No More Staying In

Bright Light !

In a previous blog post I mentioned that I needed a new light to guide me along the off-road sections of my rides.

When I set off, my first 3 miles or so are usually done along the canalside, and if I do a simple “there and back” run, of course my last few miles are done there too. With these long, British Wintertime evenings, that means it’s pitch black and that a watery end lies no less than five feet from me for most of my ride!

I’ve got a set of blinky lights to allow me to be seen on the road, but they’re less than hopeless to actually light my way. In fact, set to flash, they positively blind me when there are no streetlights to show the way.

So, rather than use the darkness as an excuse to stay indoors, I decided to invest in a good light to show me the way. Detailed, in-depth research (well, messages between me, John Girvin and Nev Sutter to be fair) narrowed the choice down to CREE LEDs. I decided I couldn’t be bothered doing a Tesco torch mod (see John’s info here) so I dived into fleabay and got busy.

An hour or so later, and I’d picked this little monster. It’s zoomable between “kill laser”, “blind” and “stun” settings via a simple sliding lens gizmo. On “kill laser” setting (narrow beam to those with no imagination), this torch is easily bright enough to knock your sight out in a bright daytime office: I should know. Ow.

The unit is a poxy 10.5cm long and takes 3 AAA batteries, which are cheap and easy to buy in either oldskool disposable or rechargeable formats. The brains of the outfit is a little CREE LED which you can just about make out in this photo:

The light cost £30 delivered – not as cheap as the Tesco mod, or from Hong Kong via http://www.dealextreme.com/ – but it’s still good value with a bike mount, ready to go and delivered within 2 days.

It’s football tonight and tomorrow I’m putting a mirror up at my OH’s friend’s place, so I’ll get some working shots for you when I get some dark miles in.