It's great to be able to see exactly where you're going. It may seem obvious, but a bright front light – say, of 200 lumens in the city or 600 off road – will allow you to spot pot holes, broken glass, and maybe even an abandoned £20 note. Ask any mountain bikers to tell you how good a powerful front light is on night rides.
Front Light: A flashing light needs to be at least ‘4 candelas', which equals roughly 50 lumens, which is fairly modest and all of the best bike light brands will ensure this. A bike light that can put out a steady light should be marked as conforming to BS6102/3 or an equivalent EC standard. Lights from reputable brands such as Cateye, Lezyne, Exposure, and Moon meet this standard.
Rear Bike Light: Rear lights in general emit fewer lumens than front lights, but if they are flashing then they must also emit at least 4 candelas. Again, lights from reputable brands such as Cateye, Lezyne, Exposure, and Moon meet this standard.
Legally speaking, it's somewhat open to interpretation. The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations say it is an offence for vehicles (any vehicles) to cause “undue dazzle or discomfort to other persons using the road”.
Morally speaking, it's nice to be nice, and it's also nice to not cause other people to have accidents as a lot of modern bicycle lights are incredibly bright. Nobody likes to be blinded by someone else's lights. When riding on shared paths in particular, dip your lights down instead of pointing 1,000 lumens straight at people's faces (including other cyclists.)
SHOP ALL BIKE LIGHTS
CatEye started producing bike lights in 1964 and are one of the biggest producers f bicycle lights in the world. We have picked out one light set and one front light for when you need to light up dark roads and paths.
An excellent value front and rear light set with enough light intensity to be visible to other road users. Up to 200 lumens front and 100 lumens rear. With 30 hours run time for the front light and up to 70 hours rear light run time in certain flash modes these are excellent lights for the money. USB rechargeable with a charge time of 2.5 hours from flat to full power.
The CatEye AMPP 800 is an extremely robust and compact 800 lumen front light that is perfect for lighting up country roads and tracks. All this for an excellent price.
Lezyne are the second of our most popular bike light manufacturers who are famous for bright, robust and relaible bicycle lights. Here are a couple of our favourites.
Offering a whopping 1300 lumens for incredible illumination of roads, tracks and MTB trails. Can be run on lower power modes for run times of up to 148 hours. Features Tri-Focus optics, which creates a brighter centre spot in a large wide-angle pattern.
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The Mini Drive XL produces a powerful 400 lumens and also has a Daytime Flash mode which is hard to ignore. Paired up with the Femto USB Drive rear with up to 5 lumens of output, this lightset will make get noticed. All at a very reasonable price.
With over twenty years on the market, Moon are one of the most trusted brands in cycle lights. This is the perfect budget set for the commuter, providing up to 120 lumens ahead and 70 behind and charging in a super-quick two hours. While it won't help you off-road or on long rides, if you're looking for bike lights to keep you safe and seen as you nip back and forth to work, these will provide everything you need without breaking, or even cracking, the bank.
What is so special about these lights is the power to size ratio. These are incredibly compact front and rear lights that offer a daybright mode for extra visibility in the daytime and a 'peloton' mode which will sense a rider's light behind you and dim itself accordingly.
A powerful and compact front light to light up the way when you are riding in the dark. There are three versions of this light available - Knog Blinder Pro 600 Lumen (£59.99), Knog Blinder Pro 900 Lumen (£79.99) and Knog Blinder Pro 1300 Lumen (£99.99). What makes this light unique is that it features Tesla high-density battery technology to extend run times and keep the light nice and compact.
