caliper that can be used to securely mount lights, making this an excellent location for mounting front lights as it sits close to the wheel and can provide excellent coverage, particularly when turning corners. Installation may prove more complex; however, care must be taken that it does not obstruct or distract from wheel movement and that its direction remains optimal in order to maximize effectiveness.
Handlebar mounts provide an alternative to stem mounting options, enabling you to raise the height of your front light above the handlebar bag and reduce shadows cast from nearby objects while increasing the visibility of your bag. However, this mount is more prone to being knocked off or damaged by road debris; alternative solutions exist that mount directly to fork eyelets but tend to provide less illumination for your ride.
