Social Night Ride [Terrey Hills]

Hey guys, I guess I'm a relative newbie however I logged more than 80kms in March on the Long and Perimeter trails so I feel pretty confident. To give you an idea of my level, on Sunday I did the Long Trail from the corner of Mallawa Rd and Bulara Street to the end and back in 55 mins - http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/79718291

I've never ridden at night so apart from getting head and tail lights is there anything special I need to know?

Is it cool if I tag along?

Cheers Aaron

Ha, I saw a photo on the weekend of a guy with 2 dolphins strapped to his handle bars.

Thanks heaps for the feedback, based on the pricing of those lights I don't think I'm going to get that past the Leader of the opposition this week. I might have to wait a while before I go MTB at night

Better to have found out now than to have turned up with a candle. Next time maybe.

Thanks guys .. love the site, use it all the time.

Aaron, the ay-ups are a great aussie product but probably not ideal for someone on a budget.

The "magicshine" page that Hans linked is a rip off. Sorry, I hate "slagging" aussie sites but there is no other way to put it.

"Magicshine", whilst an actual light brand, is now just a generic term for one of dozens of different but the same chinese made lights available from fleabay, and clearance houses under many different names. Yes they have different models that offer different levels of illumination but the same models can be found with many different makers names on them. If you can afford it then buy these lights from http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=in... When these lights first became available he was the only one that was checking individual lights for quality. He is also the only company that I am aware of that had a voluntary recall of all of the battery packs that he sold, no other seller I am aware of even acknowledged there was a problem with the reliability of the battery packs.

If you can't afford geoman then get them from http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S020110 or search either fleabay or deal extreme, http://s.dealextreme.com/search/magicshine.html?... scroll down that page and you'll see unbranded "magicshines" considerably cheaper than the top ones. Two things to be aware of, Dealextreme shipping is painfully slow, try excruciatingly slow, and don't believe the claimed lumen output.

You can also have a look at mtbr.com light forums for lots of either budget options. Lots of guys just use small, powerful torches and there will be many linked on those forum pages.

One thing to consider though, at the budget end of the spectrum reliability can be an issue and this is one of the important reasons to have 2 lights. Apart from the better depth perception 2 lights gives you, it also provides back up for when one of the lights fails, which will happen at some point in time.

To be honest, on a cloudless full moon night you can ride perimeter and long without lights, you just go slower (yes I have done this). This becomes an issue if those around you have very bright lights that are with you one minute and not the next because you loose your "night vision"

There are options out there that won't have you in trouble with the "leader of the opposition".

Thanks for all the info guys that's awesome. There does seem to be some cheaper options that I can also test out riding to and from work.

I will have to pass this time because I've failed in my attempt to raise the necessary support from the Leader of the Oposition for the time being.

I'll keep an closer eye out on the social rides in the future and get involved.

I've got one of those on the helmet and its 1300 bigger brother on the bars and they work a treat for 24hr racing. You could easily get away with two of the 900 L models

I have the bigger one on the bars, that way the side to side movement of the bars has less impact on your visibility. The 1300 would be a bit heavy on the head as well

Have you looked at the Ayup upgrade program? It's good bang for your buck

http://www.ayup-lights.com/products/76/
http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/showthread.php?2...

Thinking it through as I type this, the main issue for me at the Mont was not enough beam spread directly in front of the bike on the twisty bits. So the more powerful light with more spread being put on the bars sounds right. Thanks for your advice.

The existing lights were fine through the sniggle and fire trail sections - plenty of throw.

It was just at Kowalski's SideShow - where the corners were tight, but fast because of the berms and downhill runout - the bar light hotspot pointed off on a tangent to the outside of the track instead of covering the foreground like it did on the straight sections. To avoid unpleasant surprises I then had to point the helmet light hotspot spot into the foreground to plug the gap, instead of looking further around the corner like I needed to. Grrr.

Recently returned to the area after a stint offshore. Keen to dust off the ay-ups. Will hopefully be able to get away from work on time.